Proceedings of the British Association. ^ 159 



ent heights from the ground, from which it appeared that more 

 was received near the surface of the earth than at higher points. 

 Further experiments show that these results vary much with the 

 nature of the gauge employed, and with the local situation of 

 their exposure. The globular rain-gauge of Dr. Robinson was 

 explained. A globe of copper stands on a stem with a funnel, so 

 as to leave exposed to the rain its upper part ; the rain, as it trick- 

 les down the globe, is caught by the funnel ; when the wind is 

 high, the drops, as they collect below, are in danger of being 

 blown off, unless the funnel extends out so as to stand under 

 about one quadrant of the globe, thus leaving about 270° expos- 

 ed. In this way, the copper globe always presents a nearly equal 

 . cross section to the descending rain, whether the rain-drops fall 

 in vertical lines, or in lines considerably inclined. This gauge 

 had been fitted up on the fiat roof of the observatory at Armagh, 

 in the close vicinity of an ordinary horizontal gauge, the mouth 

 of which exposed exactly one hundred square inches : the diam- 

 eter of the globe had also been so regulated as to expose exactly 

 an equal cross section. Except during the violent gale of Janu- 

 ary 6, 1839, he had never found the rain to be blown out of the 

 receiving funnel of the globular gauge. It had been set up since 

 Sept. 1838, and the mean result was, that the ratio of the quan- 

 tity received by the globe gauge to that received by the ordinary 

 gauge is almost exactly 2:1; this ratio, however, was very much 

 departed from, on one occasion, during a very severe gale in No- 

 vember, 1839, in which the barometric column descended rapidly 

 to a very low point, the globular gauge received 0.76, while not 

 one drop had entered the horizontal gauge beside it : the curvets 

 upon the roof, doubtless, having given rise to this remarkable 

 circumstance, in the manner described by Prof Bache, of Phila- 

 delphia. 



Mr. T. Hopkins presented a paper on the Influence of Moun- 

 tains on Temperature in the Winter in certain parts of the north- 

 ern hemisphere. Mr. H. stated, that between the latitudes of 

 40° and 70° North, there is in the same parallels, a great differ- 

 ence of temperature, particularly in the winter, amounting in 

 some cases to as much as 40° or 50° F. The western coasts of 

 the two continents are much warmer than the eastern, and the 

 winds generally blow from the sea to the western coasts; and it 

 has been inferred that the prevailing winds passing over sea to the 



