NOVIIMBEB 13, 1903.] 



SCIENCE. 



619 



summer, winter aud year, aud suu spots 

 from year to year; but he noticed that the 

 barometric curve lags behind the sun-spot 

 curve, particularly in the years of maxima 

 of sun spots. The winter curve is more 

 regular than the summer one, probably be- 

 cause the weather orenerally in India is 

 more settled in the winter than in the sum- 

 mer; but on the whole the two curves sup- 

 port each other in having a low pressure 

 about the time of sun-spot maxityiuni. and 

 a high pressure about the time of sun-spot 

 minimum. We may, therefore conclude 

 that the sun is hottest about the time when 

 the spots are at a maximum. He added, 

 that these results appear to harmonize well 

 with the decennial variations of the rain- 

 fall in India, and to throw light upon the 

 inverse variation (compared with the sun 

 spots) of the winter rainfall of northern 

 India. 



Dr. Allan Broun also, in a discussion of 

 Indian barometric readings, found that the 

 years of greatest and least pres.sure are 

 probably the same for all India, and that, 

 therefore, the relation established by Mr. 

 Chambers for Bombay holds for all India.* 



I next pass to rainfall. Dr. Meldrum, 

 returning to his rainfall studies, found 

 thatf 



There is a remarkable poincidenoe between tlie 

 rainfall and sun-spot variation at Edinburgh, 

 much more remarkable than that at Madras. The 

 years of maximum and minimum rainfall, and 

 sun spots for the mean cycles, coincide, and on the 

 whole there is a regular gradation from minimum 

 to maximum, and from maximum to the next 

 minimum. 



The mininnun rainfall occurred, on an 

 average, in the year immediately preceding 

 the year of nuixiinuin sun spots. 



The results of these investigations show 

 that the rainfall of 54 stations in Great 

 Britain from 182-1^1867 was .73 inches 

 below mean when sun spots were at a 



• Mature, Vol. XIX.. p. 6. 

 fKature, Vol. XVIII., p. r.65. 



niinimmn. and .90 inches above mean when 

 sun spots were at a maximum. 



For the 34 stations in America, the corre- 

 sponding numbers were .94 inch in 1.13 

 inches. 



In the report of the Meteorological De- 

 partment of the government of India, pub- 

 lished this year (1878), the following refer- 

 ence to solar action occurs: 



The following are the main important infer- 

 ences that the meteorology of India in the years 

 1877-1878 appears to suggest, if not to establish: 



There is a tendency at the minimum sun-spot 

 periods to prolonged excessive pressure over India, 

 and to an unusual development of the winter 

 rains, and to the occurrence of abnormally heavy 

 snowfall over the Himalayan region. * * ♦ 

 This appears also to be accompanied by a weak 

 southwest monsoon. 



In 1880 the relation of India famines 

 and the barometer was first fully treated 

 by Mr. F. Chambers, the meteorological 

 reporter for western India.* He concluded 

 from his enquiry that there is some inti- 

 mate relation between the variations of 

 sun spots, barometric pressure and i-ain- 

 fall : aud as famines in general are induced 

 by a deficiency of rain, it is probable that 

 they also may be added to the above list 

 of connected phenomena. 



Commencing with the daily abnormal 

 variations observed at several stations in 

 western India, it was found that as the 

 time over which an abnormal barometric 

 fluctuation extended became longer and 

 longer, the range of the fluctuation became 

 more and more uniform at the various sta- 

 tions, thus leading to the conclusion that 

 the 'abnormal variations of long duration 

 affect a very tcide area.' For testing this, 

 the conditions of Batavia were compared 

 with those at Bombay, and the results 

 showed a striking coincidence, the curves 

 obtained for the two places being almost 

 identical in form, but with this remarkable 

 difference: the curve for Bata%na was 

 * yattire, Vol. XXIII,, p. 109. 



