PROCEEDINGS, JUNE. 



JUNE, 1890. 



The monthly meeting of the Royal Society was held on Wednesday, 

 June 11th, at the Museum. The President, His Excellency Sir R. 6. 6. 

 Hamilton, K.C.B., took the chair. 



HEW MEMBER. 



Mr. M. W. Simmons, solicitor, was elected a Fellow of the Society. 



RECORDS OF EARLY EVENTS. 



Mr. Morton read a letter from Mr. A. B. Biggs, Launceston, 

 suggesting that something be done by the Society in collecting records 

 of early events in the history of the colony from the few surviving old 

 colonists, as they were rapidly passing to the majority, and the 

 opportunity would soon be for ever lost. The letter was referred to the 

 consideration of Mr. J. B. Walker, who is interesting himself in the 

 ancient history of the colony. 



AUSTRALASIAN SCIENCE ASSOCIATION. 



Mr. Morton submitted programme of the third annual meeting of the 

 Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science, which will 

 commence on Thursday, January 15, 1891, at Christchurch.New Zealand. 



His Excellency asked if any of the members of the Society were 

 going take to part in the proceedings. 



Mr. Morton said he believed that several members had forwarded 

 their names to New Zealand. 



THE MOON AND THE RAINFALL. 



Mr. E. C. Nowell, hon. member Royal Statistical Society, read a 

 paper entitled " Do the changes of the moon affect the rainfall ?" He 

 said that the idea that the changes of the moon affected the rainfall had 

 widely prevailed from the earliest ages. Traces of it were found in the 

 Roman poet Virgil, while ages before the Babylonian Government 

 Astronomers in their daily reports inserted many entries respecting the 

 supposed influence of the heavenly bodies on the weather. Sailors 

 especially were great believers in the influence of the moon on the 

 weather, and the writer believed that it would be found that where 

 ideas have become deeply rooted and widely spread, it, is very seldom 

 it ever, that they have not some foundation in fact. The public, how- 

 ever, were assured by those whose opinions on such subjects carry great 

 weight, that the popular notion was a mere delusion, and that the 

 moon s changes had no influence on the weather. He quoted as scientific 

 authorities on this point, Dr. R. J. Mann, vice-president of the 

 Meteorological Society, Dr. Lardner, and Dr. Ball, Royal Astronomer 

 of Ireland. Seeing that the statements of scientific men were at 

 variance with the popular opinion, he resolved to investigate the matter 

 for himself, and accordingly in 1S80 he commenced to keep a meteoro 

 logical .journal in a rough way, and had continued it up to the present 

 time. The results of the 10 years' observations were set forth in 

 tabulated form, and so far as the inquiries on the subject warranted a 

 conclusion, the only thing that could with safety be asserted was " That 

 there is a greater probability of having rain on the first than on any 

 succeeding day of any of the moon's changes. He hoped the results 

 submitted would be of some value as a contribution towards the 

 investigation of an obscure but highly interesting subject, and also 

 in stimulating further researches in this direction, in order to discover 

 if possible, what are the exact nature and limits of the influence exerted 



