32 REPORT— 1841. 



received the smaller proportionate quantity of rain, — an unexpected result, which de- 

 serves confirmation. It appears also that the gauge inclined 45°, and turned to the 

 wind, received more rain than the horizontal gauge ; and that the quantity collected 

 in the globular gauge was about intermediate between that of the twelve-inch hori- 

 zontal and inclined funnels. From this Mr. Atkinson imagined, that its indications 

 were more nearly proportioned to the real quantity of rain than either of the others ; 

 hut it probably did not expose a sufficient arc (it should be 270°). Having pointed 

 out these circumstances affecting the true meaning of correctly-observed rain-registers, 

 Mr. Phillips drew attention to the importance, in all these inquiries, of a knowledge 

 of the angle of inclination of descending rain in each shower, and concluded by pro- 

 posing, as a fit general form of experimental research, so far as the mere question of 

 the quantity of rain falling through given sections of air at different heights was con- 

 cerned, that there should be placed in some very unexceptionably open situation a 

 series of gauges at different heights above the surface (0, 3, 6, 12, 24 French feet), of 

 three kinds at each height, viz. an ordinary/tt«neZ-gauge with horizontal edge ; a glo- 

 bular gauge ; an azimuth- and inclinatioH-ga.uge, such as was described by the Author, 

 and illustrated by figures in the account of the proceedings of the Section at Glasgow. 



Notice of a Meteorological Journal for the Year ISiO, hept by John Camp- 

 bell LeeSj at Nassau, New Providence. 



Letter from the late Capt. Hewett to Capt. Beaufort, R.N, (referred to in a 

 communication by Professor Whewell). 



H.M. Ship Fair)-, Harwich, August 31st, 1840. 



Sir,— On the 24th inst., being in lat. 52° 27' 30" N., long. 3° 14' 30" E.. with lig:ht 

 breezes and smooth water, I deemed it a fitting opportunity for making a further trial 

 on the rise and fall of tide in the middle of the North Sea ; and although I was then 

 many miles both to the northward and eastward of the spot near which Mr. Whewell 

 had previously expressed his wishes that the experiment should be made, yet I thought 

 that if good observations by any means could be obtained at the above position, they 

 would at the least serve to show, in some measure, the truth or error of that gentle- 

 man's theory ; either in the one case by a sensible diminution of the vertical move- 

 ment of the tide, when compared with the known rise and fall on the shores of En- 

 gland and Holland, or in the other by ascertaining the rise and fall, beyond a doubt, 

 to be so great as to throw some doubt on the correctness of the theory in question. 

 But as I apprehend that Mr. Whewell's theory is founded mainly upon the fact, that 

 the tide waves, to make high water on the opposite coasts of England and Holland, 

 come from different directions, namely, on the former, round the northern extreme of 

 Great Britain, and so working its way along the eastern coast ; and on the latter, 

 through the straits of Dover, and running thence along the coasts of France, Belgium 

 and Holland ; and that it might reasonably be inferred, that these waves gradually 

 diminish in importance as they recede from their respective shores, or approach each 

 other, there would be left a broadish space about the middle of this part of the North 

 Sea, where no rise and fall of tide exists, and that therefore the waters between the 

 two opposite shores would assume a convex form at low water by the shores, and a 

 concave one at high water. 



Allowing this view of the foundation of Mr. Whewell's theory to be correct, (and 

 I have not his book at present near me to refer to,) this line, or more properly speak- 

 ing, "broad belt" of no rise and fall, would doubtless run for a considerable distance 

 in the north-easterly direction into the North Sea, from the point where it may com- 

 mence on the North- Sea-side of the straits of Dover. It would therefore follow, that 

 the fact of my being to the northward of Mr. Whewell's position would of itself be 

 of nc material importance, and by reference to the Chart, it will be seen that the lon- 

 gitude places me not many miles to the eastward of the "broad belt" above alluded 

 to. Having thus reflected, I came to the conclusion, that if Mr. Whewell's views 

 were correct, true observations made in this position would exhibit some indications 

 thereof, and I accordingly made the necessary dispositions. 



A rise and fall by the shore is a case which falls immediately on the conviction, by 



