METEOROLOGICAL REPORT, 1868. 239 



Darlington. — December was a wet month ; only six days were 

 clear from rain. There was a very heavy fall of snow on the 

 30th. 



Lunar Halos were seen at North Sunderland on the 30th ; at 

 Wallington on the 2nd, 21st, 22nd, and 23rd ; at North Shields 

 on the 23rd and 27th. 



Lightning was seen, but thunder was not heard, at Horsley, 

 near Wylam, on the 14th. 



Thunder was heard, but lightning was not seen, at AUenheads 

 on the 29th. 



Thunderstorms occurred at Alston on the 29th ; at Acklam 

 Hall, near Middlesbro', on the 21st. 



Snow fell at Byrness on the 20th, 26th, and 29th. 



The annual rate of mortality during the last quarter of 1868 

 for the country generally was 21*93 for each thousand persons 

 living. For the fourteen great towns it was 26 : for Newcastle- 

 on-Tyne it was 27-03 ; Sunderland 28-31 ; South Shields 21-82 ; 

 Gateshead 27-03 ; and Tynemouth 27-38, the population being 

 estimated as in last quarter. The Registrar General pertinently 

 remarks, "When will the North undertake the noble work of 

 saving the lives of the people ? Why should industrious, pros- 

 perous, and wealthy communities see their people perish year 

 after year, at these appalling rates, without trying some radical 

 and effectual measures of reform ? This is not a question of 

 mere opinion but of life and death ; it is not a question of the 

 day only, but of all time. Shall the town breeds of the North 

 degenerate and die out or improve and live ? There appears to 

 be no dispute as to the particular measures to be adopted : why 

 should not experiments be at once made with particular blocks 

 of houses ?" 



RAINFALL RETURNS. 



There has again been an addition to the number of places 

 from which rainfall returns have been sent in to the Club for the 



