1904.] C. Little— r;ie Himalayan summer storm of Sept. 24thy 1903, 159 



June 1902, among conclusions suggested by a discussion of the atmos- 

 pheric conditions in Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia and the adjoining 

 seas, the following occur : — 



" That conditions in India may be sometimes largely conditioned by 

 actions taking place in the Central Asian areas, and that occasionally 

 these actions extend over the greater part of Europe and Asia." 



" That these actions are largely modified by the barrier of the 

 Himalayas, and seem to spread more readily southward through the 

 gaps in the range." 



I think the above remarks have made it clear how the subordinates 

 of the Meteorological Department, entrusted with the duty of issuing 

 forecasts in the first half of October, 1903, had no alternative but to 

 estimate coming weather changes on the supposition that they origi- 

 nated in the southern sea area and approached Northern India from the 

 south, and that an attempt by them to introduce any consideration of 

 other conditions such as were thought to be necessary by Messrs. Blan- 

 ford and Murray, *vould have been without sanction so long as Sir 

 J. Eliot controlled meteorological work in India. Before proceeding to 

 consider the striking changes which passed over Bengal from the north 

 previous to the unexpected burst of rainfall in Northern India in Octo- 

 ber, I will give an illustration which appears to me to show in a simple 

 way the great need there is for investigating the condition which Mr, 

 Blanford, by observation and reasoning, found to be indispensable to an 

 accurate estimate of coming weather. 



The atmosphere is, on a large scale, nothing more than a conden- 

 sing engine, the lower part constituting the boiler, the upper part the 

 condenser. In settled weather there appears to be little or no passage 

 of air from the lower to the upper sections of the atmosphere, and in 

 an area of settled weather the air currents move on steadily and inde- 

 pendently, and frequently, if not always, in opposite directions. Through 

 some action which is never absent from some part of the atmosphere these 

 currents interfere, cyclonic motion begins, ascensional motion follows, and 

 the moisture laden air passes from the boiler to the condenser. Rainfall 

 will then begin provided that conditions in the upper strata of the atmos- 

 phere are favourable to condensation. It is as regards this requirement 

 that marked cleavage of opinion exists between Mr. Blanford and Sir 

 J. Eliot. The former early saw that in any discussion of rainfall the 

 condition of the condenser or upper strata of the atmosphere cannot be 

 overlooked, and he has put on record his opinion that information on 

 that head cannot be expected from the observers who furnish our regis- 

 ters of observations. The latter has relied entirely on these registers. 

 When they failed he has said that the conditions were not determined 



