98 E. Loomis—Observations of the U. S. Signal Service. 
question by a comparison of observations. The most satisfac- 
tory course would probably be to determine the position of the 
rain-center with reference to the point of least pressure, for a 
large number of cases in Kurope and America; but unless we 
take all the storms of a year indiscriminately, we might be 
charged with having selected cases for the purpose of establish- 
ing a preconceived hypothesis. I have therefore adopted a 
different method, and have taken all those stations both in 
Europe and in the United States for which I could obtain a 
record of the rain-fall, as well as of the barometer, more than 
three times a day. I then divided the rain of each month into 
1840 to 1845. For three years the observations were made 
hourly and for the other year once in two hours. 2. Hourly 
observations at Valencia, Armagh, Glasgow, Aberdeen, Fal- 
mouth, Stonyhurst and Kew for 1874. 3. Observations eight 
times a day at Paris for 1877. 4. Observations once in two 
hours at Brussels for six months of 1879. 5. Hourly observa- 
tions at Prague for 1865, ’66 and ’69. 6. Hourly observations 
at Vienna for 1854, 55 and 56. These are all the stations 10 
Europe and America for which I have been able to obtain 
observations of the rain-fall and barometer more frequently than 
three timesa day. The results are shown in the following table, 
and are all expressed in English inches. When the observations 
at any station were continued more than one year, the average 
fall for all the years has been taken. The first column under 
each station shows the monthly fall of rain while the barometer 
was descending, and the second column shows the fall of rain 
while the barometer was rising. At the bottom of the table 1s 
shown the total fall for the year, and the last line shows thé 
ratio of the total numbers in the two columns. 
