304 On the Revolution of the Seasons. £ April, 



consequent upon drought. These are not uncommon at the pre- 

 sent day in low latitudes. In Australia, for instance, ' frightful 

 droughts occur in cycles of 9 or 10 years,' — (see Westminster Review, 

 No. 45, July 1835, p. 223, and again p. 224 ;) and that such always 

 have occurred in India, the history of the country abundantly shews. 

 Perhaps the most remarkable one upon record is that which took place 

 in Bengal in the year 1770. (See Mill's History for the particulars 

 of this.) Now we have in the 1st vol. of the Gleanings, a list of the 

 prices of different kinds of grain at Chinsurah in Bengal, from which 

 we find that, in that year, rice was so dear that only 3 seers of it were 

 sold for 1 rupee. If we examine this list further, we shall see that 

 from the year 1 733, the years of scarcity, or minimum quantity, and 

 the intervals between them, were as follow : — 



Years, 1733.. .. 1752.. . 1770.. .. 1788.. .. 1807. 



Intervals,. ... 19 18 18 19. 



If we add to the upper line, 1826, we have altogether 5 intervals 

 of between 18 and 19 years for the recurrence of scarcities in Bengal. 

 From 1733 to 1826 is 93 years, which divided by 5 gives 18| years. 

 There are some, but faint, traces of scarcities intermediate to these. 

 We must remember that 18! years is very nearly the duration of the 

 Lunar Cycle. 



Having proceeded thus far, we next ascertained by inquiry the 

 dates of the principal scarcities that had occurred in the upper pro- 

 vinces within the memory of man. They are — 



1782-3—1792-3—1802-3—1812-13—1819-20—1826—1832-3. 



It will be observed that the recurrences here are nearly twice as 

 frequent as in the former case. 



The year 1829 being the year of minimum declination, the years 

 corresponding to it in the previous cycles will be 1811 and 1792; 

 and 1820 being the year of maximum declination, the years corre- 

 sponding to it in the previous cyles will be 1802 and 1783. Thus we 

 have a scarcity in each year of maxmium declination, besides another 

 on, or close upon, the year of minimum declination, and in the case 

 of 1829 a double one, viz. 1826 and 1832. We shall revert to this 



presently. 



On obtaining one or two lists of the prices of corn, it was found, as 

 might be expected, that these were the years when the least quantity 

 was sold for a given sum ; and that, intervening, about midway, were 

 years of extraordinary plenty, when the greatest abundance every 

 where prevailed. So that it appeared as if the prices would form a 

 curve of which the maxima and minima recurred at fixed intervals of 



