308 



Dr. 0. Cliree on Deductions from 



reference to the fact- in the ' Observatory/ I waited to see 

 exactly what his conclusions were. Having now read the 

 paper, I find that there are so many points on which I differ 

 from Mr. Maunder, both as regards the facts and as regards 

 the inferences to be drawn, that it has seemed worth while to 

 put my views on record. 



§ 2. In Table XIV. of his third paper, Mr. Maunder 

 analyses the times of commencement of magnetic storms, 

 treating separately 1882 to 1903 * (the period dealt with in his 

 first paper) and 1848 to 1881 (the period of his second paper). 

 As the corresponding table which I had formed agrees sub- 

 stantially with Mr. Maunder's, I omit it and pass to the 

 following Table I. For brevity it gives only the total 

 number of disturbances for the twelve hours to 11 a.m., 

 but it subdivides Mr. Maunder's two periods of years to 

 bring out certain points. Five storms to which no hour of 

 commencement was assigned are omitted. 



Table I. 





Numbers 



of disturbances commencing 



at hours stated. 







Years. 



i 



to 11 A.M. 



Noon . 



1 



2 3 



4 5 6 



1 



7 j 8 



9 



10 



11 



Total. ! 



1848-o8 



22 



7 



6 



8 9 ! 15 14 ! 12 



14 6 



9 



o 



5 



132 



1859-69 



37 



3 



9 



13 14 



11 17 24 



16 ; 10 



8 8 



10 



180 



1870-81 



37 



o 



I 7 



5 7 



13 11 | 9 



13 10 



7 | 3 



9 



133 



1882-92 



42 



6 



20 



17 12 



11 6 11 



14 6 



6 ! 3 



5 



159 



1893-1903 



29 



17 



20 



12 9 



8 4 



4 



2 4 



3 | 3 



2 



117 



1848-81 



96 



12 



22 



26 30 



39 42 



45 



43 26 



24 16 



24 



445 



1882-1903 



71 



23 



40 



29 21 



19 10 



35 



16 10 



9 6 



7 



276 



1848-1903 



167 



35 



62 



55 51 



58 52 60 



I 



59 ; 36 



33 22 



31 



721 



1848-81 



22 





Percentages of Totals. 



S v — 



~~2tt~ 









58 



1882-1903 



26 





63 





12 







1848-1903 



23 





60 



1 



17 







Mr. Maunder's explanation (I. c. p. 670) of the striking- 

 difference between the results for the periods 1882 to 1903 and 

 1848 to 1881 is that "In (his) Table I. (disturbance data from 

 1882 to 1903) the times were taken from the reproductions... 

 in the plates of the Greenwich volumes, and these in the 

 majority of cases began with Greenwich noon ; hence the 



* There are a few trifling differences between Mr. Maunder's hourly 

 figures and those which 1 had previously given in 'Terrestrial Magnetism,' 

 due presumably to difference of choice made in cases where the commence- 

 ment was ascribed to an exact half-hour. 



