DR DAVY ON THE RAIN-FALL IN THE LAKE-DISTRICT. 67 



5. The total amount of rain greatly in excess ; the excess, with few excep- 

 tions, increasing towards the higher mountains of the district, and especially at 

 Seathwaite in Borrowdale, a spot nearly central amongst them. 



This excess of rain at all the stations, I may remark, has not only been con- 

 siderable, but even unprecedented. Mr John Dixon, the observer at Seathwaite, 

 states, that there the quantity registered has " exceeded any former year, for the 

 last fifteen years, by 22 inches," — this period comprising, I believe, the whole time 

 that a record of the rain fallen has been liept there : and from Mr W. Rumney, 

 in the employ of James Garth Marshall, Esq., I learn that the rain-fall this year 

 at Coniston is as much as 23 inches in excess of the average of the last twenty- 

 five years. 



I need hardly remark that such an excess of rain, especially the fall in 

 November, was productive of floods. These, though they occasioned some 

 damage, have been less destructive than might have been expected, probably 

 owing to the peculiar features of the country, the many receptacles for water, 

 such as the lakes afford, and the ready discharge of water, where there are 

 no lakes, through well worn and deep water-courses : moreover, the agricul- 

 tural character of the district — so much of it pastoral, so little of it broken up by 

 the plough — may have been another safeguard. 



A rainy, cool season, is commonly a healthy one. This year has not, I believe, 

 been an exception. The liealth of the inhabitants generally, from all I can learn, 

 has been equal to, if not above the average. I have not heard of any unusual 

 sickness during the months of most rain, except at Keswick and at Bowness, at 

 each of which I am informed typhus or typhoid fever has prevailed, and has been 

 in several instances fatal. The occurrence of the disease in both has been attri- 

 buted, and probably justly, to neglected drainage, and to the neglect of other 

 sanitary measures, in Keswick especially, in the lower part of the town, which is 

 subject to being flooded. I shall now proceed to my main subject. 



The observations which I have made on the composition of rain-water were 

 begun in August 1 860, and, with occasional interruptions when from home, have 

 been continued up to the present time — and this daily, whenever there has been 

 any rain. 



Two methods have been employed in conducting them, one microscopical, the 

 other chemical. 



First, Of the Microscojncal — These observations have been made either on 

 single drops of rain, or on two or three collected on a glass-slide, and evaporated 

 to dryness at a low temperature, and, as soon as dry, subjected to the micro- 

 scope, using an object-glass either of one-eighth, or of a quarter of an inch focal 

 distance. Oftener, however, a larger quantity of rain-water has been employed, 

 taken from the rain-gauge, viz., one or two measures, the measure holding 

 twenty-five grains of water, which has been evaporated in a watch-glass, and 



VOL. XXIII. PART I. Q 



