318 DR BARNES ON THE AVERAGE QUANTITY OF 



arrangement of nature ; for if there were not very heavy falls of rain during the 

 excessive heats of summer, the ground would be exhausted of moisture, and 

 vegetation entirely at a stand." 



There is a remarkable difference between the Journals of the late Dr 

 Carlyle and Mr Pitt, in regard to the mean annual quantity of rain. Both 

 Journals were kept at Carlisle, and both of the gentlemen, I have reason to 

 believe, were careful and accurate observers. According to Dr Carlyle's 

 Journal, the average annual quantity of rain is 24396 inches, and according to 

 Mr Pitt's it is 30*571 inches. How is this to be accounted for ? Has the 

 climate of this country undergone some change % It is evident from an inspection 

 of the Journals, or of the Tables formed from them, that the quantity of rain is 

 different in different years, and that sometimes there are a few wet years and 

 sometimes a few dry years in succession. Is this the case with long periods of 

 time ? So that Dr Carlyle's Journal may have been kept when there was a 

 dry series of years, and Mr Pitt's when there was a wet series % Perhaps the 

 difference may be explained by their rain-gauges being placed in different 

 situations. Dr Carlyle's gauge was placed at the head of Abbey Street, 82 

 feet above the sea-level, higher than Mr Pitt's, which was kept in Shaddongate, 

 40 feet above the sea-level. It has been frequently remarked, that when one 

 rain-gauge is placed on the top of a high tower, and another at the bottom, more 

 rain falls into the lower gauge than into the higher one. But there is another 

 reason which may be assigned for the difference. The situation of Dr Carlyle's 

 rain-gauge was in the vicinity of his dwelling-house, which would occasionally 

 prevent some rain falling into the gauge. It was placed on a wall on the S.W. 

 side of his house. This I am inclined to consider the principal cause of the 

 difference of the two Journals. Still the difference of altitude between Abbey 

 Street and Shaddongate might have considerable effect, and may in some 

 measure account for the different results. These causes, however, would have 

 very little influence on the comparative monthly averages of the fall of rain. 



The Cumberland Infirmary stands on elevated ground on the S. side of the 

 river Eden, 30 feet above the bed of the river, and about one mile N.W. of my 

 garden at Carlisle, which is nearly of the same height as the site of the Cathedral. 

 For several years I kept a rain-gauge at each place, constructed on the plan 

 recommended in Brewster's Cyclopedia, and I always found a greater fall of 

 rain at the former than at the latter place. The following is the quantity 

 registered at each place in the years 1837 and 1838, and shows the difference 

 of rain-fall at these two places in these years : — 



