THE EFFECT OF POLAR ICE ON THE WEATHER. 181 



my interest in it. Also in 1888 when Mr. Egeson, work- 

 ing on carefully collated data as to sun-spots, promulgated 

 his forecast that "the following three years would be 

 years of excessive drought in Australia,'* I did my best to 

 stem the scare which this caused in the pastoral industry, 

 with which I was directly connected. Having noticed that 

 ships, passing between the colonies and Cape Horn, had 

 reported much ice, unusually far north, I very publicly 

 expressed my opinion, based on my earlier observations, 

 " that we might rather expect three years of excessive 

 moisture," in fact, "backing ice-bergs against sun-spots." 

 The three, even four, following years, as it happened, proved 

 to be almost the wettest we had known. On the average, 

 as then standing, of 49*23 inches, 1889 showed 57*26 ; 1890 

 81*42 (the maximum on record); 1891, 55*30 ; 1892, 69*26 ; 

 in all 66*22 inches, or 16*50 inches per annum, above the 

 previous mean at Sydney Observatory. 



My views met then with no official support, the only 

 remark I noticed was one of ridicule — "that the effect of 

 the shifting ice, in the Southern Ocean could have no more 

 to do with the climate of New South Wales than an ice 

 chest in our back yard," However I could afford to wait. 



I will make but one extract from recent writers to show 

 how modern data, and the train of modern thought, leave 

 me little to be ashamed of in my early views. The dis- 

 tinguished scientist Baron von Richthofen wrote, shortly 

 before his death in 1905 : — 



" We can guess that the greater or less heaping up of ice round 

 the poles may explain the changes in the climates of the world. 

 We know, from careful observations, that the beautiful heights of 

 pur Alps already show that their ice covering is diminishing. The 

 same thing is taking place in the Andes of Ecuador, and on 

 Kilimanjaro — in the Arctic regions the recession of the ice has 

 been noticed. . . . All points to a general drying up. It is 



