MEETINGS OF SOCIETIES. 257 
cargill Harbour,” by Mr. J. T. Thomson. In this paper it was 
explained that the walls, on completion, would make the channel 
of the same width as that of the Tyne at Newcastle. When 
finished they will be 2,000 feet in length, and by harrowing down 
channel at half-tide, a depth of 11 feet will be obtained at the 
town, where it is 8 feet at present. Unless the materials became 
too heavy it will not be necessary to dredge. On formation ot 
the walls on the Bushy Point Flats, a depth of 15 feet will be 
obtained, which is the depth at present on the bar, and sufficient 
to allow of vessels of moderate size coming up to the jetty. The 
author strongly insisted on the tidal area above the town being 
strictly guarded from encroachment; and as it is of considerable 
extent, the advantages in assisting the scour are enormous. 
Dunedin was pointed out as an instance of the fatal mistake made 
in not doing so; hence the necessity of dredging off the bar the 
equivalent deposited at the town by reclamation works. The 
author also mentioned that he had never seen the New River bar 
in a worse condition than it is at present—his soundings showing 
only 15 feet; whereas in 1858 they were 28 feet, and in 1851, by 
the Admiralty, 24 feet. There was a good attendance, and con- 
siderable discussion followed the reading of the paper. 
fovAln SOCIETY OF NEW: SOUTH WALES, 
Sydney, 14th June, 1882. | 
Paper—‘ Tropical Rains,” by H. C. Russell, F.R.S. The 
paper was compiled from rain records collected in the colony for 
many years. Many of these records were from private individuals 
(some 270 observers forwarding their rain observations), and from 
wide-spread localities in Australia. After a detailed description 
of the great rain-storm of February of this year, and a comparison 
of the weather with that of the same month in former years, the 
author suggests that some outside cause becomes effective in 
inducing heavy rainfalls when the earth reaches this particular 
part of its orbit. This cause gives rise to a sudden fall of tem- 
perature in the Northern Hemisphere at that period of the year, 
a fact which is verified by all meteorological evidence—for in- 
stance, in the observations of the pupils of Galileo. These 
observations extend from 1655 to 1670, and show that the minimum 
was reached on February 12, and the author had before pointed 
out that the same remarkable phenomenon is observable in 
’ Australian registers. In searching for a cause several Continental 
astronomers have not hesitated to say that there is little doubt 
that it is the intervention between the sun and the earth of great 
numbers of meteors; and the celebrated M..Erman pointed out 
that if the well-known meteor stream through which the earth 
passes in August is really a flat ring of meteors—as it probably is 
—revolving round the sun, then it would cross the ecliptic in such 
a position that part of it would be interposed between the sun and 
the earth from the 5th to the 11th of February, and so partially 
eclipse the sun, cutting off from the earth his light and heat; and 
Mr Erman considered himself justified by his investigations into 
meteorological records in saying that it did do so. The author 
has been for some years convinced that this is the only satisfactory 
explanation of the fall of temperature in February, and that 
