76 : H. C. RUSSELL. 
and eight on record ; but this is not all, for the drought E which 
is irregular in Australia, seems to be more definite and important 
in the northern hemisphere, and twenty-six more out of the two 
hundred and eight fit into E series making up the number to one 
hundred and ninety-three out of the total of two hundred and 
eight. 
In estimating the importance of these figures, it must be 
remembered that North and South America, Russia, China, Persia, 
Turkey, Austria and Australia, before 1788, all subject to 
frequent drought, yet did not furnish to the numbers quoted 
more droughts than you could count on your fingers, and it may 
be fairly assumed that if we had these records, and especially if 
history had made a point of recording droughts, we should have 
had drought recorded on every recurrence of the A and D nine- 
teen years’ cycle, but I think the evidence, that history furnishes 
one hundred and ninety-three recorded droughts every one of 
which fits into the cycle, justifies us in assuming that the nine- 
teen years’ cycle has been running for at least one thousand years, 
and may be trusted to continue and justify forecasts based upon it 
_ for some time to come. 
Having got so much from a study of A and D in the Christian 
era, it seemed desirable to see if there were any recorded in B.C. 
times and the following were found: one drought in Abraham’s 
time given as 1920 B.C., does not fit into the cycle. ' 
(1) Gen. xxvi. 1, in the time of Isaac, 1,804 B.C., 3,632 years 
before A; this interval is a multiple of nineteen years, 7.¢., 
19 x 181 +3. 
(2) Gen. xli. 54, Pharaoh’s (seven years), 3,536 years before A 
=19 x 186 +2. 
(3) II. Sam. xxi. 1, David’s time, 2,849 years before A= 
19 x 150+1. 
(4) I. Kings xvii. 1, Elijah’s drought, 2,736 _— before A= 
19 x 144. 
(5) II. Kings viii. 1, Elisha’s drought, 2,717 years before A= 
Toe REG 
