794 



January 25, 181:9. 

 Sir R. H. INGLIS, Bart., Vice-President, in the Chain 



The following papers were read: — 1. Some remarks on a paper 

 entitled " On the Depth of Rain which falls in the same localities at 

 different Altitudes in the Hilly districts of Lancashire, Cheshire, &c., 

 by S. C. Homersham, C.E." By John Fletcher Miller, Esq. Com- 

 municated by Lieut.-Col. Sabine, R.A., For. Sec. R.S. 



The author, after alluding to the discordance between the con- 

 clusions at which he had arrived from a discussion of his meteoro- 

 logical observations in the lake district of Cumberland and West- 

 moreland, described in a former paper, and those drawn from the 

 same facts by Mr. Homersham, in a paper read before the Society 

 on the 25th of May last, states that the results for the year 1848 

 show a precisely similar gradation to those of the two preceding 

 years ; and that the whole of the observations appear to warrant the 

 conclusion v^'hich he had ventured to draw from those detailed in 

 his former paper. 



He remarks that, as the rain-gauges are, with one exception, si- 

 tuated on the high mountains surrounding the head of the Yale of 

 Wastdale, this valley is the only one which can fairly be selected as 

 a standard in comparing the quantities of rain obtained at the diffei- 

 ent mountain stations. The discordance between his conclusions and 

 those arrived at by Mr. Homersham, he considers, has arisen from 

 that gentleman having selected the distant and excessively wet loca- 

 lity of Seathwaite at the head of the southern fork of Borrowdale, 

 as a representative of the quantity of water deposited in the valleys 

 generally. 



If the receipts of the mountain gauges, he observes, be compared 

 with the rain -fall at Wastdale Head, or in any of the other valleys 

 except Seathwaite, it will be found that the quantity increases con- 

 siderably up to 1900 feet, where it reaches a maximum; and that 

 above this elevation it rapidly decreases, until at 2800 feet above the 

 sea the amount is very much less than in the surrounding valleys. 



In conclusion, the author states that it appears to him, that much 

 of the discordance in the results obtained at various elevations amongst 

 the mountains has arisen from the circumstance of the instruments 

 having been placed on the slope or breast of the hill nearly in a line 

 with each other; in which positions, he is convinced from experi- 

 ence, that when strong winds prevail, the gauges are exposed to eddies 

 or counter-currents, which prevent a portion of the water from enter- 

 ing the funnel, and thus a less depth of rain is obtained than is due 

 to the elevation. 



The gauges under his superintendence being all stationed either 

 on the top or shoulder ot" the mountain, and exposed to the wind 

 from every point of the compass, are not, he observes, open to this 

 objection. 



2. S'upi;lcmcnt to a paper 'On the Theory of certain Bands seen 



