416 
Recent  British.  Weather. 
Therefore,  whichever  way  these  figures  are  considered,  the 
same  general  feature  becomes  evident,  viz.,  lower  summer 
temperature  than  usual. 
If  we  turn  to  tables  of  extremes,  we  learn  a somewhat  similar 
lesson.  On  the  average  of  the  20  years,  1859-78,  the  temperature 
on  some  one  day  during  each  year  reached  88°-4. 
Table  IV. — Highest  Temperature  in  Shade,  in  each  of  the  last 
Ten  Years,  and  Number  of  Days  on  which  it  exceeded  80°. 
Year. 
Date. 
Absolute 
Maximum 
Temperature. 
Days 
above  80°. 
1873 
July  22nd 
o 
90*1 
10 
1874 
July  20th 
90-8 
16 
1875 
August  16th  .. 
86-1 
8 
1876 
July  15th 
92-6 
25 
1877 
July  31st 
87-1 
16 
1878 
June  26th 
86-5 
12 
1879 
July  30th 
80-2 
1 
1880 
September  4th 
88-3 
5 
1881 
July  15th 
94-6 
19 
1882 
August  6th 
80-8 
2 
1883* 
June  29th 
85-6* 
4* 
* Up  to  July  26tli. 
Out  of  the  24  years  there  have  been  12  in  which  the  extreme 
temperature  did  not  reach  the  average,  and  of  these  6 have  been 
in  the  above  10  years,  being  of  course  more  than  there  should 
have  been,  but  only  one  more.  The  extremely  low  maxima  in 
1879  and  1882  are  without  precedent,  except  in  the  sunless 
summer  of  1860,  when  the  absolute  maximum  was  76°T  in  May. 
A very  good  notion  of  the  warmth  of  a summer  is  afforded  by 
the  number  of  days  on  which  the  temperature  exceeds  80° ; the 
20  years  average  is  17,  it  will  be  seen  above  that  the  average 
has  been  reached  only  twice  during  the  last  10  years,  and  the 
average  is  11  instead  of  17. 
Rainfall. 
As  already  pointed  out  in  an  earlier  part  of  this  article,  it  is 
not  so  much  the  total  quantity  of  rain  which  falls,  as  its  distri- 
bution, which  is  of  vital  moment  to  agriculture.  The  total  fall 
has,  however,  during  the  last  few  years  been  so  excessive,  that 
1 feel  bound  to  treat  the  subject  rather  fully.  At  the  same 
time,  as  it  is  impossible  to  give  here  all  the  steps  which  have 
been  necessary  preliminaries  to  the  calculations  and  conclusions 
which  1 intend  to  give,  1 am  obliged  to  insert  merely  a precis 
