on the Climate and Agriculture of the British Isles. T)? 
The Amount and Distribution of Rain. — Thus far wo have 
traced the winter warmth and humid wind from their birthplace 
on the ocean to our western shores : it remains to show the manner 
in which the vapour is condensed into rain, and its unccjual dis- 
tribution ovc^r the broken surface of the country. This subject de- 
mands a more searching investigation than it has hitherto received, 
and good recorded observations of rainfall have so multiplied 
during the past ten years, as to supply in all necessary details its 
amount and distribution through the year. Indeed the difficulty 
now is to reduce the formidable amount of figures within judicious 
limits, and into such an arranged form as will best convey a full 
knowledge of this element of our climate, without cumbering the 
Tables with superfluous matter. To this end I purpose to work 
out the results of observations on rainfall which I commenced in 
the south-west of l^^ngland twelve years ago, and to apply the 
deductions therefrom more generally toother parts of the country, 
keeping in view, without tabulating in detail, the observations 
which cluster in other districts, and taking also into consideration 
the physical contour of the surface and its exposure to the rain- 
bearing wind. 
In 1855, with the co-operation of several gentlemen and some 
ladies (who proved excellent observers), I established the follow- 
ing lines of rain-gauges, the stations being selected with reference 
to exposure and altitude. One line of gauges extended from the 
Scilly Isles through Cornwall to Dartmoor, and from thence, with 
the aid of other observers, to the Eastern counties ; a second 
from the lowland at the estuary of the Taw, Devon, over part of 
Exmoor, to the vale of Taunton and the Blackdown hills ; and a 
third from the sea at Brentinarsh, by the Mendip hills and Frome 
to Salisbury Plain. The daily readings of the gauges were sent 
me monthly, and they are reduced in the following Table and 
combined with such other records of rainfall as would work into 
the lines. I have further added the monthly means from other 
important stations, so as to give a complete and general view 
of the distribution of rain throughout the year over the whole 
kingdom. (See Table VII., pp. 58-61.) 
The generally received opinion that more rain falls on the 
western hills than on the eastern plains is fully confirmed by 
these rain-gauge investigations ; but even those who have given 
much attention to the subject have rather underrated than other- 
wise the relative amounts and the enormous quantities which 
fall on the western hills. 
In the year 1866, while about 25 inches fell on the eastern 
lowlands, on the hills of North Wales the amount measured was 
127 inches; on the Cumberland mountains 224 inches; and on 
the western Highlands of Scotland 144 inches. 
The 
