DE RANGE : UNDERGROUND WATER-SUPPLY AND RIVER FLOODS. 201 
ance of which we cannot see." In the current volume of British 
Rainfall, Mr. Symons calls attention that the fourth decade of his 
rainfall work commences with the new year ; the separate observers, 
irrespective of corporate bodies, amount to no less than 2,200 ; the 
number of stations have been raised to 2,700 ; the modest four-page 
pamphlet of 1861 has been developed into a volume of 200 closely- 
printed pages, while its production necessitated the annual receipt 
and issue of more than 30,000 documents ; the cost of the publica- 
tion of the results ; the salaries of observers in districts where volun- 
teers cannot be obtained ; the payment of two regular clerks and for 
extra assistance at times of pressure, for printing and posting is 
entirely defrayed by annual subscriptions of the general public ; and 
of about 300 of the observing staff. 
When the importance of these observations and their bearing on 
the well-being of the nation is realized, it appears an anomalous 
condition of affairs that no assistance should be provided by the 
nation for a matter of such grave national importance ; for though 
there is no reason to suppose there will, in the future, be a lack of 
observers who will give their time and contribute to the expense of 
tabulating their observations, there are two serious drawbacks, first, 
that the whole organization is kept together by a volunteer chief, 
and is dependent for its continuity on his industry, self-abnegation, 
personal influence, and good health : second, that funds are not avail- 
able to send out trained inspectors of rain-gauges, or to compute and 
print the local averages of rainfall, for which ample material is now 
collected. 
Looking to the fact that rain is the source of all fresh water ob- 
tainable, whether flowing at the surface, issuing as springs, stored in 
reservoirs, reached in borings, present in the bodies of men and 
animals, whether consumed by them, absorbed by agricultural crops, 
utilized in manufacturing processes, the purposes of inland navigation, 
the preservation of fisheries, the production of steam, or electric 
energy. The annual volume of Mr. Symons may be regarded as a 
record of the Nation's " Water Capital " for the year, of which a 
certain proportion has to be written off as " loss," evaporation into 
the atmosphere of perhaps a third, before the record of it is in print, 
