SCIENTIFIC SUMMARY. 
119 
METEOROLOGY. 
Mr. Glaisher’ s Observations . — On Saturday evening, December 9th, Mr. 
Glaisher made his second balloon ascent by night from Greenwich, and came 
down in Bedfordshire. The results were very different from those of the 
preceding night ascent, but the conditions were quite different. In the first 
case the sky was cloudless ; in the latter it was covered with cloud. Some 
of the clouds were within 1,000 feet of the earth ; one such cloud was over 
London ; so that, although passing north of London near to it, and not in 
cloud themselves, the aerial voyagers did not see a single light or any effects, 
of London lights. This cloud did not extend to Greenwich, for the lights at 
Woolwich and Greenwich were very brilliant. The contrast in this respect 
between the two ascents was very great ; while passing over the country in 
the first ascent, the reflection of the moonbeams, lighting up the river and 
many other solitary sheets of water over the country, was seen, suddenly 
bright, and as suddenly leaving them in darkness, and brightening up others. 
These successive illuminations were quite wanting on the second ascent ; the 
moon herself was invisible, the earth was covered in many places with 
detached clouds far below, some of large extent, covering many miles of 
country, and others of small extent ; while above, the sky was uniformly 
black, and kept this appearance throughout, even when they were one mile 
high. The upper clouds, Mr. Glaisher thinks, must have been very high. 
Although, however, the moon and its effects were wanting, there were many 
highly interesting views of the distribution of cloud and of the different 
effects of the diffused light on woods and fields, which prevail over the earth. 
Mr. Glaisher says boundaries of fields could be seen even at the greatest 
elevation, and enabled him satisfactorily to determine his path by noting the 
angle at which the balloon crossed fields in comparison with the position of 
the magnet-needle. 
The British Rainfall . — We have received the subjoined communication 
from Mr. G. J. Symons relative to this matter. In speaking of the importance 
of statistics, he observes : — “ It is now some years since I began collecting 
returns of the fall of rain — with what success I will mention presently, but 
my main difficulty has been to find out the persons who keep such records, 
and one of the most obvious sources of assistance is the public press ; I now, 
therefore, ask from each and every journal in the British isles their all- 
powerful aid. When the collection was first organized in 1860, scarcely 200 
persons were known to observe and record the rainfall ; by steady perse- 
verance, and the aid of a portion of the press, the number has been raised 
until there are now more than 1,200 places whence returns are regularly 
received. Still I know there are many more, probably hundreds, who have 
either never heard of the establishment of a central depot to which copies 
of all rain records should be sent, or they have been too diffident to send 
them. It is of paramount importance to gather these, and make the tables 
yet more complete. I therefore beg leave through your columns to ask 
every reader to think for a moment if he or she knows of any one who keeps 
or has kept a rain-gauge ; or who has any tables of rainfall (or old weather 
