SUNSPOTS AND BRITISH WEATHER. 
247 
required to arouse the enthusiasm of another class of workers. 
From a practical point of view, Sunspots seem to he a failure. 
It is undeniable, from the evidence of the Edinburgh Return 
quoted above, that taken through a long series of years, the rain- 
fall apparently increases and decreases with the number of spots 
on the surface of the Sun ; but in the cycle of eleven years we 
have had under discussion, the variation in the number of spots 
was very exceptionally marked, and during the period excep- 
tionally hot and exceptionally wet years occurred, yet in neither 
case was there any apparent connection between these abnormal 
conditions and the state of solar physics. It follows, then, that 
if it is necessary to have averages extending over half a century 
in order to be able to show even a slight variation of the rain- 
fall with the number of Sunspots, and if, even then, it is pos- 
sible to have an exceedingly dry year at the epoch of maximum 
Sunspots, it is evident that to undertake, at any particular time, 
important operations dependent on the weather for their success, 
on account of the indications of the solar cycle, would be run- 
ning the risk of almost certain disappointment. Whether fur- 
ther investigations of astronomers will disclose other cycles than 
that of eleven years, it is impossible to say, but any cosmical 
or other changes which may assist meteorologists in their 
hitherto vain attempts to forecast approaching seasons will be 
welcomed with enthusiasm, and will be sure of an attentive and 
favourable investigation. That the approach of such wet sea- 
sons, as it was our fate to pass through last year, will one day 
be foretold in ample time to take every necessary precaution, I 
feel sure ; but that this timely warning will not be given by 
considerations of the year’s position in an eleven- year cycle 
of solar spots, I am reluctantly compelled to believe. 
