91 
the air is continually flowing outwards to the surrounding 
districts of lower pressure, and round the anticyclones we 
have a series of winds moving round in the direction of the 
hands of the clock. So regular are these movements that 
it is safe to say that if we stand with our backs to the wind 
the barometer is lower on our left than on our right. 
The common rules of sailors, founded on observation 
without scientific knowledge, will be found to be fairly accurate. 
The Lecturer instanced, among others, the couplet 
“ Long foretold, long last, 
Short notice, soon past.” — 
as illustrating the difference between a cyclone of large dia- 
meter and a narrow one. 
As to whether these wind disturbances mean rain or not, 
no general rules can be laid down, as the local configuration 
of the country has a good deal to do with the rain in each 
district. With the aid of general theory and particular 
knowledge of local circumstances each district can form fairly 
accurate rules of its own. 
The Lecturer concluded with a note of regret that the 
collection and publication of information relating to the 
British rainfall had been left by an indifferent State to private 
enterprise. The organisation for recording our rainfall was 
founded by a private person and supported by private sub- 
scriptions. The Lecturer himself, when in Ireland, had 
endeavoured to get established a system of recording the 
rainfall of each district at the local police offices ; the Chief 
of Police would have given permission for his men to do 
the work, which was easy and not uninteresting ; but on 
applying to the Government he got merely an approval of 
his scheme and an inquiry as to whether he could indicate 
any source from which funds could be obtained for the pur- 
chase of rain-gauges. “ There was nothing for me to do,” 
concluded the Lecturer, “ but to send the correspondence 
to the press and to add John Ruskin’s comment — 
‘ We have despised science.’ ” 
