1884.] 
Analyses of Books. 
101 
i f the , SUn ' S P ots foll ° w a d e™n- 
1 ^ with which the above-mentioned terrestrial 
Z7ZoZZ de ’ B h \ study of solar >’ hysics —TEhe 
oi?en yeaTwi he ,J Z l ts , means we ma 7 foresee whether any 
cyclones and we J> ' ma " y ° r by few tart hr]uakcs and 
accorSingly may ,n SOme res P edls ™dify our condudl 
I; ‘ h e s se " se ~ as , ! v,r as prediction of the weather is concerned 
olfte SS ? a F re a ‘ ' east an a ‘ “ » a" 
ui ine wnnstian eia. Even if, on further inquiry, the apparent 
connectton Detween the sun-spot cycle and the earthquakehvcle 
should not be capable of demonstration, the inquiry is^ot mere ° 
CSnb Ret' ' e - A " e « a,ive r6Sult “ 3 
to uncertainty Hence we must pronounce the subiedt of Mr 
has 
More loan a cycle has passed over since we have had a reallv 
havlf ahke d fa?ie V d e t Se h S?n ' The , m f imum and minimum epochs 
nave alike tailed to bring us relief. From some instances we 
might conclude that the years immediately following the mini- 
mum should be the best. Thus 1867 was marked as a minimum 
It was followed by 1868, the hottest and driest summer <rf recent' 
tones, with the finest wheat-crop both as to quanthy and qiahtv 
Tne t wo following seasons, 1869 and 1870, though notequa To 
1868, were yet fine and bountiful. In 1870 apples were so n en 
to fU the n pSs ny But‘i S f 0f E f ngland l hat ,he y were thrown in despair 
a different tale it, * the neXl minimum - 1878, we find 
a mne rent tale. Its successor was “ cruel ’70 perhaps the 
most disastrous year for the farmer on record. 79 P P 
Perhaps the greatest difficulty which has to be overcome in 
establishing weather- and harvest-cycles, lies in the fa” that 
ItCrV' ‘ he Same h^-Phere, but even of', t' 
same continent, may have seasons very different in character 
Thus during the summer of tSSz cold and wet devastated Britain 
Prance, Switzerland, Italy, and Germany. At lire same time 
a bountifk ha?ve a st? nd TUrkey enj ° yed a warm ’ dry seas0 "- and 
in I?"" - W0U ^ seem that a plurality of causes must co-operate 
1 dete rmming the character of the weather. A further point to 
be considered is that the harvest is little affedted by the total 
rainfall of the year or the annual mean temperature. 3 It mav be 
said to be, in England at least, diredtly as the temperature and 
veisely as the rainfall of the summer months. Mr. Swinton 
makes the admission “ It does not therefore appear that we 
Mr St W f ?f t a at al l the S?eat fr ° StS ° f histor y recapitulated by 
Mi. Walford as happening between 401 and 1874 invariablv 
dosed in the cold years. Perhaps a/the sun-spo^^edoTwe 
