1884.] Jottings in Solar Physics. 269 
Government “ Blue Book ” on the subject, the misconcep- 
tions of the compiler being used as an argument against the 
endowment of research. “ How is it,” asks the reviewer, 
“that a year exceptionally wet in Britain was exceptionally 
dry in Mauritius ? At Calcutta, the rainfall in the maximum 
year was very considerably less than in either of the minimum 
years, while at a large number of stations the year after the 
maximum was wetter than the maximum year itself.” The 
answer to these arguments evidently is, there never was a 
general rule without local exception. As a point in facft the 
writer states that the heaviest British rainfalls in the century 
have been in 1852, 1866, and 1872, quoting the “ Astrono- 
mical Register ” for August, and he enquires how any phase 
in the sun-spots is here indicated. At the outset, however, 
this is evidently a manifest discrepancy with Symon’s Table 
of British Rainfall, which gives 1852, i860, and 1872 as the 
wettest years. But in reality both quotations must be 
qualified, since the rainfall diagram requires to be equalised 
in the same manner as the chart of magnetic variation before 
the causation can be properly seen ; and when this is accom- 
plished it then becomes very palpable that there has been 
during the present century a rise at the maximum of sun- 
spots, and a supplementary rise, more or less pronounced 
and less in degree, at the minimum. For instance, a max- 
imum of sun-spots occurred in 1848, — or more properly be- 
tween the years 1847 and 1848, — and in 1848 and 1852 the 
rainfall was excessive, so that the effecft of the sun-spots 
may be traced continuously from 1847 until 1852, as is seen 
also in the chart of Greenwich declination. The next epoch 
of sun-spots was in i860, the rainfall of 1866 being accre- 
dited to the succeeding minimum ; and the next in 1870. 
The rainfall of the later epoch, however, did not commence 
until the following year, and it attained a maximum in 1872, 
while the magnetic declination at Greenwich reached a 
maximum during 1870, and continued until 1872. What is 
wanted is men of various endowment. 
