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The constant evaporation from the seas which surround us, 
and the precipitation which takes place when the rain clouds 
are driven over the land, produce sufficient for all purposes. 
My observations have been confined almost exclusively to 
rainfall ; but there are many other questions connected with 
meteorology which are more or less interesting to the inquirer 
into natural phenomena and the causes to which must be 
assigned the fertility of lands, and the perseverance, activity, 
and hardihood of the people who inhabit them. We aro 
specially favoured in this part of the world by the combination 
of causes which contributes largely to the energy of tho 
people and the enjoyment of life. 
The Chairman. — I am sure that the meeting authorises me to return our 
thanks to Mr. Bateman for his interesting paper. If there are any 
present whose studies have lain in the direction of the subject dealt with 
by the author, all will be much gratified to hear any remarks they may have 
to make. 
Sir Joseph Fayrer, K.C.S.I., M.D., F.R.S. — I wish, first of all, to say 
how much pleased I have been with the paper we have just heard. The only 
thing I should demur to is that the author said he thought the paper hardly 
a fitting one for this Society. I regard it as a most fitting one, and can 
hardly conceive of a better way of dealing with so important a subject. 
One can only hope that Mr. Bateman will, in furtherance of what he has 
so well begun, give the Society another paper on some of the other meteoro- 
logical questions that have not been touched upon in this. He has told us 
that the question of rainfall is one of great importance. He has reminded us 
that the welfare of our crops and fruits depends upon it ; indeed, our very 
existence is dependent on it, for without it we could not exist. Where there 
is no moisture there can be no life ; the tree cannot bear, and the seed cannot 
germinate. Were there no rainfall, our planet would, in fact, be reduced to 
the condition of an effete and worn-out globe resembling, probably, the present 
state of our satellite, the moon. Happily, however, this is not the case. The 
author of the paper has selected what is, of course, the most interesting por- 
tion of the subject to us, — the meteorology, or, at all events, the rainfall of 
our own islands, which are peculiarly situated, being so far distant from the 
equatorial regions that the supply of water is more varied, more inconstant 
and subject apparently to greater modifications of the great laws which 
govern the formation and distribution of rain, than is the case in other 
climates. But, as Mr. Bateman has pointed out to you, it is one of the main 
sources of the present greatness of our nation, — one of the reasons why our 
people are strong, hardy, and energetic, — why, indeed, they have become what 
they are, is owing to the climate they enjoy ; that climate is owing to the 
rain and the way in which it is distributed over our islands. (Hear, hear.) 
Of course, it is attributable to other things ; but the rainfall is the subject 
with which we are now dealing. This is_a very comprehensive subject, — one 
