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atmosphere, it ought properly to render the temperature colder, and, in my 
opinion, it must be so. Therefore, wherever there is a large amount of rain, 
it is reasonable to expect that inasmuch as aqueous vapour has been held in 
suspension by the warmth of the atmosphere and is condensed as it rises 
into higher elevations, there will be a cooler temperature where the air is 
dry, and probably cold on account of its dryness. Where you have a large 
stratum of air holding a large amount of aqueous vapour not precipitated on 
the earth near the hills, it is precipitated on the plains by reason of its 
rising into a higher elevation, where it is condensed. Therefore I can under- 
stand the fact that the valleys of the English lakes, where the quantity of 
rainfall is excessive, are warmer and more equable than in the Midland 
counties, and, in the same way, the rocky coasts of Norway and the West of 
Ireland, as well as the west and north-west of Scotland, must be a good deal 
warmer than the eastern coasts. I think the experience of every English- 
man who has lived on the east coast, and who knows the circumstances best, 
will coincide with the opinion, that though more rain falls in the west than in 
the east, the warmth is greater in the west than in the east. I can only account 
for it in this way, that there can be little doubt, philosophically, that the 
vapour of the atmosphere is generated in the ocean and maintained by the 
warmth of the air on the surface of the ocean, or of land only a little 
elevated above the surface of the ocean ; that it becomes condensed on the 
high lands, and as it travels towards the east the clouds are emptied of their 
contents, and the atmosphere desiccated and emptied of its watery contents, 
so that in the eastern part of the country there is less rain. I am glad to 
hear that the Indian experience corresponds with that of the British islands, 
and that as the wind goes east under certain circumstances there is less rain, 
the bulk of the rainfall being delivered on the western slopes of very high 
mountains, so that there is less to deliver in the east, and that, on the con- 
trary, where the land is low, the clouds are driven over the summits and ram 
falls in the valleys beyond. I cannot help disagreeing with Mr. Baldwin 
Latham in the idea that the raiu is due entirely to cyclonic action. 
Mr. Baldwin Latham. — I did not say entirely. 
Mr. Bateman. — Because, as I have endeavoured to show, a very different 
quantity of rain falls on the tops of the hills and in the valleys. If the rain 
were due to cyclonic action the quantity ought to be the same whether in a 
valley or on the top of a hill. In my view it is owing to the formation of 
the hills and valleys. The clouds become hemmed in by the head of the 
valley, and they cannot escape except by rising to a higher elevation. BisiDg 
to that higher elevation, they get into a colder atmosphere, where condensation 
and precipitation take place, and consequently you have a large quantity of 
rain. In making these observations I have not indulged in anything like 
speculation. I have merely given dry results, on a wet subject, from obser- 
vations I have had occasion to make in the course of my professional career. 
I have for a long time held the opinion that all water, no matter where it is 
found, whether in springs or whether it runs dowm the brooks and rivers, is 
due to the rain which falls on the surface, and there is no other source what- 
