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Tiie author alluded to the meteorology of other countries, 
where the physical laws that regulate the production and dis- 
tribution of rain are less subject to perturbation than in 
the northern latitude of our sea-girt islands, and referred to 
the benefit of a sufficient supply, and the evils that result 
from a deficiency of rain, as seen in some regions which are 
naturally almost rainless, or in others, which are in certain 
seasons the subject of drought. 
In the discussion which followed, the remarks made in 
reference to the rainfall in other countries appeared to excite 
some interest ; it therefore occurred to me that a brief 
account of this branch of meteorology in India — a country 
in which all are interested — might be acceptable as a sup- 
plement to Mr. Bateman’s interesting paper, showing the 
results of excess or deficiency of rain, the operation of 
the meteorological laws that govern its distribution in tropical 
climates, and as affording opportunity for the further discussion 
of a subject which was far from being exhausted on that 
occasion. 
As introductory to the meteorological question, let me say 
a few words on the geographical and physical features of 
that part of the world to which I am about to ask 
attention. 
The physical peculiarities of a country have so much in- 
fluence in determining the quantity, the distribution, and 
the periods of the rainfall, that it is expedient to take 
a brief general survey of them before considering details of 
the rainfall itself. It is necessary also to understand the 
conditions under which the atmospheric moisture originates, 
and the relations that the land and ocean bear to each other 
in respect of modifications of the air-currents and distribution 
of rain. 
The subjects of climate and of meteorology are of great 
interest, and nowhere more so than in India ; but, as even 
the most cursory glance at so comprehensive a matter 
would occupy more time than is allotted to a single commu- 
nication, I must restrict my remarks chiefly to the rainfall, 
touching only incidentally on the climate and such other 
matters as may naturally be suggested by it. 
A few words on the origin of rain. The gaseous en- 
velope of nitrogen and oxygen by which our globe is 
surrounded, and which moves with it in its rotation and 
revolution, extends to a height or depth of forty to fifty miles 
in gradually decreasing density, where it may be considered, 
practically, to cease; though, doubtless, it extends further 
in an extremely attenuated form ! This atmosphere is 
