295 
April, while in May, June, July, August, and September, the rainfall 
has amounted to 60 inches and upwards. The provision that has to 
be made under these circumstances is, therefore, of two kinds. They have 
first to provide for the construction of roads, railways, and other works, so 
as to pass the floods which arise from the prodigious quantity of rain which 
falls at certain seasons of the year, and they have also to provide works of 
irrigation in those parts where the rainfall of the wet season can be utilised 
for purposes of cultivation, or any other use to which it can be applied for 
the benefit of mankind ; and in these cases they have to base their calcula- 
tions on the length of the drought which may be expected, and the period 
during which they must maintain a sufficient supply of water by artificial 
means. They must, of course, consider the capacity of the reservoirs they 
have to construct for the purpose of collecting and storing the rainfall which 
is obtained in such abundance during the rainy months. These are 
practical questions which can only be deduced from such observations as 
those which Sir Joseph Fayrer has brought before us. Therefore, quite 
apart from the interest the subject intrinsically possesses, they are of the 
greatest interest and importance to mankind in reference to their arrange- 
ments for works of improvement, or the mechanical operations by which 
man is able either to control the floods, or to impound the water falling in 
the wet seasons for use in the dry seasons. There are so many interesting 
points in connexion with the subject of meteorology, quite apart from those 
relating to the practical objects to which I have referred, that it is a matter 
in which I can well understand a great many people will feel an interest. 
Whether we shall ever find out and apply the laws which govern the fall of 
rain, so as to convert them into an exact science, I doubt ; but at all events 
a great number of observations, extending over a large area of the earth, must 
prove of the greatest possible benefit in enabling us to form opinions as to 
the quantity of rain which has produced, in flat districts, deltas like those in 
Egypt and Lower India. The difference in the fall of rain is so great, and the 
purposes to which the rainfall is applicable are so varied, that we cannot help 
thinking the distribution of water must necessarily call forth the intellect and 
the energies which God has bestowed upon us for the purpose of enabling us to 
make use of the great advantages which He has conferred upon us for applying 
the surplus rainfall of one district to counterbalance the deficiency of 
another. In this respect the observations of Sir Joseph Fayrer must be of 
the greatest advantage, quite apart from the practical results which it was 
the object of my paper to direct attention to. (Hear, hear.) I may mention 
one circumstance that has also been alluded to by Sir Joseph Fayrer, namely, 
that evaporation is constantly going on, and I have known as much as five 
inches of snow disappear during an east wind, although there was no thaw 
and the weather was freezing the whole time ; the effect of the dry east wind 
prevailing over the whole country being to produce this result. This fact 
shows that evaporation depends not so much on the temperature as it does 
on the dryness and capacity of the air to absorb moisture. Thus in the 
