[ 37 I 
IV. Obfervations on the Drynefs of the Tear 1788. In a Letter 
from the Rev . Mr. B, Hutchinfon to Sir Jofeph. Banks*. 
Bart . P. R. 8 , 
Read January 15, 1789, 
' / : 
S I R, Kimbolton, January 8, 1789. 
A S the defedl of rain has been very confiderable in 1788 ; 
and in confequence a great want of water on the clofe 
of the year univerfally felt ; perhaps the quantity fallen here* 
compared with that of the feven preceding years, may not be 
unacceptable to yourfelf and the Royal Society. 
Inches 
Rain 1781 21,6^ 
1782 32,3 , ' 
1783 23,6 
1784 26,0 >112 — 25 inches, the mean of feven years- 
1.785 21,0 5 
, 1786 24,7; 
1.787 23,8. 
1788 14,5 
By eftimation it therefore appears, that the average quaci* 
tity of rain of the feven preceding years is 2 5 inches, and the 
rain which fell laft year is only 14,5, that is, not much more 
than half that quantity, if we dedu£t 1,3 now lying in fnow, 
which fell in December, and not in foiution. On the fuppo- 
fition 
