88 
MR. J. F. MILLER ON THE METEOROLOGY OF THE LAKE 
induced to begin the present series of experiments on rain amongst the hills of Cum- 
berland. Yet 90 inches would now be thought a small quantity for some parts of the 
Lake District, even in a year of drought ! ! 
I am frequently asked by persons unacquainted with such matters, what beneficial 
end I expect such a series of experiments to lead to, and what information I have 
gained in return for my loss of time and trouble. To this question 1 may reply, they 
have shown us, that at least 60 inches more rain is deposited in England than we 
were previously aware of ; that 150 inches sometimes descends in the Lake District 
in a year, more than falls in most parts of the tropics with which we are acquainted, 
and sufficient to drown standing, two of the tallest men in Great Britain, one on the 
top of the other. They have further informed us, that 6^ perpendicular inches of 
water is sometimes precipitated from the atmosphere in twenty-four hours, and 10 
inches in forty-eight hours, a quantity which would be thought large for any two 
consecutive months in most parts of England. We have further ascertained that the 
almost incredible depth of 30 inches occasionally descends in a single month ; a 
fall nearly equal to the calculated average for all other parts of England in a year*. 
The experiments have, in short, enabled us to collect a number of new and curious 
facts, bearing on the quantity and very unequal distribution of rain in this island. 
We have also ascertained, with a high degree of probability, the law of the gradation 
in the amount of rain, at various intermediate points, between the valleys and the 
tops of our highest mountains. 
A little consideration will greatly lessen our surprise at the enormous quantities 
of water deposited in the hilly districts of Cumberland and Westmoreland, and at 
the consequent unequal distribution of rain in the climate of Great Britain. To those 
unacquainted with these localities, it may be briefly stated, that the lake district 
valleys radiate from a series of mountains of slate and pritnitive rock, having the 
Gable, 2928 feet in height, as a nucleus or central point, and in the immediate 
vicinity of which are Sea Fell and Pillar, of the respective elevations of 3166 and 
2893 feet ; and Great End, Bowfell and Glaramara, not much inferior in altitude. 
These mountains are distant only about thirteen or fifteen miles, in a direct line from 
the Irish Channel, and as no hills intervene, they are consequently fully exposed to 
our wet and prevailing winds, which are the south-west. 
The warm south-westerly current arrives at the coast loaded with moisture obtained 
in its transit across the Atlantic : now our experiments justify us in concluding, that 
this current has its maximum density at about 2000 feet above the sea level ; hence 
it will travel onward until it is obstructed by land of sufficient elevation to precipitate 
its vapour ; and retaining a portion of the velocity of the lower parallel of latitude 
whence it was originally set in motion, it rapidly traverses the short space of level 
* This astonishing quantity fell at Seathwaite in February 1 848, in twenty-five days, on several of which 
the amount was very trifling. The gauge at 6 inches above the surface received 30'55 inches, and that at 
18 inches 29'98, or 30 inches nearly. 
