RAIN. 
119 
That the Moon has some, though probably a small, influence on 
the weather is by no means improbable. Many of her alleged 
pluvial connexions however, — such, for example, as that when she 
is seen on her back she betokens wet weather — are simply absurd. 
The following table shews the result of daily observations made 
at Torquay during 74 complete Lunations, from the new moon on 
January 9th, 1864, to January 1st, 1870, — a period of 2185 days. 
The "first quarter," in each case, begins on the day of ITew Moon 
and ends with the day before that on which she becomes a semi- 
circle ; and so on for the other quarters : — 
Quarters. 
Totals. 
1st. 
2nd. 
3rd. 
4th. 
56-66 
58-87 
57-30 
55-00 
228-73 
274 
248 
307 
274 
1103 
No of Dry days 
274 
301 
241 
266 
1082 
Wet-day rate of rain in | 
•20 
•24 
•19 
•20 
•21 
It may be doubted whether, at present, we have sufficient data 
for the solution of this problem. 
As the precipitation and evaporation of the entire world must in 
the long run be equal to one another, and as the water carried to 
the ocean by rivers in the northern hemisphere exceeds that 
similarly transported in the south in a much higher ratio than the 
land north of the equator exceeds that south of it, it follows that, 
on the whole, the northern is a hemisphere of excessive precipitation , 
whilst the southern is characterized by excessive evaporation. In 
short, the southern ocean is our well, whence heat draws water for 
us in the form of vapour; and the clouds are the water vessels, 
which the winds — the water carriers — transport to us. But in 
sending us its water, the south sends with it much of its heat also; 
and this, amongst other agencies, causes the well-known com- 
paratively low mean temperature of the southern hemisphere, not- 
withstanding the fact that it has its summer when the earth is in 
perihelion. 
Q 2 
