coasts, north of lat. 54, were even wetter than during 1860. In the case of Scotland, he tells us, excessive autumnal rains are regarded as the cause of the unusual amount which fell there.
But before we look at the rainfall of the United Kingdom, let us glance at a few of the causes of rain. It is very closely connected with wind. Thus, in tropical countries, where the trade-winds blow regularly, the rains are invariable concomitants. Hence could we, like Ulysses, keep the winds imprisoned, we should also decrease the amount of rain; or if we could ascertain the periodicity of our so-called variable winds, many more predictions of fine weather might be hazarded than can now be announced except in the pages of “Zadkiel.” Again, the sea, from the evaporation constantly going on over its surface, from the warmth of its waters, and from the manner in which the Gulf Stream affects the adjacent coasts, is a prominent cause of rain. Thus islands, or indeed any large extent of coast, are more rainy than inland countries. This is more especially the case if there are mountains near the shore to attract and condense on their colder summits the warm vapours wafted from the sea. Rain then falls, and the temperature of the air is proportionably heightened. This phenomenon is very common along our western coasts from the breezy hills of North Devon watering the neighbouring “combes” with the riches of the Atlantic, through the mist-covered Welsh mountains, up to the Lake region. The climate of Norway, again, is almost a perpetual drizzle, from the south-west winds precipitating the vapours with which they are charged as soon as they reach the mountainous backbone of the peninsula, while Sweden, on the other side of it, is blessed with a dry cold climate.
A wooded country is almost invariably a wet country. The climate of Italy has been much improved by cutting down many of the Apennine woods; and Germany, owing to the clearing away of its dense forests, has obtained a similar blessing. Most likely this change has passed over our own country; many parts of it in ancient times were covered with forests, of which prehistoric traces may be often seen in quarries, and historic remains are occasionally disclosed at a very low tide, or when a bog is being drained. Of late years the Brazilian government deemed it necessary to forbid any more wood to be cut on the Organ mountains, for it was found that the rainfall of Rio Janeiro, which lies at their base, was thereby being inconveniently lowered. The disturbances of our atmosphere, induced by the movements of the heavenly bodies, eclipses, comets, changes of the moon, &c., affect the weather greatly. Electricity and other agents are also intimately connected with the phenomena of rainfall. Perhaps science may be able some day to take them accurately into account. These then are a few of the causes regulating rain.
As for our familiar modes of judging the weather—the solstices, the months April, July, and November are proverbially wet. Then when the air is dense the rising mercury tells of fine weather, and of change when it falls. Rain, too, may be foretold from the common sights and sounds of everyday experience; rainbows, sunsets, “mare’s-tails,” are reckoned valuable prognostics by the weather-wise. Still it is undeniable that not even all the skill of the most accomplished reader of the skies can always secure even a few hours fine weather in this fickle climate. Even the superstitious carrying of an umbrella fails at times. Science must therefore step in and see if her exactitude cannot supplement the guesses of plain men on this subject. Many a valuable life has already been saved by the use of the barometer and electric telegraph at seaport towns. But no one can yet say positively whether next week will be fair or foul, though meteorology seems yearly approximating to it more closely.
The rain-gauge for the present must be relied on as the meteorologist’s greatest help. It tells how high, when rain has fallen, it would rise did not the earth imbibe any of it, and were there no evaporation. Mr. Symons, having, as above mentioned, published the most accurate lists he could obtain from some five hundred stations in the United Kingdom, enables us to compare the results. Let us first take England during 1861. The whole Eastern coast, we find, is remarkable for the small amount of rain which fell on it. Northumberland, the East Riding, Lincolnshire, Kent, are all at a low figure. Sussex rises somewhat; here the mists of the English channel come in as a disturbing element, consequently it is rainier than any of the Eastern coast counties. Hants, west of it, is worse again. Dorset worse again; and so through Devon to the Land’s End, more rain falls as we get more west. Thus, at Penzance, the total quantity which fell was 40.98 inches; whereas at Dover (though four inches in advance of any other registered town in Kent) there fell only 28.41 inches. Southampton, St. Leonard’s, and Worthing, from their maritime situations, are wetter than the inland towns of the counties. But Exmouth, Dawlish, and Teignmouth, notwithstanding the sea, are very much drier than the inland stations of Devon, probably owing to the rainy influences of the Dartmoor peaks, and of the hilly character of the county generally. Barnstaple had ten inches more rain than Exeter, which is usually considered to be a very wet city. West Somerset is remarkably dry, the rain exhausting itself on Exmoor; but the quantity increases on leaving the sea and travelling east. Thus Taunton registered 26.77 inches; but Bath 34.02. Much rain falls in South Wales, Swansea and Haverfordwest registering respectively 66.78 and 51.80 inches. North Wales is but scantily supplied with stations, yet the climate seems very different if we may judge from Llandudno, where 31.00 inches fell, and Hawarden, lower still, 21.82. Lancashire and the Lake district were exceedingly wet, Liverpool registering least rain (31.28 inches), but Coniston 102.20, Troutbeck 116.26, and Seathwaite the enormous quantity of 182.58 inches, more than fell at any other place in the United Kingdom, and more than five times as much as the general average of English stations. Looking at a few inland counties, Bedford, Cambridge, Bucks and Notts may be regarded as dry; Derby is wet, as might be expected from its formation.
Mr. Symons has obtained few records from