their prejudices because they share them, and so confirm their errors and deepen their delusion. For myself, with my whole heart, I say in the eloquent words of Richard Cobden, who "being dead, yet speaketh:

"I wish to see the great mass of the working classes of this country elevate themselves by increased temperance, frugality, and economy. I tell you candidly, that no people were ever yet elevated except through their advancing wealth, morality, and intelligence; and any one who tells the working men of this country that they may be raised in the social scale by any other process than that of reformation in themselves, is interested either in flattering or deceiving them.”

THE RAINFALL IN DEVONSHIRE DURING

1866 AND 1867.

BY W. PENGELLY, F.R.S., F.G.S., ETC.

Introduction:-Having for some years carefully observed and recorded the Rainfall on the St. Mary Church Road, Torquay, I have been led to compare it with that in other parts, not only of Devonshire, but of England generally, and have been drawn on to make certain calculations, based on the accumulated data. Believing the subject to come within the province of our Association, I have thrown the facts illustrative of the last two years into the form of Tables, in the hope that they may find a place in our Transactions, and with the intention of presenting annually similar Tables in future.

The most important figures in the Tables have been derived from Mr. Symons's "British Rainfall" for 1866 and 1867. To these I have added the results of a considerable amount of calculation, as well as such other data as appeared to be desirable.

I have chosen to go no further back than to include 1866, because that year was the commencement of the last half of the present decade.

Devonshire Stations:-Table I. consists of 37 columns, each numbered at the bottom. Of these, the second contains the names of 36 stations in Devonshire at which the rainfall is observed and registered. A glance at a map shows that these cannot supply all the information requisite for a full and accurate opinion respecting the rainfall of the county. There are no returns from the large district between Kingsbridge, Dartmouth, and Dartmoor. No one appears to attend to the subject at either of the towns on the Dart,-Dartmouth, Totnes, Buckfastleigh, or Ashburton. Similarly, that great

region of the county is entirely unrepresented which lies within a line drawn through Tavistock, Chagford, Exeter, Tiverton, Southmolton, Bideford, Hartland, and along the western seabord. On the other hand, observers, so to speak, are crowded together in some localities. Mr. Symons reports no fewer than four gauges at Exeter, and three at Sidmouth. The introduction of all these into the Table would be calculated to vitiate the averages. Accordingly one only at each station has been admitted.

To facilitate reference, the stations are numbered from 1 to 36, the numbers being inserted in the 1st and 37th columns, -on the extreme left and right of the Table. Bovey Tracey has been placed at the head of the list, because by doing so, and by following the order observed in the column, a line drawn through the stations would have comparatively few violent zigzags.

Distance and Direction of the Sea :-The ocean being the great source of rain, it is important in all questions connected with the rainfall to know how the sea is situated with respect to the station. To a large extent, information on this point is given in the third column. It is not so full as is perhaps desirable, inasmuch as certain stations are comparatively near to more than one arm of the sea. For example; Bratton Fleming (No. 33), as the Table shows, has the Bristol Channel 7 miles north of it; but it is almost as near to Barnstaple Bay on the west. Atmosphere transported to this station from the north can bring but little moisture, as it has crossed the narrow Bristol Channel only; and that little it is not very likely to precipitate, as, coming from a colder to a warmer latitude, its power of holding moisture in solution increases. On the other hand, the atmosphere from the west may have traversed the entire breadth of the Atlantic, and be saturated with moisture. The Table, however, would require to be greatly enlarged in order to the insertion of details of this kind.

Of all the stations, Tiverton (No. 29), which has the English Channel at a distance of 20 miles in a south-east direction, is the most distant from the sea.

Distance and Direction of Dartmoor :-Whilst it is of importance to recognize the position of a district with respect to the nearest arm of the sea, it is scarcely, if at all, less necessary to attend to the proximity and direction of high land. Every upland is a condenser of vapour; and atmos