polar or semi-polar on the remainder. The hygrometrical range was from 70 to 100-the latter representing complete saturation of air.

In this part of Sussex there were 16 days on which rain fell, and the ultimate gauge was 5:32 in. The reputed average for October is 2:54 in.; the excess, therefore, amounted to more than double the acknowledged standard.

Atmospherical pressure ranged from 28-70 to 29.80 in., an ultimate variation of 1-10 in. The period of maximum oscillation was from the 1st to the 4th inclusive, when the barometer ranged twice in four days through nearly half an inch.

From the 4th to the 9th there was a consecutive run of abnormally low temperature, and the diurnal averages were 8, 9, 10, and 11 deg. below the acknowledged means. The ultimate monthly range was from 39-3 deg. to 58.6 deg.-a variation of 17.3 deg.

Ozone was fairly developed. On the 2nd a frigid polar wind produced a perfect bleaching of the tests. The wind changed, and the ozonoscopes regained their colour.

NOVEMBER.

We now arrive at a period of universal elemental perturbation, when wind and cloud and storm prevail, and floods are poured upon floods throughout England, the Continent of Europe, America, and portions of South Australia. The month came in with a heavy gale from the English Channel, accompanied with mist, hail, and rainfall, and ships of all descriptions ran for shelter into the harbours of refuge. On the night of the 3rd and morning of the 4th another tropical gale raged, with heavy squalls of rainfall. On the evening of the 5th a furious hurricane swept the North of England, and committed great damage to the shipping and produced many fatal accidents. On the evening of the 10th, after a comparatively calm day, a cold, rough, polar wind rose in squalls, died away at night, and on the following day, at 7 p.m., raged with increased energy. On both these days fierce gales are reported from the French coasts. In Northumberland such stormy, wintry weather prevailed that vessels had great difficulty in making the passage from the North to the Tyne. High seas and great casualties are reported. On the 12th and 13th a polar wind blew in fierce gusts, which burst at intervals like thunder. On the afternoon of the 15th, after a day of cloud and rainfall and comparative calm, the wind rose in boisterous squalls, bringing up flying storm clouds. On the 19th and 23rd tropical gales raged in gusts of inordi nate pressure, with heavy rainfall. On the night of the latter date the blasts swept the coasts at every point with abnormal violence. Equatorial gales also raged on the 25th, 26th, 27th, and 28th, with lightning and thunder and strongly developed telluric electricity. The range of pressure was from 28.23 in. to 29.80 in.

DECEMBER.

The initials of the following table denote date, cloud, wind, barometer, thermometer (night, morning, and afternoon temperature), rainfall, ozone, mean temperature, the mean of 50 years, and the ultimate variations. The observations were taken at Frant, 594 ft. above the mean level of the sea:

The letters p. and m. in the last column denote plus and minus, or excess and deficiency of mean temperature.

ANALYSIS.

CLOUD, WIND, AND RAINFALL.-The atmospherical disturbance which characterized the preceding month persisted with little variation throughout the greater portion of the present month. On the 1st the wind was equatorial, and on the three following days polar. On the 5th, about noon, the atmosphere was perfectly calm, scarcely a perceptible breath stirring; but at 1.30 p.m. the wind suddenly backed from N.w. to s.s.w., and in the evening rose in gusts to the force of a moderate gale, with squalls of rainfall. At 9.30 p.m. a blast of immense force occurred, and soon died away here, but in the north of England and in Scotland proved a heavy and persistent gale. The 7th was calm, with light rainfall, until the evening, when a hollow gust of wind came from s.w., which proved the precursor of fitful squalls of great force. Again, on the 8th the day was calm, with alternate cloud and sun, but at 6.30 p.m. the wind rose into a paroxysmal gale, with intervals of high pressure. At seven o'clock the voluminous blasts roared like thunder. This gale visited England with fearful violence, and produced by sea and land unprecedented disasters. It was accompanied with hail, rain, lightning, and thunder, and was followed on the succeeding day-the 9th-by rainfall and a snowstorm. On the evening of the 10th, about nine o'clock, the wind, after a

calm day, again freshened, and a culminating blast occurred which carried down the barometer to 28:02 in. At midnight the storm mitigated, and the mercury rose 0.85 in. Then came another comparative lull; but on the 16th, at 3 p.m., the wind having suddenly shifted from N.w. to s., the barometer again fell to 28.80 in., and a gale swept over England with disastrous violence, producing shipwrecks and great loss of life. An interval of moderate wind succeeded, but every day up to the 21st was marked by rainfall. At the latter date the continuous rains from the 14th, inclusive, amounted to no less than 2.72 in. One fall-that on the 20th-gauged no less than 0.78 in., and was the product of another gale which blew with great violence for several hours. The 22nd was a beautifully calm springlike day, on which the mean temperature rose 10.8 deg. above the computed average of 50 years. Again, on the 25th, Christmas Day, the temperature rose to 460 deg., and the wind freshened into an equatorial gale, with gusts of considerable force. At 4 p.m. atmospherical pressure was 28′55 in., and the mean temperature was 8.8 deg. in excess. On the following day-the 26th-the mean was no less than 10.6 deg. above the average, and, as will be seen by the table, the plus sign persisted from the 21st to the end of the month.

On several occasions during the tempestuous gales atmospherical pressure was abnormally low. On no less than 15 days the barometer was below 29.00 in. On the 10th, at 9 p.m., it sank to 28:02 in. The ultimate range of the month was from 28.02 in. to 29:40 in.

The range of night temperature was from 25 deg. to 44 deg.—total, 190 deg. On the night of the 5th there was a sharp frost, and ice on exposed water half an inch thick. The mean temperature on that day was 12:5 deg. below the standard average. The maximum mean was on the 22nd, when it was 10.8 deg. above the average. The range of mean temperature was, therefore, 184 deg.

The rainfall was enormous, and every month showed an excess. There were 51 cloudless days, and 165 days of raincloud, 276 days of tropical wind, and the remainder polar or semi-polar.

RAINFALL OF 1872, and the RESPECTIVE MEANS OF FIVE YEARS (from 1860 to

England contains 33,000,000 square acres of land, and an English acre consists of 6,272,640 square inches. An inch of rain on an acre yields 6,272,640 cubic inches of water, which, at 277,274 cubic inches to the gallon, makes

22,622-5 gallons; and as a gallon of distilled water weighs 10 lb., the inch of rainfall on the acre is 226,225 lb. avoirdupois; but 2240 lb. are a ton, and consequently an inch of rain weighs 100-993 tons, or nearly 101 tons, per acre. For every 100th of an inch, therefore, upwards of a ton of water falls.

Here, then, we have upwards of 2000 tons of surplus water falling on each of the 33,000,000 square acres of England; or, in other words, there have been 66,000 million tons above the estimated average; and some of our savants have assured us that the springs have scarcely yet begun to flow.

The old year closed as it began, in cloud and wind, and rainfall standing at 28.95 in.

Wonderful displays of meteors are reported from various parts of England and the world, and on the 27th of November our earth is supposed to have been swept by the disjecta membra of Biela's lost comet.

OBITUARY

EMINENT PERSONS DECEASED IN 1872.