the ground by the side of it, we may see that the height of the
rain-gauge above the earth is a point of much consequence in making
estimates from its measurements. [Footnote: Careful observations by the
late lamented Dallas Bache appeared to show that there is no such
difference in the quantity of precipitation falling at slightly
different levels as has been generally supposed. The apparent difference
was ascribed by Prof. Bache to the irregular distribution of the drops
of rain and flakes of snow, exposed, as they are, to local disturbances
by the currents of air around the corners of buildings or other
accidents of the surface. This consideration much increases the
importance of great care in the selection of positions for rain-gauges.
But Mr. Bache's conclusions seem not to be accepted by late
experimenters in England. See Quarterly Journal of Science for January,
1871, p. 123.]

The data from which results have been deduced with respect to the
hygrometrical and thermometrical conditions, to the climate in short, of
different countries, have very often been derived from observations at
single points in cities or districts separated by considerable
distances. The tendency of errors and accidents to balance each other
authorizes us, indeed, to entertain greater confidence than we could
otherwise feel in the conclusions drawn from such tables; but it is in
the highest degree probable that they would be much modified by more
numerous series of observations, at different stations within narrow
limits. [Footnote: The nomenclature of meteorology is vague and
sometimes equivocal. Not long since, it was suspected that the observers
reporting to a scientific institution did not agree in their
understanding of the mode of expressing the direction of the wind
prescribed by their instructions. It was found, upon inquiry, that very
many of them used the names of the compass-points to indicate the