Rainfall and climate in India / by Sir Joseph Fayrer.

  • Fayrer, Joseph, Sir, 1824-1907.
Date:
[1881]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Rainfall and climate in India / by Sir Joseph Fayrer. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    10/46 (page 2)
    //* 2 The author alluded to the meteorology of other countries, where the physical laws that regulate the production and dis- tribution of rain are less subject to perturbation than in the northern latitude of our sea-girt islands, and referred to the benefit of a sufficient supply, and the evils that result from a deficiency of rain, as seen in some regions which are naturally almost rainless, or in others, which are in certain seasons the subject of drought. In the discussion which followed, the remarks made in reference to the rainfall in other countries appeared to excite some interest; it therefore occurred to me that a brief account of this branch of meteorology in India—a country in which all are interested—might be acceptable as a sup- plement to Mr. Bateman's interesting paper, showing the results of excess or deficiency of rain, the operation of the meteorological laws that govern its distribution in tropical climates, and as affording opportunity for the further discussion of a subject which was far from being exhausted on that occasion. As introductory to the meteorological question, let me say a few words on the geographical and physical features of that part of the world to which I am about to ask attention. The physical peculiarities of a country have so much in- fluence in determining the quantity, the distribution, and the periods of the rainfall, that it is expedient to take a brief general survey of them before considering details of the rainfall itself. It is necessary also to understand the conditions under which the atmospheric moisture originates, and the relations that the land and ocean bear to each other in respect of modifications of the air-currents and distribution of rain. The subjects of climate and of meteorology are of great interest, and nowhere more so than in India; but, as even the most cursory glance at so comprehensive a matter would occupy more time than is allotted to a single commu- nication, I must restrict my remarks chiefly to the rainfall, touching only incidentally on the climate and such other matters as may naturally be suggested by it. A few words on the origin of rain. The gaseous en- velope of nitrogen and oxygen by which our globe is surrounded, and which moves with it in its rotation and revolution, extends to a height or depth of forty to fifty miles in gradually decreasing density, where it may be considered, practically, to cease; though, doubtless, it extends further in an extremely attenuated form! This atmosphere is