290 MONTHLY WEATHER REVIEW. AUGUST,1896

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NOTES BY THE EDITOR. MEXIbAN CLIMATOLOGIUAL DATA. THE PERIODICITY OF GOOD AND BAD SEASONS. In order to extend the isobars and isotherms southward so A lecture on the above subject, delivered June 3, 1896, by that the students of weather, climate and storms in the United H. C. Russell, director of the astronomical observatory and States may properly appreciate the influence of the conditions tleo of the meteorological service at Sydney, N. S. W., is pub- that prevail over the Editor has compiled the follow- ished in an abridged form in the English journal Nature, for ing tables from the current numbers of the Boletin Mensual Qugust 20, 1896. The importance of long-range predictions as published by the Central Meteorological Observatory of ,o the agricultural interests of the United States demands Mexico. The data there given in metric measures have been hat we give our careful attention to the discovery announced converted into English measures. The barometric means are 3y Mr. Russell that, in general, there is a periodicity of nine- as given by mercurial barometers under the influence of local ,een years in the occurrence of droughts. He began by study- gravity, and therefore need reductions to standard gravity, ng the statistics of the records in Australia since 1788, the depending upon both latitude and altitude ; the influence of jate of the foundation of the colony of New South Wales, the latter is rather uncertain, hut that of the former is well tnd here first found evidence of a 19-year period. He next known. For the snke of conformity with the other data round that the droughts of India coincided with those of published in this REVIEWthese correct,ions for local gravity 4ustralia, so far as the records went, and that he could, by have not been applied. neans of the Indian record, plausibly locate the greatest of 111 the droughts in Australia as having occurred in 1769-70. Mexican dola for June, 1896. Up to this time he had not studied the ordinary dry years geparately from those in which phenomenal droughts oc- :urred, but had found that bad or droughty years usually a :ame in groups of from three to seven. The end of the first e -x ltnd the beginning of the second year of drought was the date ~___F 0 wed by him in his studies.

ZllC7l. Russell now divided the droughts into first and second class, Colima (Seminario) ...... 28.25 saw. aw. treating each separately, and proceeded to study European Colima ...... 1,291.2 ...... 83.8...... Quadalajara (Obs. d. Est.) ..... 5,lBB.O 24.97 75.2 81 13.59 ...... ne. gtatistics. Between the years 900 and 1896, A. D., the interval Quanajnato ...... 6,761.3 &3.08 69.8 47 3.95 ene. eue. 3f nine hundred and ninety-six years embraces about fifty- Jalapa...... 4, “7.3 25.65 69.4 75 15.81 n. Leon...... 5,901.0 24.8 73.8 42 1.15 ene. two periods of nineteen years each ; he found that of the fifty- Yagdalena ()...... 83.5 ...... 0.67 ...... Yazatlan ...... 24.6 29. e6 84.2 74 0.47 W. e. two repetitions of years when droughts should be expected they Merida ...... 60.2 29.88 81.5 7Y 11.57 e. e. were actually present on forty-four of these ; of the eight miss- Mexlco (0ba.Cent.)...... 7,489.7 23.w 65.5 M 1.17 11. ne. Mexico (E. N. de 8.) ...... 7,480.3 s.11 66.6 56 1.10 ne. ing years, six occurred between 900 and 1000, A. D., when the (Seminario) ...... 6,401.0 B.95 66.9 62 2.64 ne. ne. ...... 5,164.4 25.06 72.9 63 4.22 nw. ne. historical record is very incomplete. Starting with 1896, and Pabellon ...... !, 312.4 ...... reckoning backward to 900, Russell found 78 droughts in dif- ...... ,,956.3 22.59 59.5 63 0.58 nile. (Col. Cat.)...... 1 7,112.0 B.4.3 67.6 61 , 5.7’8 ...... ferentcountries somewhere in the world that fit into the period Queretaro ...... 6, oG9.7 24.18 70.0 53 1 2.50 Saltlllo (Col. 9. Juan)...... 5,876.7 ...... , ..... if recurrence of droughts of the first class. During the same 8an Luis Potosl ...... 8,901.9 24.15 70.5 53 0.33 e. e. period he found that there should be fifty-one returns of the Silao...... 6,063.1 24.25 74.5 57 1 1.71 ne. ne. ...... 8,612.4 29.91 61.3 44 3.75 ene. ne. year that is characterized‘by second-class droughts, and that Trejo (Rac.Silao,Qto.) ...... 3.71 ...... ...... 8,015.2 !z65 68.7 48 1.51 e. ne. history actually records 89 such droughts in different countries Zapotlan (Seminario)...... 6,124.8 26.06 73.9 ...... 6.17 ae. ne. on thirty-six of these periods. There is, therefore, a total of 167 droughts between the years 900 and 1896 that occur on the years when droughts are to be expected, according to Russell’s 19-year period, and there remain only 41 other - droughts on record, scattered through various discordant i. a. Pi .DE years ; of these latter, 26 are considered by him to belong to no -5 a third class, that is irregular in Australia, hut more regular CaEl :: a ;E gg g and more important in the Northern Hemisphere. Mr. Rus- - - -V sell, therefore, claims that out of 208 recorded droughts, 193 Feet. Inch. O F. 9 ‘Inch. fit into his cycle of nineteen years, and that as this cycle has Colima (Seminarlo)...... !a. so 80.6 72 14.9s wsw. Colima...... 1,291.7 ...... 02.0 ...... continued for a thousand years, so it may be trusted to justify Coliacan ...... 112.2 ...... forecasts based upon it. (Obs. d. Est.)...... 5,188.0 26.02 70.9 83 13.60 nnw. ne. Quanajuato ...... 6,781.3 23.72 68.2 59 1.70 ene. e. Going farther back in history, our author finds that of Jalapa...... 4,757.3 26.61 66. Q 87 14.79 e. Lagos (Llceo Guerra) ...... 6, S4.5 24.21 ’io. 3 55 1.88 e. e. 20 droughts recorded in B. 0.years, 19 fit into his drought Leon ...... I5,901.0 24.33 72.0 59 1.86 se. ene.,ese cycle, and the fact of such a remarkable agreement is urged Magdalena (Sonora) ...... 84.2 ...... s.,w. n. Mazatlan ...... 24.6 29.90 85.1 78 7.12 nw. e., ne. as a confirmation of the historical chronology, although it Merlda ...... 50.2 29. sa 81.0 77 3.81 ne. e. Mexlco (Oba. Cent.) ...... 7,488.7 s.11 63.5 65 3.92 n. ne. seems reasoning in a circle. The drought predicted to Pharaoh Mexico (E.N.de 5.) ...... 7,480.5 28.08 65.7 69 3.74 nw. by Joseph apparently belongs to the same period as that pre- Yorelia(8eminario)...... 6,401.0 24.00 63.5 71 5.19 ne. ne. Oaxaca ...... 5,164.4 26.10 72.3 81 2.57 nw. ne. dicted by Elijah forty-two cycles (or forty-two times nine- Pabellon...... $, 312.4 24.01 71.2 57 2.61 88. e. teen years) later ; the drought predicted hy Elisha occurred Pachnoa ...... I, 933.3 22.56 57.6 69 0.47 ne. Pnebla (Col. Cat.)...... 7,112.0 85.46 05.8 64 4.17 ...... nineteen years, or one cycle, after that of Elijah, and these Queretaro ...... 6.086.7 24. %a 6% 1 61 1.02 e. ene. Saltlllo (Col. 8.Juan) ...... 5.876.7 !24. e7 79.8 65 2.72 ne. n. ancient predictions seem to Russell to shorn that the Egyp- San Luis Potosi ...... 6.201.8 24.90 63.7 63 0.28 e. e. Silao ...... 6,063,l 24.29 w.7 68 3.40 ne. ne. tians and Jews knew of this 19-year period. He even con- Tacnbaya (0be.Nac.)...... 7, W.2 ...... siders it possihle that the records kept by the Assyrians since Tolnca...... 8,812.4 21.86 w). 3 68 6.48 eae. ne. hejo(Hac. Silao,Qto.) ...... 3.16 ...... the year 3800 B. C. must have shown them this 19-year Zacatecaa ...... 8,Olb.%? 22. 59 65.1 61 1.81 e. e. Zapotlan (Seminario)...... 5,124.8 25.08 71.1 ..... 10.28 ...... period in droughts, as it is known to have also shown them - I the similar period of eighteen years in eclipses.

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