An account of some observations made on the depth of rain which falls in the same localities at different altitudes in the hilly districts of Lancashire, Cheshire and Derbyshire

The author states, that having been present at a meeting of the Royal Society when a paper was read on the Meteorology of the Lake districts of Westmoreland and Cumberland, by J. Miller, Esq. of Kendal, in which it was stated that the quantity of rain falling in mountainous districts appears to increase from the valley upwards, to the altitude of about 2000 feet, and then rapidly to decrease, he wishes to lay before the Royal Society the results of his own observations, which lead him to a different conclusion. After stating that he had been at some trouble to analyse Mr. Miller’s observations which have been communicated to him by that gentleman, he is of opinion that they do not warrant the conclusion deduced from them, and are also at variance with the recorded observations of Daines Barrington, Dr. Dalton, Professor Daniell and others, as well as those of Capt. Lefroy and Col. Sabine. The author then shows from observations very carefully made in Lancashire, Cheshire and Derbyshire, from January 1846 to March 1848, that more rain falls at the bottom than at the tops of hills of a less elevation than 2000 feet in the same locality, and that the quantity diminishes in a ratio almost precisely corresponding to the height. The details are given in tables of monthly observations, made near Whaley and Congleton in Cheshire, and Chapel-en lefrith in Derbyshire, and also of other observations made for the Corporation of Liverpool at Rivington and in the valley of Roddlesworth near Preston in Lancashire, which have been communicated to him. The whole of these observations, carefully analysed and compared, have led the author to a conclusion opposite to that arrived at by Mr. Miller.