Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1875-08-07
| THE RAINFALL.


The rainfall, it is worth noting, seems
to have been most pTOtraCted and per-
sistent along the line OF the Ohio, but
the entire area within it's influence has
embraced the upper Mississippi, lower
Missouri, aud lower Ohio valleys. With
in this territory the temperature for the
last two months has been 6bD0rmaiIy
low. During the month of July, for in
stance, the average temperature was
but little over eighty degrees; the
maximum, ninety, was reached only
once, at two o'clock on the seventeenth,
while the minimum was low in the sew
enties. Another noteworthy fact is,
that the prevailing winds have been
sOutheTly. These winds have brought
the vapOr from the gulf, which has been
condensed by our low temperature, and
thus produced these frequent rains. The
phenomena, as recorded by the signal
service observer, which have attended
these rains goes far to support this the
ory. The relative humidity of the at
mCsphere has been low, denOting dry
ness, and the rains, Ss We have said, ap-
pear to have come with wind almost al
ways from the south. Nine times when
it has rained so far, The wind has blown
from the southeast, three times from the
south, and eleven times from the south
west. During these twenty-three rains,
S4 inches of water have fallen. A COM
parisOn between this rainfall and that
of former years will show what an un-
usually wet season we have had during
this month. In 1872, throughout the same
area of country, the fall was 7.Ol inches;
1873, 394 inches; 1874, 8 AZ inches; and
1874 (up to Saturday night, 8 AZ inches.
These figures show st glance that the
rainfall OF this season has no precedent
in the experiences Of late years.
A WEEKS RAINFALL IN ENGLAND.
Liverpool Mercury, July 22d.l
The registrar general states that at
the Royal observatory, Greenwich, no
less than 3 27 inches Of rain were meas
ured last week, of which 2.39 inches fell
during the fOrty-fOur hours ending at
seven O'Clock Friday morning. So large
an amount of rain has not fallen in Lon
don during any week since the last sew
en- days of September, 1871, when 3.34
inches were measured. In other Egg
lish towns the rain measured during the
week ranged from 0.32 and 0 IS Of an
inch in Bradford and Leeds, to 04
inches in Bristol, which was the nearest
approach to the rainfall in London.
SOMETHING MORE ABOUT ST. SwITHIN.
Manchester Guardian, July 2lst.l
st. SWithin has not been prOpitious, so
we hear on every hand. 1t is, in fact,
asserted that the fifteenth was the wet !
est day on record at most of the stations. |
We are, therefore, it seems, to have forty |
days wet weather, and need not make |
any excursion or picnic engagements |
until after the twenty-fifth Of August. !
This pleasant prospect will, however, be
by a consideration of the fol-
lowing statement, which appeared ia
the Times some fourteen years ago. "IJ
appears that st. SWithin'S day was wet
in lS41, and there were twenty-thTee
rainy days up to the twenty-fOurth of
August; 1915, 26 rainy days; 1851, I3
rainy days; 1858, IS rainy days; 1854,
l6 rainy days; and in 1856, II
rainy days. In 1912 and following
years. st. Swithin's day was dry, and
the result was: In 1912, y rainy days;
lS43, 90 rainy days; 1874, % rainy days;
lS46, q rainy days; 1S47 II rainy days;
lS4S, 81 rainy days; lS49, 20 rainy days;
1885, II rainy days; 1852, l9 rainy days;
1855, IS rainy days; 1857, IA rainy days;
1858, IA rainy days; 1858, Is rainy days;
and in 1890, 20 rainy days. These fig
ures show the superstition TO be founded
on faIlacy, as the average OF twenty
years proves rain to have fallen upon
the largest number Of days when St.
SWithin's day was dry" st. Swithin's
day, by the way, is not July 18th, but
2t, the former date being that of his
1t was on the feast Of the
however, that the great del
uge took place which has connected the
name of King Alfred's tutor with the
weather ever since. The superstition is
very widespread. 1t has been noticed
in Archbishop Laud's diary. Pepys'
new ceilings were ruined by the lain on
the fifteenth Of July, 1862, but he does
not attribute the misfortune to the ma
Iign influence Of st. Swithin. A refuta-
ton of the popular idea occurs in
"Hone's Everyday Book" from which
we learn that dry weather followed a
wet st. Swithin in 1907 and 1905. He
also points out what is OF more import
ance-that the fifteenth of July, in the
old style, corresponds with the twenty
sixth in the new. The relics of st.
S within were translated first in 97l, and |
afterward in 1884, and are now said to
rest beneath plain stone near the east
end Of the cathedral at Winchester
His head was said TO have been carried