Abstract
ON the 21st instant Mr. Francis Cobb read a paper on the financial and economical condition of Egypt, at the Society of Arts, in which he of course referred to the periodical rise of the Nile, and spoke of the desirability of discovering some system in the variations of. this rise. Mr. Cobb, in considering this subject, has been naturally drawn to an examination of the sun-spot, period, and has attempted to discover if any relation exists between this period and the variations in the rise of the river. The period of Mr. Cobb's examination extends from 1866 to 1878. and as might have been expected, he finds no relation whatever between any sun-spot maxima and minima, and the maxima and minima of the Nile floods. The years 1866–67 were sun-spot minima; the rise of the Nile in these years was 28(1/4 and 24(1/2 feet respectively; 1872 was a maximum sun-spot year, and the rise of the Nile was 25(1/2 feet; 1877 a minimum sun-spot year, with 18 feet rise in the river; last year the rise was 30 feet. As some of the speakers in the discussion remarked, there is at present a desire to find relations between the stupendous cosmical phenomenon of sun-spots, and terrestrial occurrences, without considering local peculiarities. We do not know what might be the result if the records of Nile floods for a century were obtainable, and were compared with the various sun-spot periods during that time; but we should say beforehand that in considering so literally narrow an occurrence as the rise of the Nile, many local considerations would have to be taken into account.
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Sun-Spots and the Nile . Nature 19, 299–300 (1879). https://doi.org/10.1038/019299a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/019299a0