REMARKS UPON METEOROLOGY. 



Indications of 

 change. 



Flecks. 



Storm. 



bly depend upon partial currents of air, possessed of differ- 

 ent properties from the prevailing one, so they lead us to 

 suspect, that the mixture of these will produce some change 

 in the equilibrium of the atmosphere. The appearances to 

 which 1 give the name of tvfts, are those clouds which re- 

 semble bunches of hair, the fibres of which are sometimes 

 disposed in a perfectly irregular manner, and at other times 

 lie nearly in a parallel direction. I believe, that, when these 

 tufts point to any quarter, there is a current passing from 

 that quarter, but there are many circumstances to be taken 

 into account, before we can conclude that this partial cur- 

 rent will become the prevailing one. 



The 15th, although calm and not unpleasant, had not 

 that kind of calmness, which denotes a settled state of the 

 atmosphere ; but rather indicated the approach of some 

 change in its constitution. The veering of the wind may 

 be considered as an almost certain precursor of a change to 

 a precipitating point, and a consequent diminution of the 

 weight of the atmosphere. The appearance of the clouds 

 rendered it probable, that there were at least two currents 

 then prevailing, one from the NNW, and one from the E, 

 while the appearance of the flocks led us to conclude, that 

 the E current terminated in a stratum of air that was 

 strongly precipitating. Flocks is a popular term, suffici- 

 ently expressive of a particular appearauce of the clouds, 

 when they form larger and more compact masses than those 

 which I have called tufts ; the fibres of which Hocks are 

 composed are also more generally parallel to each other than 

 those of tufts. 



The weather of the l6th, 17th, and 18th, may be consi- 

 dered as the result of that state of the atmosphere which 

 was forming on the 15th ; the barometer sunk considerably, 

 the wind was in the S or W points, and sometimes high, 

 \Mth frequent rain, until on the evening of the 18th it pro- 

 ceeded to a violent slorm. The atmosphere had lost three- 

 quarters of an inch of its weight, and on the morning of the 

 18th it rained for several hours with a gentle breeze from 

 SSK, at the same time that the clouds were moving rapidly 

 from that quarter. Hence we might conjecture, either that 

 there had been a partial storm to the SE, the efr'tcts of 



which 



