386 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 



shade. Buckliard in Egypt and Humboldt in South America observed it at 

 117 Fahrenheit, and in 1819 it rose at Bagdad to 120 Fahrenheit in the 

 shade. Editor. 



NEW THEOET OF THE WINDS. 



At the meeting of the American Association, Providence, Captain "Wilkes 

 said he could not persuade himself that the theory of the winds, as at present 

 accepted, is at all satisfactory. The theories seem to have resulted from the 

 phenomena of the trade winds. He proceeded to show in what they are 

 defective, and laid down the following axioms as the basis of a true explana- 

 tion of the phenomena of the winds : 



1. That the atmosphere, when of equal temperature and dryness, will re- 

 main at rest. 



2. That if the atmosphere is disturbed by any change of temperature, the 

 denser and colder portion seeks the warmer, from every direction, to restore 

 the equilibrium. 



3. That heated air, unless confined and forced, never tends toward a denser 

 and cooler area ; but when free it always rises or falls to the area, where its 

 gravity and temperature will restore the equilibrium. 



4. That currents of air may pass in opposite directions, without mixing, 

 provided they lie according to their specific gravities, but they can never pass 

 through or across each other without commingling. 



5. That currents of air are influenced and disturbed by electricity. 



Great stress has been laid, in the theory of the winds, on the rotary motion 

 of the earth, in producing the direction as well as the apparent velocity of the 

 trade winds. Captain Wilkes is not ready to admit that this can have any 

 influence on any surface winds in fact, the prevalence of westerly winds at 

 the same time that we have easterly within the tropics moving in opposite di- 

 rections, though parallel, demonstrates that the rotary motion of the earth can 

 not have any such influence upon currents of air as is attributed to it. 



MEDICAL METEOROLOGY AND ATMOSPHERIC OZONE. 



An interesting communication on the above subject has recently been pre- 

 sented to the Meteorological Society of England by Dr. Moffat. 



Since the discovery of ozone, in April, 1848, the subject has engaged the 

 author's constant attention ; from tables formed from the observations of four 

 years, from 1850 to 1853, he seeks to establish a connection between atmos- 

 pheric ozone and the meteorological conditions of the atmosphere, together 

 with the prevalence of disease and mortality. The chief conclusions at which 

 Dr. Moffat arrives are : 1st. That ozone periods always commence with de- 

 creasing readings of the barometer and increase of temperature, and terminate 

 with increasing readings of the barometer and decrease of temperature. 2d. 

 That as ozone periods commence very frequently with the wind in the south- 

 east, and terminate in the north-west, those points adjacent to the south-east 

 he calls their points of commencement, and those adjacent to the north-west, 



