THE 



POPULAR SCIENCE 

 MONTHLY. 



FEBRUARY, 1873. 



THE LAW OF STORMS DEVELOPED. 



By PROFESSOR THOMPSON B. MAURY, 



OF THE 8IGNAX-OFFI0E, WASHINGTON. 



METEOROLOGISTS tell us that their science is as old as Aris- 

 totle. If we should judge by its progress up to the middle of 

 the present century, its antiquity furnishes little to boast of; for, in 

 the long lapse of centuries, it must have proved an incorrigibly dull 

 scholar. Within the past few years, however, it has greatly improved, 

 and, especially since it became identified with the popular and impor- 

 tant systems of storm-warnings and weather-forecasts, it has been 

 rapidly developed. This is peculiarly the case in America, and it is 

 not wonderful, when we consider the comprehensive observations of 

 our meteorological bureau, and the many beautiful phenomena which 

 its publications disclose. 



If Vasco Nunez, the discoverer of the great South Sea, was so 

 awed by the grandeur and expanse of its waters, as seen with the 

 naked eye, how much more may we be impressed as telegraphic 

 meteorology enables us to discover, at a glance, the tossings and 

 undulations of the aerial ocean over the larger part of the hemisphere ! 



It is to some of the deductions, that may be justly made from 

 the extensive and synchronous observations of the modern weather- 

 systems, as they bear upon those weather-problems, which, from time 

 immemorial, have interested mankind, that we now ask attention. 



1 Until the year 1821, "the law of storms," simple as it is, was 

 unknown to the most profound meteorologists and expert seamen of 

 the world. It was then first discovered and announced by Mr. Wil- 

 liam C. Redfield, of New York, and established by the labors of that 

 great mind, against the constant perversions and opposition of the scien- 

 tific empirics of his day. It can be easily comprehended in its great 

 vol. ii 25 



