104 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 



disappeared, the sun shone out from the western sea, the 

 stars sparkled in all their beauty, and the next morning 

 aojain brousfht the chain of clouds on the horizon. As the 

 time for the monsoon drew near the cloud-masses with more 

 and more energy endeavored to pass the mountains east- 

 ward. Sometimes two such masses presented themselves, 

 one creeping up the eastern valley and the other entering 

 the valley from the west. Day by day the returning clouds 

 made a little further progress. At length on the decisive 

 day, driven on by a giant force, they rose to the tops of the 

 mountains, and poured over their walls into the eastern hills 

 like steam from a great caldron. They plunged first down- 

 ward, and then curling upward disappeared in the hotter 

 eastern air. The storm with deluges of rain swept across 

 the mountain, and the monsoon reigned over the low lands 

 of Malabar. Trevandrum Observations, I., 517. 



OEIGIN OF COLD WAVES OF AIR, 



Dr. Klein, in reference to the use of daily weather reports, 

 states that in Europe as in America, in all cases, the reports 

 of the weather westward of a given station are of the great- 

 est importance, while reports from stations to the east are, 

 on the average, of minor importance in making weather pre- 

 dictions. A southerly wind in the region of Ireland, Scot- 

 land, or Norway indicates the approaching side of an area of 

 low barometer. It is therefore a sign of a coming change in 

 the weather. A northerly wind in those regions indicates, for 

 Germany, that the pressure of the air from the ocean is high, 

 and can be considered as a sign of steady j^leasant weather. 

 Irregular changes of atmospheric pressure and of the winds 

 are extremely slight in Eastern Asia, and the cold of winter 

 when once commenced continues uninterruptedly in Eastern 

 Siberia with a permanent high barometer. The reason of this 

 is found in the existence of the great mountain chains of Asia. 

 The region of high barometer is generally separated from 

 oceans and from equatorial regions by these lofty chains of 

 mountains. The coldest and densest stratum of air can there- 

 fore not flow away toward the sea. Its only escape is found 

 at points like Jakutsk, where it passes OA^er land 3000 feet 

 above the ocean. Thus, throughout the whole interior of 

 Asia, the lower stratum of air remains quite cold and heavy. 



