88 ANNUAL KECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 



pression come, from the north. 5. The path of a storm is in 

 general preceded by a cloudy sky and rain or snow; the rear 

 is, on the contrary, less cloudy. 6. An intimate connection 

 exists between the chano;es of tho various meteorolooical 

 elements during a storm. In the more southern countries 

 various perturbations obscure more or less the relation that 

 in Sweden appears in a striking manner. By studying princi- 

 . pally the barometric minima of winter nights, we have almost 

 entirely eliminated these perturbations, and find : 7. That 

 the Avind varies with a surprising regularity, so that from it 

 we can fix at any time, by Buys Ballot's law, the direction in 

 Avhich the centre of low barometer is to be found. 8. The 

 nearer the centre passes the place of observation, the greater 

 becomes the velocitv of fall and rise of the barometer, and 

 the quicker the wind veers if the centre is to the north, or 

 backs if the centre pass to the south of the station. 9. If 

 a new storm centre approach, the wind changes in the di- 

 rection called " backino: " toward the south when the max- 

 imum barometer has passed. 10. The pressure of the air 

 and the temperature change in opposite directions, the daily 

 curves of barometer and thermometer being in fact nearly 

 contrary to each other. 11. The changes in the j^i-essure of 

 the aqueous vapor nearly follow the changes of temperature. 

 Numerous weather charts are given by Hildebrandsson to 

 illustrate the preceding memoir; and among them are spe- 

 cially interesting the hourly charts for Upsala, on account of 

 the condensed yet very clear view that they afford of the 

 principal features of the weather, the peculiarity consisting 

 in showing by a single dot the wind, weather, and barome- 

 ter, while another dot shows the temperature and rain. Got- 

 tenbourg Ken. Soc, December^ 1872, 26. 



EASTERLY CURRENT IN ENGLAND. 



An attempt was recently made in London, to determine 

 the vexed question of the existence of a persistent current 

 in an easterly direction in the upper strata of the atmos- 

 phere. The ascent was made by Mr. Coxwell in his old his- 

 toric balloon, the JVccssau, but the result of the experiment, 

 as far as it goes, was unfavorable to the theory, the balloon 

 having steadily moved, when it reached the altitude deter- 

 mined on (10,000 feet), in a nearly southerly direction. 



