THE MOON'S INFLUENCE ON THE WEATHER. 59 



729.2 millimetres; on the 27th, at 8 a. m., 729.8 millimetres; on the 

 28th, at 8 a. m., 747.3 millimetres. 



With the moon in a like position with respect to the earth, there 

 occurred, December 15-18, 1873 and 1854, just as on the 21st and 22d 

 of November, a sudden and great fall of the barometer, accompanied 

 by a fearful storm. In 1873, on the evening of the 13th, and in 1854, 

 on the morning of the 14th, the moon was in the descending node.. 

 The moon's declination in 1873, at 3 p. m. of the 15th, and in 1854 at 

 7 a. M. of the 16th, was 12 south. At Emden, in 1873, the barometer 

 fell on the 15th and 16th, from 768 to 745 millimetres, or 23 millime- 

 tres. At Skudesnas the fall on the 15th and 16th December amounted 

 to 25 millimetres; at Stockholm, on the 16th, to 20 millimetres; at 

 St. Petersburg, from the 15th to the 17th, to 30 millimetres. The 

 track of the centre of this storm entirely agrees with that of the storm 

 of November 14th-22d. At 1 a. m. of December 14th, we find at Wash- 

 ington, North Carolina, a barometric minimum of 744.2 millimetres, 

 and by 7 h- 35- this had advanced as far as Halifax. Here, at the 

 time specified, the barometer had fallen to 735 millimetres. On the 

 14th, at 4 h - 35 m ', the barometric minimum had passed in a northeast 

 direction over Newfoundland, crossing the Atlantic Ocean. At 

 Thorshavn, where, on the 14th, at 8 a. m., the barometer had stood 

 at 757.4 millimetres, it had on the morning of the 16th fallen to 731.9. 

 At Aberdeen, the barometer on the morning of the 16th stood at 735 

 millimetres. 



In 1854, on the morning of December 17th, the barometer at Em- 

 den showed 752.2 millimetres ; it then fell till noon on the 18th, when 

 it was 731.1 millimetres, and then began to rise again. At the be- 

 ginning of the fall of the barometer, a storm from the southwest set 

 in, which increased in force till it became a hurricane. The rain which 

 fell during the storm amounted to 18.9 millimetres. 



At Cologne, at 3 h - 41 m -, December 18, 1854, the barometer showed 

 726.6 millimetres a barometric minimum never before observed there 

 since 1830. 



In 1854 the track of the storm-centre traversed Northern France 

 and Germany : thus, as on November 22d,it was more southerly than 

 in 1873. 



Such concordant atmospheric phenomena as these, when the moon 

 occupies the same position relating to the earth, might be quoted at 

 great length. The moon, as it governs ebb and flow, so too determines 

 oceanic currents, and, by means of these, atmospheric currents. From 

 this it follows that the influence of the moon upon that portion of the 

 atmosphere which overlies the continents must be less than that upon 

 the supra-oceanic atmosphere. Gaea. 



