Feb. 25, 1856.] PARISH. GARDNER. 37 



nothing approaching to a cyclone in their movement. In the upper regions 

 of the atmosphere there is usually a counter-current in an opposite direction 

 to that of the trade-winds beneath ; so that although no horizontal rotatory 

 motion takes place, there may be a vertical one. 



In higher latitudes, as before said, the prevailing winds are westerly ; there 

 is thus a general movement of the atmosphere in all parts of the world, to 

 which cyclones form exceptions like eddies. 



Captain Parish, in his paper, does not allude to the complete change in the 

 character of the wind which takes place in every storm in high latitudes. 



In the latitude of the British Islands storms usually begin with a S. wind, that 

 brings thick and dirty weather. It then veers round to S.W. and W., and 

 finally clears up with a N.W. or N. wind. Now if the winds went round in 

 a circle, according to the common theory of cyclones, there is no reason why 

 the character of the weather brought by the storm should not be always alike, 

 no matter from what quarter the Avind came. He (Captain FitzEoy) would 

 rather ascribe these so-called circular movements to two bodies of air coming 

 from different directions and meeting together — the one which has the 

 greater momentum overcoming the other. 



In the IS. hemisphere we find an exact converse to the above. Dirty 

 weather is brought by the wind from N. and N.E., and it is cleared away 

 by a wind from th^ S.W. and S. The remainder of the circle is not in any of 

 these cases filled up. There is nothing like a continued rotation round a 

 centre. 



The cyclone theory applies completely to the hurricanes of the Atlantic and 

 Indian Oceans, and also to those storms which in Eastern seas are called 

 tj^foons ; but as far as general experience goes, that theory is not so satis- 

 factory in the explanation of those phenomena which accompany the winds of 

 high latitudes. 



There is no doubt that many storms are connected with the progress of 

 atmospheric waves, ^. e., with those undulations of the atmosphere which are 

 shown by variations in the height of the barometer. These waves at their 

 height cause a pressure which must give rise to a horizontal movement of the 

 air more or less strong according to the height of the waves on each sidB of the 

 trough. 



Le Yerrier, in investigating the storm of Nov. 1854, that was so severely felt 

 at Balaklava, has shown that it was connected with' the progress of an atmo- 

 spheric wave moving from England across the continent of Europe to the Black 

 Sea, — (See Cmnjotes liendus, No. 27, Dec. 1855.) 



2. Notes on the Condition of the Gipsy Population of Moldavia. By 

 Samuel, Gardner, Esq., H.M. Consul at Jassy. 



Communicated by the Earl of Clarendon. 



Mr. Gardner enclosed with his paper the Moldavian Gazette of 

 Nov. 29th, containing a message of the Hospodar to the Council of 

 State relative to the manumission of the Tzigan (Zigani) or Gipsy 

 population, which has been hitherto condemned to praedial slavery in 

 Moldavia. He remarks that the condition of those who have been 

 manumitted, has not yet been much benefited by the change. They 

 have been placed on the list of " contribuables," or tax-payers, and 

 have still their former burden of villenage, and much other service im- 



