198 



EECREATIYE SCIENCE. 



science sliould liave so long received so small 

 a portion of our attention. When we con- 

 sider tliat our health, and even life, depend 

 upon the weather, that storms arise and 

 wreck our vessels, that heavy rains inundate 

 our lands and damage or destroy our crops, 

 that in an island depending so much on 

 foreign countries for its supplies, inhabited 

 by an industrious people striving to make the 

 most of the soil, and vying with the world in 

 its manufactories, and in a population far 

 advanced in scientific knowledge in all its 

 branches, and studying the best means of 

 preserving life and health, and of attaining 

 domestic comforts, it is not to be wondered 

 at that meteorology is now becoming an im- 

 portant subject of investigation. Probably 

 the reason this study has been hitherto much 

 neglected is owing to the fact, that weather 

 changes being variable and unaccountable, 

 we are apt to think it impossible to find out 

 the laws which govern them, and perhaps 

 even to doubt the existence of such laws. 

 That laws exist, as powerful as those which 

 connect our earth with the sun, there cannot 

 be a shadow of a doubt. Were there no laws, 

 we should be parched with thirst, and anon 

 deluged with rain — scorched by an over- 

 powering heat of the sun, or frozen to death 

 by excessive frost. Storms of wind would 

 tear up our largest trees and hurl down our 

 noblest buildings ; or the air would remain 

 immovable and stagnant, ceasing to carry off 

 the poisonous exhalations from our towns. 

 As it is, however, we have a certain range of 

 temperature and pressure ; rain wiU always 

 fall to a known extent, yet never exceed a 

 certain limit ; the air can never be very 

 long at rest, and the velocity cannot extend 

 beyond an ascertainable pressure. Even the 

 clouds, of which nothing can be said to be 

 more changeable, obey a wise law of Provi- 

 dence, by which the earth is shielded in a 

 greater or less degree from our winter's cold 

 and summer's heat. Thus, in summer, the 

 greatest amount of cloud occurs in the after- 



noon, and the least at night ; whilst in winter, 

 the reverse takes place. Our first salutation 

 is in allusion to the weather, and, indeed, the 

 subject is so fascinating, that it is remarkable 

 we find so few practical meteorologists. Time 

 will more rapidly increase the number of 

 observers, for with regard to those who have 

 once commenced in earnest, they rarely re- 

 linquish this pursuit. 



Government, seeing the importance of 

 such observations, has now its department 

 of meteorology, and each country is adding 

 its quota of observatories and observers. 

 France, Russia, Austria, Holland, Spain, and 

 America are making rapid advances ; records 

 are being abundantly made both by sea and 

 land, so that in course of time we may expect 

 to unfold some of those beautiful laws of 

 nature which govern the changes of the 

 weather. There yet requires the discovery 

 of a law which shall bind together all our 

 atmospheric elements, as the law of gravita- 

 tion binds the heavenly bodies together. 

 Nothing would be more calciilated to bring 

 important laws speedily to light than the 

 free use of the electric telegraph to the 

 observers, connecting the more important 

 stations together ; and in seed-time and 

 harvest an extensive series of telegraphic 

 meteorological stations, from which farmers 

 might readily learn the probable state of the 

 weather for a few hours, or perhaps days, 

 would really be invaluable to our agri- 

 culturists. 



In studying the laws of meteorology, or 

 rather, in endeavouring to find out laws, it 

 must be borne in mind that important facts 

 have already been revealed, many phenomena 

 have shown themselves ; and, knowing these 

 things, we are enabled to, at all events, place 

 limits to meteorological laws. In the first 

 place, the changes in the barometer are duo 

 to lateral displacements of our atmosphere. 

 The air which surrounds the earth is always 

 weighing the same pressure, when weighed 

 as a whole ; yet how very different does the 



