MISCELLANY. 



639 



ing §160,000, with a ground-plan of 115 

 feet by 100. It will be of brick, with cut- 

 stone trimmings, and strictly fire-proof; of 

 three stories, with high basement, making, 

 virtually, four stories. This basement will 

 be largely devoted to the exhibition of fos- 

 sil footprints. The first story will be de- 

 voted to a lecture-room and a mineralogi- 

 cal cabinet ; the second to geology, with 

 the fossil vertebrates from the Rocky Moun- 

 tains ; the third to zoology, and the attic to 

 archaeology and ethnology. The funds for 

 the erection and maintenance of this insti- 

 tution were furnished, in 1866, by the late 

 George Peabody, who, by deed of gift dated 

 October 22d of that year, gave $150,000 to 

 Profs. J. D. Dana, 0. C. Marsh, B. Silliman, 

 G. J. Brush, and three others, in trust " to 

 found and maintain a Museum of Natural 

 History, especially of the departments of 

 zoology, geology, and mineralogy, in con- 

 nection with Yale College." The present 

 curators of the several departments of the 

 Museum are Prof. Brush, of the mineralogi- 

 cal, Prof. Marsh, of the geological, and Prof. 

 A. E. Yerrill, of the zoological department. 



The Movement of Storms. — The Ameri- 

 can Journal of Scie^ice for July contains 

 Part I. of an able paper, by Prof. Loomis, 

 entitled " Results derived from an Exami- 

 nation of the United States Weather Maps 

 for 1872 and 1873," read before the Na- 

 tional Academy of Sciences in April last. 

 The weather-maps which furnished the data 

 for his examination exhibit storm-paths for 

 314 days. These he has carefully tabu- 

 lated and classified. The course and veloci- 

 ty of the storms for each month are given, 

 showing that the average velocity in for- 

 ward movement was 26.6 miles per hour, 

 that the greatest average velocity in any 

 month was in February, it being 31 miles 

 per hour ; the lowest was in August, when 

 the rate was lY.*? miles an hour. It also ap- 

 pears that their forward movement is greater 

 in winter than in summer. But some atoms 

 move with exceptional velocity. Thus, in 

 May 15, 1873, a storm-centre advanced 1,200 

 miles in twenty-four hours, while, in , other 

 cases, there was no forward movement, and 

 the storm-centre remained stationary for 

 twenty-four hours. The average direction 

 of the storm-paths for two years was 8° 



north of east ; in summer, nearly due 

 east ; in winter, more northward ; but most 

 northward in fall and spring. In October 

 the direction was 21° north of east. In- 

 stances occurred, however, in which storms 

 moved north-northwest ; and, on the 6th 

 of April, 1873, a storm in the Mississippi 

 Valley moved in every direction in a little 

 more than twenty-four hours. 



Prof. Loomis carefully studied the causes 

 which appear to influence the velocity and 

 direction of storms. Of these, rainfall is 

 important. It is found that the area of 

 rainfall extends farther on the eastern than 

 it does on the western side of a storm- 

 centre ; so that the rain-area is a long oval, 

 the longer diameter of which is in or nearly 

 in the direction in which the storm is mov- 

 ing. This is true of most of the storms 

 which traverse the United States. This 

 rain-area extends to an unusual distance on 

 the eastern side of a storm when it is ad- 

 vancing — the average extent being about 

 500 miles. 



By the condensation of vapor eastward 

 of the storm, it, in a measure, makes its own 

 way. Thus the barometer continually falls 

 in advance of it, announcing its approach, 

 but rises as the storm-centre is past. The 

 conditions by which a storm is sustained, 

 and which are present before or in front of 

 it, cease to exist in its wake. Instances 

 occur, however, in which increased velocity 

 and condensation in the western quadrant 

 of a storm set back the storm's centre, and 

 give it, for a time, a retrograde motion. 

 The wind on the western quarter of a storm 

 usually blows with greater velocity by about 

 22 per cent, than it does on its eastern quad- 

 rant, and this is a means by which the for- 

 ward motion is retarded ; and it is found 

 that, when the wind's velocity in the west- 

 ern quadrant is 44 per cent, greater than in 

 the eastern, the storm's forward motion is 

 seven miles an hour less than its average 

 rate of progress. 



The atmosphere in the storm circuit 

 moves inward, but also upward, to the cen- 

 tral region of the storm, which is supposed 

 to be from one to two miles above the 

 earth's surface. At this elevation atmos- 

 pheric movements are greatly increased in 

 velocity. Thus, at the summit of Mount 

 Washington, the velocity was 29 miles an 



