THE WINDS 



averaging only one three-thousandth of an inch in 

 diameter. These, in quadrilhons, are spaced so widely 

 apart that they form a misty veil in the sky which is just 

 visible. 



More and more droplets are formed, and these gradu- 

 ally merge into actual raindrops which fall to the earth — 

 each drop containing anything up to a million of the 

 original droplets. We know that the whole process of 

 rain- or snowflake-formation is one of repeated associa- 

 tions. In one sense the water-droplets act like humans 

 who form small assemblies which join others to form 

 larger groups, and so on, until huge ''mass meetings" are 

 held — the process is one of widening co-operation. 



Apart from the trades and similar winds which are the 

 ''master mariners", ceaselessly engaged in their routine 

 voyagings over the surfaces of the oceans, there are 

 numbers of winds which confine their activities to local 

 areas. 



Even as men and women are classified according to 

 their various occupations, so winds are classified accord- 

 ing to their speeds. Sir Francis Beaufort devised a scale 

 in 1805 which is still used for measuring wind velocities. 

 It allocates numbers to winds in accordance with their 

 differing strengths, from "light air" (i), upwards through 

 "slight breeze" (2), "gentle breeze" (3) — a wind of eight 

 to twelve miles an hour — to wind number 12, a hurri- 

 cane moving at "greater than seventy- five miles an 

 hour". Such terrific winds are only very rarely experi- 

 enced. Even wind number 10 — "whole gale" — blowing 

 at between fifty-five and sixty-three miles an hour — is one 

 seldom experienced inland, trees being uprooted and 

 considerable structural damage being caused; although 

 winds of this velocity were experienced at Weymouth, 

 England, as recently as May 1957. 



Although the Beaufort scale ends with wind number 

 12, and winds over seventy-five miles an hour are cer- 

 tainly rare, hurricanes moving at speeds considerably in 



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