1870.] J-^'* [Bliisius. 



book is devoted to an attempt to prove that in naany cases whei'e tlie U. S. 

 Signal Service and other cyclonists see "many small storms," each inde- 

 pendent of the other, there is in reality one large storm hundreds of miles 

 in width. 



And as for the fact that ' ' a storm may be constituted as the cyclones are 

 supposed to be," the position I have taken is not that tliere are no cyclones, 

 but that there are none in our latitude, and that the theory which would 

 make all storms cyclones is radically erroneous. The citation of the Charles 

 Heddle case, to which I have also alluded in my book, is not a very fortu- 

 nate one, however, since it is far from being authentic. Even Dove him- 

 self, the great apostle of the cyclonic theory, calls it a "sea romance," 

 "Oder auf gut muselnuennisch gesprochen, etwas was gesehehen sein 

 kcEnne, wenn es dem Proplieten so gefalleu haette." 



Even if it were authentic, however, it would not conflict with any posi- 

 tion I have taken, since the storm to which it relates was a typhoon of the 

 Indian Ocean. 



The complaint that my experience has been limited to local storms, shows 

 some confusion of ideas, since it is not to be supposed that extensive storms 

 have avoided me, or that the researches of others are not open to me. The 

 reviewer in another place says : 



" If Dr. Blasius's book were not dated from the Atlantic coast, the meteor- 

 ologist could j^et determine quite accurately his latitude and longitude from 

 the types of storms he gives." 



This is quite satisfactory, since the professed aim of my book is to give 

 general principles, capable of universal application, and then to show how 

 these principles are applied to our latitude as example of the modifying 

 effect of dirtering local circumstances. Meteorology is largely a science of 

 locality, after all, as well as of the air; mountains, lakes, forests, the sea — 

 all have their effect in determining how the general weather changes will 

 affect us. And this is the reason why predictions for a large section of 

 country, such as the signal service give can never be so accurate as to be of 

 much use. 



That I have endeavored to show how general principles could be locally ap- 

 plied, probably aftbrds the Atlantic Monthly reviewer ground for supposing 

 my views restricted; but he cannot have read the book very carefull3^ So far 

 from not being able " to realize the existence of a storm of any magnitude, " 

 it is one of the main points of dift'erence between the cyclonists and myself 

 that, whereas they consider the area of low barometer the storm, my views 

 make this but a part of the storm, which covers also much larger areas of 

 high barometer in front and I'ear. 



The particular case cited, that of the Nova Scotia storm of August 23, 1873, 

 is not at all to the point, since, instead of taking a more limited view of the 

 phenomenon than Professor Abbe does, I hold that the storm was twice as 

 large as Prof. Abbe supposes it to have been, and that one -half of it the 

 Signal Service never knew at all. More than this, the half they did not see 

 was that which was ou land wathin their jurisdiction, and was the real 



