726 The Winds in tlie Free Air [April 11, 



that in most cases the west-east component decreases below the 

 stratosphere and is a minimum near the surface, an east wind in this 

 case being considered as a negative west wind. This is what should 

 be the case if the ideas I have been considering are correct, for the air 

 to the north is generally colder than the air over this country. In 

 the case of the north-south component we find no such general rule, 

 but this also is as it should be, for the air to the east and west may 

 be either of the same temperature, or warmer, or colder than the air 

 over the station, in other words, there is a normal north to south 

 temperature gradient but not a normal west to east gradient, in our 

 islands. 



The supposed cases mentioned are of course simple types, and it 

 can be readily understood how varying conditions of pressure and 

 temperature may in similar ways produce varieties of vertical wind 

 distribution. In considering the pressure distribution just below the 

 stratosphere as the regulator of the winds and the weather in the 

 lower part of the atmosphere, I fear I have nothing to add concerning 

 the laws governing these pressure distributions ; the idea is a new 

 one and has yet to be worked out in its details, and to stand the test 

 of criticism and fuller investigation. 



[C. J. P. C] 



