41 



change of wind to a point of the compass nearly opposite to that from 

 which it had previously been blowing. 



The preceding propositions are deductions from a large number of par- 

 ticular cases which have been investigated. If any one of these proposi- 

 tions requires some modification, the fact will be disclosed by a contin- 

 uance of the same system of observations. This is a legitimate subject of 

 investigation. Further observations will either prove or disprove these 

 propositions. Some of them may require a little modification^ although it 

 is believed they are all substantially true. 



We are justified, then, in inferring that storms are subject to laws; that 

 these laws are uniform in their operation, and that they may be discovered. 

 We have already made important progress in this discovery, and we are 

 persuaded that we have only to follow up the same methods of investiga- 

 tion, and our labor will be rewarded with more brilliant discoveries. The 

 results of such knowledge are too important to be overlooked. When we 

 have fully learned the laws of storms, we shall be able to pi'edici them. 

 This attainment is of the highest practical importance. If the navigator 

 can anticipate the approach of a storm by 24 hours, this interval will be 

 quite sufficient to place him beyond the reach of its fury; and although 

 the landsman could not remove his habitation from the approaching torna- 

 do, he might withdraw his family and the most valuable of his effects to 

 a place of security. 



When the magnetic telegraph is extended from New York to New Or- 

 leans and St. Louis, it may be made subservient to the protection of our 

 commerce, even in the present imperfect state of our knowledge of storms. 

 •The severe winter storms which desolate the Atlantic coast come from the 

 valley of the Mississippi, and require about 24 hours to travel from St. 

 Louis to New York. The approach of a dangerous storm might therefore 

 be telegraphed at New York hours before its arrival, while the sky was 

 yet unclouded and the wind propitious, in season to save a fleet of ships 

 from putting to sea, to be engulphed in the bottomless deep. The science 

 of meteorology is already sufficiently advanced to render important service 

 to commerce, if practical navigators would but heed the indications of the 

 barometer, and make themselves familiar with the principles which obser- 

 vation has established. 



It is, then, not without reason that we expect to be able to predict an ap- 

 proaching storm, long enough in advance to render such knowledge of the 

 highest importance; but it may admit of more serious question, whether 

 we shall ever be able to predict the general character of a season with suffi- 

 cient precision to be of any value to the farmer. But why should we des- 

 pair of ultimately attaining even this result ? If one season is remarkable for 

 6 



