452 WRITINGS OP JOSEPH HENRY. [1865 



Hare, whose memories are preserved in the history of science, 

 have led to the establishment of principles of high theoreti- 

 cal interest, as well as of great practical value. Among these 

 I need here mention onl}^ the fact now fully proved that all 

 the meterological phenomena of at leavSt the middle and 

 more northern portions of the temperate zone are trans- 

 mitted from west to east. The passage of storms from one 

 part of the country to the other was noticed by Dr. Franklin 

 on the occasion of observing an eclipse of the moon. He 

 showed that our south-west storms are felt successively later 

 and later as the point of observation is farther to the north- 

 east; that they arrive last at the extreme north-eastern por- 

 tions of our continent. We now know however that the suc- 

 cessive appearance of the storm at points farther along the 

 coast is due to the easterly movement — sideways as it were, 

 of an atmospheric disturbance, greatly elongated north and 

 south, and reaching sometimes from Canada to the Gulf of 

 Mexico. Hence to persons residing along the seaboard the 

 phenomenon would appear to have a northwardly progres- 

 sion, on account of the north-easterly trend of the coast ; yet 

 the storm not unfrequently reaches simultaneously Bermuda 

 and Nova Scotia. 



Few persons can have failed to observe the continued 

 motion of the higher clouds from the west, or to have recog- 

 nized the just meteoroscopy of Shakspeare in a well-known 

 passage: 



" The weary sun hath made a golden set, 

 And by the bright track of his fiery car 

 Gives token of a goodly day to-morrow." 



The breaking forth of the sun just before his setting shows 

 that the rear of the cloud which has obscured his beams 

 has in its easterly course reached our horizon, and will soon 

 give place to an unobscured sky. 



It must be observed however that all the storms which 

 visit our coast are not of this nature; those denominated 

 cyclones, and which seldom extend far into the interior, are 

 probably of a rotatory character. These usually commence 

 in the Caribbean sea, move first toward the northwest, and 



