45 



wich, in twenty years, peiformed 248 more complete revolu- 

 tions in one direction than in the other." * 



"Without entering at length into the subject of the winds, 

 which would be foreign to the purpose of this paper, I would 

 only observe farther — that, while there is a normal direction 

 they take at all times with more or less regularity, there is 

 Hkewise a normal order they conform to mth reference to the 

 seasons, however this order may be occasionally broken in 

 upon. All are famihar with the easterly, or rather north- 

 easterly winds, which in general prevail in spring. In hke 

 manner, during summer, and often in autumn as well — 

 sometimes even to the close of the year— the prevaiHng 

 winds are north-westerly, or, perhaps, winds continually 

 oscillating between north-west and south-west, causing that 

 changeable weather which is ordinarily so characteristic of an 

 English summer. Occasionally, however, the easterly winds 

 are out of place ; or they prevail to a greater or less extent 

 than usual. They may be in excess, or at a mean, or at a 

 minimum ; though from what causes we may be unable to 

 say. I have elsewhere remarked, "that, in all cases of a 

 fine and dry summer, either the easterly winds are entirely 

 out of place, occurring in summer and autumn instead of 

 spring (as in 1846, the finest and hottest summer I ever 

 remember) ; or else, though occurring chiefly in the spring, 

 they still, in some measure, keep their ground, returning at 

 intervals during the succeeding months. In fact, it is mainly 

 due to the wind setthng itself again in the dry quarter, such 

 as the north-east usually is, that the weather remains 

 steady."t No instance has occurred to my observation of a 

 very fine summer, in which the amount of easterly mnds was 

 much under the mean. If the easterly winds are quite 



* Those who wish to see this subject treated of in detail, are referred to 

 Dove's work on "The Law of Storms." An English translation by Scott was 

 published in 1862. 



t " Observations in Meteorology," 1858, p. 117. 



