TRANSACTIONS OF THE SECTIONS. 23 



The inferences drawn from the facts appear very important, and the 

 further pursuit of the investigation well deserving attention. 



The manner in which Colonel Reid has followed it up has been by- 

 procuring the actual log-books of ships, and combining their inform- 

 ation with what could be obtained on land, so as to compare simulta- 

 neous observations over extended tracts. On Chart VII. were repre- 

 sented thirty-five ships in the same storm, the tracks of several cross- 

 ing the storm's path, and the wind as reported by the ships corroborated 

 by the reports from the land. 



The observations of ships possess this great advantage for meteoro- 

 logical research, that merchant log-books report the weather every two 

 hours, and ships of war have hourly observations always kept up. 



After tracing a variety of storms in north latitudes, the author was 

 struck with the apparent regularity with which they appear to pass to 

 the North Pole ; and was thence led to suppose, from analogy, that 

 storms in south latitude would be found to revolve in a precisely con- 

 trary direction to that which they take in the northern hemisphere. 

 Earnestly seeking for facts to ascertain if this were really the case, he 

 had obtained much information to confirm the truth of the opinion 

 before he was at all aware that Mr. Redfield had conjectured the same 

 thing, without, however, having himself traced any storms in soutli 

 latitude. Chart VIII. represents the course of a storm productive of 

 very disastrous consequences, encountered by the East India fleet, under 

 convoy, in 1 809, and it is strikingly illustrative of this important fact. 



If storms obey fixed laws, and we can ascertain Avhat those laws are, 

 the knowledge of them must be highly useful to navigation ; but to 

 apply the principles practically, requires that seamen should study and 

 understand them. The problem so long desired to be solved, viz. on 

 which side to lay to a ship in a storm, Colonel Reid trusts h now ex- 

 plained. • 



By watching the mode of veering of the wind, the portion of a storm 

 into which a ship is falling may be ascertained. The object required 

 is, that the wind, in veering, shall veer afi instead of ahead ; and that 

 a vessel shall come up instead of having to break off. To accomplish 

 this the ship must be laid on opposite tacks, on opposite sides of a 

 storm ; but the limits of this notice render it impossible to attempt an 

 explanation in detail. 



The researches which have been carried into the southern hemi- 

 sphere afford a very interesting explanation of the observations of 

 Capt. King, in his sailing directions for the southern extremity of Ame- 

 rica, namely, that the rise and fall of the barometer in storms corre- 

 spond with the rise and fall in high nortliern latitudes ; east and west 

 remaining the same, but north and south changing places. 



Five connected storms which occurred in 1837, and followed each 

 other in close succession, possess an interest altogether new, for they 

 give us a clue to explain the variable winds. Since these Avhirlwinds 

 revolve by an invariable law, and always in the same direction, every 

 new storm changes the wind. Thus the hurricane of the middle of 

 August 1837, traced on Chart VII., had hardly passed towards the 



