Barometric Wnt^^ November 1847. 49 



observations would receive considerable elucidation from ob- 

 servations made on the Atlantic, the West Indies, and the 

 western shores of Europe. 



I cannot close these remarks without referring to the pre- 

 servation of H.M.S. Vernon, last July, in consequence of a 

 knowledge of the law of storms, by which she was enabled to 

 avoid a typhoon while sailing in the China seas. In the Illus- 

 trated News of November 20th, a letter with a diagram is in- 

 serted, exhibiting the altered course of the ship to allow the 

 ti/pJioon to pass. In introducing the subject, the writer ob- 

 serves, " that among the many things unseen by which we are 

 surrounded, high winds are subjected to fixed laws, affecting 

 their motions and durations, and directed in their courses by 

 the same unerring hand that regulates in wisdom the more 

 visible things of creation." A note is also added, which we 

 give entire. ["The ' circular theory of storms' is strongly 

 recommended to the notice of sailors ; and they will find much 

 assistance also from daily observations of' the barometer, and of 

 the dry- and wet- bulb thermometer. We will take this oppor- 

 tunity of recommending meteorologists more fully to investi- 

 gate the subject of the theory of storms. The writer of this 

 has been in a locality where the air has been in a calm state, 

 while at the same time (as he has learned from letters addressed 

 to him) a gale of wind has been blowing around him, the di- 

 rection of the wind in some places being due east, in others 

 due west, and blowing from different points at other places at 

 the same time." — J. G,] In the above extracts we find the 

 results of a practical application of the knowledge derived 

 from the investigation of such subjects as we have been treat- 

 ing of; and if Sir John Herschel's suggestion is correct, that 

 ihe circular storm results from the crossing of two large atmo- 

 spheric waves, then not only is it desirable that meteorologists 

 should more fully investigate the theory of storms, but they 

 should extend their inquiries, and look beyond the storm to 

 those vast movements which sweep over the entire continent 

 of Europe, stretching from its extreme south-western to its 

 extreme northern point, and follow them as they majestically 

 roll over the surfaces of our oceans and continents, and 

 endeavour to detect in the points of their intersections the 

 gyrative tornados which every spring and autumn visit our 

 coasts, and spread devastation and death wherever their 

 destructive influence is felt. A knowledge of the laws of 

 atmospheric waves must greatly contribute to our knowledge 

 of the circular storm. 



Phil. Mail. S. 3. Vol. 32. No. 212. Jan. 1848. 



