25G Proximate Causes of certain winds and Storms. 



wind prevails, and what little motion the clouds have is towards the 

 east, whence the common remark in this country, that thunder clouds 

 move against the wind. But this is by no means universally true, 

 for if the west wind happens to be excited by any temporary cause 

 before its natural period when it should take place, the east wind will 

 often get the better of it, and the clouds, even although thunder 

 is produced, will move westward" That the most common and nat- 

 ural course of thunderstorms in that country is from west to east, is 

 therefore very apparent. 



(c.) Of the remarkable thunderstorms experienced in England, 

 from the year of the foundation of the Royal Society, down to 1S00, 

 and noticed in the Philosophical Transactions, there are about thirty- 

 five, the time of whose commencement, or in general of their occur- 

 rence, is either distinctly stated, or clearly indicated, in the abridge- 

 ment by Hutton, Shaw and Pearson- Of these, the beginning of 

 twenty-seven was between noon and midnight ; generally it was about 

 three or four o'clock in the afternoon. One lasted all day, and the 

 remaining seven were in the morning. The direction of twelve is 

 given. Two came from the south, three from the eastern and seven 

 from the western quarter. 



If the wind blow for a great length of time, or frequently at inter- 

 vals from a particular point in any country, the fact will be likely to 

 be noticed by the traveller who may happen to be upon the spot, and 

 stated in his journal, whilst the direction of the gust during a storm* 

 in which he may be involved, will be altogether neglected. For this 

 reason it is more difficult to furnish proof that thunderstorms follow 

 a particular course, than to establish the prevalence of certain winds 

 in given latitudes. It is but reasonable that this should be borne in 

 mind, if the evidence adduced in establishing our proposition should 

 not be regarded as in every respect satisfactory. The bare silence 

 of an Englishman or inhabitant of the United States, in regard to the 

 quarter in which a thunder-cloud rises, furnishes ground for believing 

 that it is the same as in his own country. Many sources of informa- 

 tion and argument, which would willingly have been consulted, are 

 not at hand. 



(d.) Dr. Young, giving the substance of a paper by Longford, m 

 the Philosophical Transactions for 1698, on the hurricanes of the 

 West Indies, remarks from it, that "All hurricnnes begin between 



