MAGNETISM AND CIRCULATION OF THE ATMOSPHERE, ng 



above the clouds from one hemisphere into the other, and whose 

 footprints had become so palpable ? 



221. Taking up the theory of Ampere with regard to the mag- 

 netic polarity induced by an electrical current, according as it 

 passes through wire coiled with or coiled against the sun, and ex- 

 panding it in conformity wuth the discoveries of Faraday and the 

 experiments of a Prussian philosopher,* we perceive a series of 

 facts and principles which, being applied to the circulation of the 

 atmosphere, make the conclusions to which I have been led touch- 

 ing these crossings in the air, and the continual "w^hirl" of the 

 w^ind in the Arctic regions against, and in the Antarctic with the 

 hands of a ivatch, very significant. 



In this view of the subject, we see light springing up from va- 

 rious sources, by which the shadows of approaching confirma- 

 tion are clearly perceived. One such source of light comes from 

 the observations of my excellent friend Quetelet, at Brussels, 

 which show that the great electrical reservoir of the atmosphere 

 is in the upper regions of the air. It is filled with positive elec- 

 tricity, which increases as the temperature diminishes. 



222. May we not look, therefore, to find about the north and 

 south magnetic poles these atmospherical nodes or calm regions 

 which I have theoretically pointed out there ? In other words, 

 are not the magnetic poles of the earth in those atmospherical 

 nodes, the two standing in the relation of cause and effect, the 

 one to the other ? 



This question was first asked several years ago,t and I w^as 

 then moved to propound it by the inductions of theoretical rea- 

 soning. 



Observers, perhaps, will never reach those inhospitable regions 

 with their instruments to shed light upon this subject ; but Parry 

 and Barrow have found reasons to believe in the existence of a 

 perpetual calm about the north pole. Professor J. H. Coffin, in 

 an elaborate and valuable paperj on the " Winds of the North- 

 ern Hemisphere," arrives at a like conclusion. In that paper he 

 has discussed the records at no less than five hundred and sev- 

 enty-nine meteorological stations, embracing a totality of observa^ 



* Professor Von Feilitzsch, of the University of Greifswald. Philosophical Mag. 

 azine, January, 1851. t Maury's Sailing Directions. 



X Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge, vol. vi., 1854. 



