§ 3G1. EASTING OF THE TRADE-WINDS, ETC. Igg 



At sea in the south- aqueous area, suppose the general law of atmos- 

 h^e^the'^ruTet on pheiical movements to be better developed than it 

 lheVx''ceprio°nT,*as to ^^ in the northem hemisphere. We accordingly 

 !!on^rt?e'l^mS: scc bj the tablc (§ 853) that the movements north 

 P''^''^ and south between 45° and 50° correspond with the 



movements south and north between 25° and 80° ; that as you 

 go from the latter band toward the equator the winds with south- 

 ing in them increase, while the winds with northing in them in- 

 crease as you go from the former toward the pole. 



861. This is the law in both hemispheres, thus indicating that 

 The magnetic poles, there must bc in the polar regions, as in the equa- 



the poles of the wind . ^ ^ -r iii i 



and of cold coincident, torial, a caim placc, whcrc these polar-bound winds 

 cease to go forward, rise up, and commence their return (§ 214) as 

 an upper current. So we have theoretically a calm disc, a poly- 

 gon — not a belt — about each pole. The magnetic poles and the 

 poles of maximum cold (§ 847) are coincident. Do not those 

 calm discs, or " poles of the wind," and the magnetic poles, cover 

 the same spot, the two standing in the relation of cause and effect? 

 This question was first asked several years ago,* and I was then 

 moved to propound it by the inductions of theoretical reasoning. 

 Observers, perhaps, may never reach those inhospitable regions 

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

 Parry and Barrow have found reasons to believe in the existence 

 of a perpetual calm about the north pole, and, later, Bellot has re- 

 ported the existence of a calm region within the frigid zone. Pro- 

 fessor J. H. Cofiin, in an elaborate and valuable paperf on the 

 "Winds of the Northern Hemisphere," arrives by deduction 

 at a like conclusion. In that paper he has discussed the records 

 at no less than five hundred and seventy-nine meteorological sta- 

 tions, embracing a totality of observations for two thousand eight 

 hundred and twenty-nine years. He places his "meteorological 

 pole" — pole of the winds — near latitude 84° north, longitude 105° 

 west. The pole of maximum cold, by another school of philos- 

 ophers. Sir David Brewster among them, has been placed in lati- 

 tude 80° north, longitude 100° west ; and the magnetic pole, by 

 still another school,:]: in latitude 78° 85' north, longitude 95° 89' 

 west. Neither of these poles is a point susceptible of definite and 



* Maury's Sailing Directions. 



t Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge, vol. vi., 1864. J Gauss. 



