92 PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY OF THE SEA, AND ITS METEOROLOGY. 



existence in the upper air of reservoirs for the lieat as well as 

 of chambers for the cold. 



249. The streaks of warm air on the Andes (§ 246) derive their 

 The warm winds of warmth in all probability from the liberated heat of 

 xhl trude^vuidL ^ tho trade-wind vapom's as they are condensed into 

 snow-storms. 



250. Spells of wet and dry, as well as " terms " of hot and cold, 

 dormant powers of woathcr sometimos pass over portions of the country 

 meteorology. ^" like great waves. They occupy hours, or days, or weeks 

 in their march. The magnetic telegraph would, were the system 

 of combined research out of which this work has grown so enlarged 

 as to permit us to use it as a meteorological implement,* enable us 

 to give warning of all such changes in the weather in time for 

 farmers and others, as well as mariners to profit by the foreknow- 

 ledge. We could foretell the coming of storms also. 



251. We now see the general course of the "wind in his cir- 

 The wind in his cir- cuits," as WO seo the general course of the water in 

 *="i^- a river. There are many abrading sm'faces, irregu- 

 larities, &c., which produce a thousand eddies in the main stream ; 

 •yet, nevertheless, the general direction of the whole is not disturbed 

 nor affected by those counter-cmTents ; so with the atmosphere and 

 the variable winds which we find here in this latitude. Have I not, 

 therefore, very good grounds for the opinion (§ 200) that the " wind 

 in his circuits," though apparently to us never so wayward, is as 

 obedient to law and as subservient to order as were the morning 

 stars when fii'st they " sang together ?" 



Kansas on the 7tli instant (July 1860), which proved nearly as destructive to 

 animal life as the recent tornadoes that visited with such terrible effect portions 

 of Iowa. The wind arose about half-past ten o'clock a.m., and continued until 

 three o'clock in the afternoon. At one o'clock the mercury rose to 119p, and 

 continued so for about an hour, and then began gradually to decrease. The effect 

 can scarcely be imagined. The wind blew a brisk gale, carrying with it a salty, 

 sulphurous smell. Two men, in attempting to cross the country from lola to 

 Humboldt (distance eight miles), were overtaken and perished. TJiere were 

 three others at Humboldt who were caught out with teams, wliich perislied, the 

 men alone surviving, and are now in a fair way to recover. There was scarcely a 

 •chicken left in the country. Hogs and cattle fell in their tracks and suffocated. 

 Various reasons and conjectm-es as to its cause are given, but all unsatisfactory." 

 — 'Newspajjer. 



* Arrangements for so using it have already been made in Holland, France, 

 and England, and we liope to see them extended ere long to all otlier countries, 

 and wiicrever lines of telegraph may go. Tliough the plan only went into 

 operation in England, in Sept. 1860, Admiral Fitzroy informs me, it is already 

 rich with the promise of practical results the most valuable and important. 

 London, Nov. 14, 18G0. 



