THE BAROMETER AND THE WEATHER. 19? 



the vacuous space, but in spirals, and thus it blows not quite 

 square to the back, but rather obliquely, or a little on the 

 right side. This is shown by the arrows in the charts, and is 

 most strikingly displayed in the chart for October 6th, 

 between the isobars of 30 '3 and 30 '5. To take, in Ireland, 

 the position required by Buys Ballot's Law, one must have 

 stood facing the east, and accordingly, the westerly wind 

 would then blow upon one's back. In Paris, at the same 

 moment, the position would be facing south-east, and the wind 

 was curving round accordingly. Further south at Bordeaux 

 or the Pyrenees the position becomes almost reversed i.e. 

 facing south-west, and the wind is reversed in equal degree. 



Here, then, on these days we had the chief conditions of 

 wind and rain, a steep and increasing barometric gradient and a 

 flow over our islands of humid air from the south and west 

 regions of the great Atlantic. Strong winds and heavy rains 

 did follow accordingly ; and the prophetic warnings of the 

 Meteorological Office, which are conveyed by means of signals 

 displayed on prominent parts of the coast, were fulfilled. 



Mr. Scott, the Director of the Meteorological Office, tells us 

 that " The degree of success that has attended our warnings in 

 these islands, on the average of the last two years, has been 

 that over 45 per cent, have been followed by severe gales ; and 

 over 33 per cent, in addition have been followed by wind too 

 strong for fishing-boats and yachts, though in themselves not 

 severe gales; this gives a total percentage of success of nearly 80." 



In winter the movements of the air are more decided, and 

 the changes are often so rapid that the warning sometimes 

 comes too late. With increased means i.e. more money to 

 cover additional work, and more stations better results might 

 be obtained. The United States expend 50,000 a yeai^in 

 weather telegraphy, exclusive of salaries, while the United 

 Kingdom only devotes 3000 a year to the same purpose. 

 The difficulties on our side of the Atlantic are greater than on 

 the American coasts, on account of the greater changeableness 

 of our weather mainly due to the more irregular distribution 

 of land and water on this side. This, however, instead of dis- 

 couraging national effort, should be regarded as a reason for 

 increasing it. The greater the changes, the greater is the 

 need for warnings, and the greater the difficulty, the greater 

 should be the effort. With our multitude of coastguard 

 stations and naval men without employment, we ought to sur- 

 pass all the world in such a work as this. 



