164 WINDS. 



charged part of their moisture on the hills of Derbyshire and 

 the West Riding. 



It is to be regretted that no continuous observations have 

 been made on the quantities of rain brought by different winds. 

 I have constructed an instrument for this purpose, which gives 

 accurate indications of the direction in which rain comes, and the 

 angle of inclination at which it falls, but too frequent absence 

 from home has prevented more than a partial use of this method 

 of observation. As a general result it may be stated that the 

 greatest proportion of rain comes with southerly and south- 

 westerly winds; but long-continued rains with northerly and 

 north-easterly winds are not unfrequent. This last rain is often 

 in small or even almost elementary drops, and very cold, as if 

 generated from vapours condensing at a small height above the 

 ground ; while the rain from the southern quarter is heavier and 

 warmer. 



The great masses of cumulated cloud usually come up from 

 the west and south-west, this is the quarter for thunder ; it is 

 also the point from whence our most violent hurricanes blow, 

 such as that in January 1849, by which the streets of York 

 were strewed with fallen chimneys and roof materials, and the 

 neighbouring country oppressed with uprooted and broken 

 trees. 



It is much to be desired that a good Anemometer were 

 mounted at York. If the relative quantities of rain brought by 

 each wind ; the height of the clouds they transport ; the moist- 

 ure they impart to the air; and their effects on temperature, 

 vegetation, and health, were diligently registered by the York- 

 shire Philosophical Society, new and valuable results might 

 be expected to accrue to meteorology, agriculture, and medical 

 science. 



The effect of the wind on the height of mercury in the baro- 

 meter is sensible when a large mass of observations are tabulated. 

 By taking 100 observations of barometric pressure at 12 o'clock, 



