Chap, ii.] General Winds. 451 



which have always a powerful effect in nature, and 

 which fomerimes overwhelm and deftroy the faireft 

 productions of human art. 



M. BrifTon is inclined to believe, that electricity is 

 the firfl and general caufe of all variable winds : f Thun- 

 der and water- fpouts *,' fay,> he, c are now acknow- 

 ledged to be electrical phenomena, and thefe are fre- 

 quently accompanied with formidable winds. Why 

 may not the caufe which produces thefe phendmeria 

 be alfo that of the winds which accompany them ? .If 

 electricity is the caufe of thefe winds, why may it not 

 be the caufe of the others j- :' 



Winds are commonly divided into three clafles, viz. 

 general, periodical, and variable winds. 



General or permanent winds blow always nearly in 

 the fame direction. In the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, 

 under the equator, the wind is almoft always eafterly ; 

 it blows, indeed, in this direction, on both fides of the 

 equator to the latitude of 28. More to the north- 

 ward of the equator, the wind generally blows be- 

 tween the north and eaft, and the farther north we 

 proceed, we find the wind to blow in a more northern 

 direction ; more to the fouthward of the equator it 

 blows between the fbuth and eaft, and the farther to 

 the fouth, the more it comes in that dire6tion. 



Between the parallels of 28 and 40 fouth lat. in, 

 that tract which extends from 30 weft to 100 eaft' 

 longitude from London^ the wind is variable, but it 

 moft. frequently blows from between the N. W. 

 and S. W. fo that the outward bound Eaft India fhips 



* With refpeft to the latter I entertain many doubts, at leaff 

 as to electricity being the proximate or efficient caufe. See the 

 latter part of this chapter. 



f Briflbn, Truitc Elem. de Phyfique, torn, ii, p. 180. 



G g 2 generally 



