PROFESSOR LOOMIS'S STORM. 279 



it blew invariably from some point between the north and 

 south west. On the southern border it blew very uniformly 

 from the north, and in the western States the winds were 

 becoming light and irregular, veering round to the south 

 and south east, as they had done three days before. 



At the rate with which the storm moved across the western 

 States, it would have travelled from the Rocky Mountains 

 to Fort Levenworth in sixteen hours. And Professor Loo- 

 mis says there can be no reason seen why the storm 

 should not have extended to the Rocky Mountains. But 

 he thinks it could not have come from beyond them ; 

 for even if a warm moist current should blow across those 

 mountains, it would be a cold, dry air when it descended 

 on the other side. 



So far, then, as rain is concerned, the Rocky Mountains 

 must be supposed the western boundary of the storm. 



I am unable, says the Professor, even to conjecture the 

 probable limit of the storm on the north. The oscillation 

 of the barometer increased pretty uniformly from the most 

 southern station [lat. 20] to the most northern [Quebec]. 

 Why should not the storm have extended as far to the north 

 as it did to the south of this station ? On this supposition 

 the northern limit would be near the arctic circle. At a 

 little distance from the line of barometric minimum, on the 

 east, the wind was from the south east, while on the west, 

 it blew from the north west. These were both violent 

 winds, probably not less than forty miles an hour. But 

 how is it possible for two winds not far separated from each 

 other to blow violently towards each other for hours, and 

 even days, in succession ? 



The Professor here endeavors, at some length, to prove 

 that the south east wind ascended from the surface of the 

 earth, while the north west wind flowed under it ; and that 

 the south east wind, on ascending, divided, part going to 

 the south east and part to the north west. The cause of 



