Meteors. 117 



trie parts at the equator are most rarefied 

 which are near the sun ; and those parts 

 are, by the earth's diurnal rotation east- 

 ward, continually shifting to the west ; it 

 follows, that the parts of the air which lie 

 on the west side of the point of greatest 

 rarefaction, and, by flowing towards it, 

 meet it, have less motion than those parts 

 on the east of the said point, which follow 

 it ; and therefore the motion of the east- 

 ern air would prevail against that of the 

 western air, and so generate a continual 

 east wind, if this were all the effect of that 

 rarefaction. But we are to consider that 

 as all the parts of the atmosphere are so 

 greatly rarefied over the equator, and all 

 about the poles greatly condensed by ex- 

 treme cold, this heavier air from either 

 pole is constantly flowing towards the 

 equator, to restore the balance destroyed 

 by the rarefaction and levity of the air ov- 

 er those regions ; hence, in this respect 

 alone, a constant north and south wind 

 would be generated. 



Now it is easy to understand, that by a 



composition of these two directions of the 



air from the east and north, a constant 



north-east wind will be generated in the 



K2 



