416 SCIENTIFIC WRITINGS. 



they pass, and will thus, with a falling barometer, cause 

 upward aerial movements, lasting until the indifferent 

 equilibrium is again restored in the whole column of 

 air. According to this, variations of temperature of 

 20 to 40 F. in the highest strata of air suffice to 

 produce the barometric fluctuations observed at the 

 earth's surface, thus also the maxima and minima of 

 the atmospheric pressure. 



This theory has met with considerable approval, 

 it however received the assent of the adherents of 

 the prevailing views only in certain points, or is even 

 entirely ignored by them. I have had occasion re- 

 peatedly to defend and further develop it. The 

 papers relating thereto are entitled "On the question 

 of air currents" (1887), "On the general system of 

 terrestrial winds" (1890) and "On the question of 

 the causes of atmospheric currents" (1891). I am 

 convinced that my theory will gradually meet with 

 universal acceptance , as it rests on a basis of facts. 

 It is a necessary consequence of our system of in- 

 struction however, that new fundamental views, which 

 contradict previous doctrines, should only slowly gain 

 ascendency. They must first be embodied in text 

 books, and that can only take place, when the new 

 theory is worked out on all sides and the ruins of 

 the hitherto dominant ones are cleared away. 



OF THE 



UNIVERSITY 



CALIFORNI 



