102 



HURRICANES. 



moving towards the saucer and rising over it, thus 

 indicating the course of the air from sea to land. 

 On reversing the experiment, by filling the saucer 

 with cold water (to represent the island at night) 

 and the dish with warm water, the land breeze will 

 be shown by 'holding the smoking wick over the 

 edge of the saucer ; the smoke will then be wafted 

 to the warmer air over the dish." 



We have just tried the first of these experiments, 

 with complete success. We would, however, re- 

 commend a piece of twisted brown paper, lighted 

 and blown out, instead of a wax candle, because it 

 gives out more smoke and is probably more obtain- 

 able on short notice. The experiment of the door- 

 way, moreover, does not require that there should 

 be two rooms with a door between. We have 

 found that the door of our study, which opens into 

 a cold passage, serves the purpose admirably. 



Were we treating chiefly of the atmosphere in 

 this work, it would be necessary that we should en- 

 large on all the varieties of winds, with their causes, 

 effects, and numerous modifications. But our main 

 subject is the Ocean. The atmosphere, although it 

 could not with justice have been altogether passed 

 over, must hold a secondary place here ; therefore 

 we will conclude our remarks on it with a brief ref- 

 erence to hurricanes. 



It has been ascertained that most of the great 

 storms that sweep with devastating fury over the land 

 and sea are not, as was supposed, rectilinear in their 



