Lat] AND SYMBOLS. 189 



have been avoided, is this, viz., that in the same hemisphere 

 great cyclones always revolve the same way (so far at least as our 

 present information extends), but that this direction is opposite 

 in opposite hemispheres. In the northern hemisphere their 

 rotation is retrograde, i.e., contrary to the motion of the hands of 

 a watch laid face upwards, or in conformity with the motion of 

 the hand in unscrewing a screw. In the southern their rotation 

 is direct, conformable to the hands of a watch or to the motion 

 of a hand screwing in a screw into a horizontal board. And 

 this general fact affords the following simple rule by which to 

 know at any given moment the bearing of the centre of the .vortex, 

 which is the point of extreme danger, by reason of the fury of 

 the wind in its vicinity, its sudden reversal, and the terrible sea 

 which prevails there. When sure that you are within the limits 

 of a cyclone, stand erect, and look full in the wind's eye, then, 

 if in the northern hemisphere, turn yourself 90 or one quarter 

 of the circle round to your right (if in the southern, as much to 

 your left), and you will have the centre of the current facing 

 you. Thus if in the northern hemisphere the wind at the ship 

 be due north (blow from the north), the centre bears due east 

 from the ship's place. MA. 



Latent Germs. 



Germs of life may remain dormant for incalculable periods 

 where least expected. Certain soils, by exposure to the sun's 

 rays, or by aid of peculiar manures, will produce plants when 

 no pre-existent root or germ could rationally be supposed to 

 exist ; and peculiar and long-intervening seasons will give birth 

 to insects from causes not to be divined. In like manner germs 

 of thought hidden in old phrases, old institutions, old books, or 

 forgotten biographies, spring into vigorous activity, to the 

 astonishment of mankind, when the conditions of human affairs 

 happen to be propitious for their development. The germinal 

 principle of a revolution may slumber for many a century in an 

 unsuspected proposition, j. 



