Nov. 27, 1884] 



NA TURE 



75 



singing-, drill, and cookery or handicraft. It is a matter 

 of common experience that whatever increases the vigour 

 or quickens the intelligence of children enables them to 

 acquire book-learning in a much shorter space of time. 

 In whatever points educationists may differ, there will be 

 teral agreement that the bodily senses of our young 

 working-class population ought to be developed as well 

 as their mental faculties, and that it is highly important 

 for them at least to know something of the world in which 

 they live and of the materials and natural forces with 

 which they work. J. H. I 



THE DISTRIBUTION OF THE METEOROLO- 

 IL ELEMENTS IN CYCLONES AXP 



ANTICYCLONES 

 Sur la Distribution des Elements Mtt&orologiques autour 

 des Minim, 1 et des Maxima Barome"triques. Par H. 

 Hildebrand Hildebrandsson. Pre'sente" a la Socie'te' 

 Royale des Sciences d'Upsal le 10 Mars, 1883. (Upsal, 

 1883.) 



WITH the publication of the first synoptic weather- 

 maps in Europe and America about the middle 

 of the present century, the scientific study of the great 

 movements of the atmosphere and other phenomena of 

 weather may be considered as having commenced. This 

 method of inquiry soon taught us that in different parts 

 of one and the same barometric depression or cyclone, 

 very different climatic conditions prevailed. In the front 

 part of the depression the weather is warm, moist, and 

 clouded, whilst in the rear it is cold, dry, and clear. 

 Further inquiry showed equally distinct types of weather 

 characterising different parts of high-pressure areas or 

 anticyclones. So close indeed are these relations that 

 the study of weather resolves itself very much into an 

 examination of the phenomena attending cyclones and 

 anticyclones. If we could certainly prognose the distri- 

 bution of atmospheric pressure over North-Western 

 Europe on, say, Saturday next, we could for the same 

 time forecast pretty correctly the weather over this part 

 of the earth. Similarly, if we could forecast that the 

 easterly tracks of the cyclones of the coming winter were 

 to be south of the Channel, we could forecast a severe 

 winter for the British Islands ; and on the other hand if 

 the path taken by these cyclones would be to the north 

 of these islands, an unusually mild winter would certainly 

 follow. Hence the supreme importance of any accession 

 to our knowledge respecting cyclones and anticyclones. 

 This is what Prof. Hildebrandssoir's laborious and able 

 paper does in various directions. 



The direction and velocity of the wind as noted at 

 Upsala at the surface of the earth, in the region of the 

 lower clouds, and in the higher region of the cirrus, the 

 temperature of the air, the amount of cloud, the fre- 

 quency of rain, the transparency of the air, and the occur- 

 rence of fog are examined with reference to forty-three 

 different sections or areas into which the author has 

 partitioned cyclonic and anticyclonic systems according 

 to the direction of the barometric gradient and the height 

 of the barometer, three of these forty-three sections being 

 the central areas of the cyclone and the anticyclone, and 

 the space separating two cyclones which are not far 

 apart. 



As regards the direction of the wind it is shown that 

 the angle made by the wind with the barometric gradient 

 is greater in summer than in winter ; greater at stations 

 near the sea than at inland places ; greater in cyclonic 

 than in anticyclonic regions ; and that the angle is the 

 maximum, or the wind approximates most nearly to a 

 circular course, when the gradient is directed towards 

 the east, and the minimum when directed towards the 

 west. The angle obtained for Upsala, which is nearly 

 50', is greater than that obtained by Loom is for the 

 United States, but less than what Mohn has found for 

 Norway and Clement Ley for the British Islands. The 

 observations made on three small islands were also 

 examined, viz. Utklippan, a little to the south of Karls- 

 krona, Waderobod, north-east of Jutland and a few 

 mile; off the Swedish coast, and Sandon, a low sand-bank 

 about thirty-four miles north of Gothland, at which 

 stations the angles are respectively 64 , 65 , and 74°. 

 Here the influence of the sea on the angle made by the 

 wind with the gradient is very striking, being about a 

 half more at the strictly insular position of Sandon than 

 at Upsala. 



The angle is at the maximum in the three islands when 

 the gradient is directed towards the east, and the minimum 

 when directed towards the west, as at Upsala, and as 

 Clement Ley has shown for England, Hoffmeyer for 

 Denmark, and Spindler for Russia. One remarkable 

 result is, however, shown with reference to each of the 

 three islands, viz. the angle shows a well-pronounced 

 secondary maximum when the gradient is directed to- 

 wards the north-west. It is premature to attempt an 

 explanation of the different degrees of the incurving of 

 the wind upon the centre in the different parts of a 

 cyclone, until similar results have been worked out for a 

 large number of well-selected individual stations, and 

 until a more definite knowledge is arrived at regarding 

 the relative prevalence of ascending and descending 

 aerial currents in the different sections of the cyclone and 

 anticyclone. 



The velocity of the wind is the minimum near the 

 centres of cyclones and anticyclones, and in the middle 

 space between the cyclones. From the central region of 

 the anticyclone, the velocity of the wind increases as the 

 barometer falls, and the maximum velocity is reached on 

 approaching the calm central region of the cyclone. With 

 respect to the gradients, the greatest velocity appears to 

 occur when the gradient is directed towards the north 

 and the least when the gradient is towards the west or 

 the south-west. 



In the region of the lower clouds, the wind takes a 

 direction to the right of that of the wind at the surface of 

 the earth. In other words, at this height the winds tend 

 to follow the course of the isobars drawn for the sea-leve 

 pressure, with however two noteworthy exceptions. When 

 the gradient is directed towards the west, the angle 

 exceeds 90' ; but when directed towards the south or 

 south-east, it is markedly less than 90 3 . 



In the higher region of the cirrus clouds, the winds 

 blow centrifugally from the region of the cyclone towards 

 thai of the anticyclone. The velocity is least in the 

 vicinity of the central region of the cyclone, but it steadily 

 increases as it approaches and flows over the region of 

 the anticyclone. The centrifugal movement is greater in 



