
~~ he 
Nov. 10, 1870| 
NATURE 
3Y) 

ortunately rare, cyclones or grand rotatory movements of the 
atmosphere are, at least on certain portions of the earth’s surface, 
of every-day occurrence. In Charleston, Savannah, and along 
the coast of South Carolina generally, the writer knows from 
experience that very few, if any, changes of wind are to be 
observed, but such as are due to the cyclone which happens just 
then to be passing on its northward journey; and even the 
apparent exceptions are probably not difficult of explanation. 
There is in shortan atmospheric ‘*‘Gulf Stream,” whose course, 
beginning somewhere eastward of the Caribbean Sea, is nearly the 
same as that of the oceanic ‘‘Gulf Stream,” and this atmospheric 
- stream is composed of an endless succession of cyclones chasing 
each other ceaselessly up towards the polar regions, along the 
track recognised as that of great hurricanes. These cyclones vary 
within very wide limits both as to velocity of rotation and velocity 
of translation, as well as in diameter, and all the characters usually 
ascribed to such atmospheric moyements. Many of them exhibit 
no wind stronger than a pleasant breeze in any part of their field ; 
and a few have so gentle a motion, at least in some parts of their 
circuit, as will not agitate an ordinary vane ; afew are almost 
wholly without clouds, and very many wholly without rain or 
lightning. Their effect upon the barometer, when appreciable, 
must generally be very slight ; but in temperature they are usually 
divided intoa warm and a cool semicircle by a line which, in 
Charleston, lies about S. W. and N.E. 
Observation of the winds, during a voyage in a sailing vessel 
from Charleston to Liverpool, along the course of the Gulf 
Stream, has satisfied the writer that this stream con'inues un- 
broken between these two points, and this conclusion was 
strengthened by repeating these observations between Liverpool 
and New York. In the former voyage, hardly one of the 
cyclones which passed over gave more than a stiff breeze, while 
in the latter, from Cape Clear to Sandy Hook, every cyclone 
was a storm, and one of them was reported by the captain, on his 
arrival, as a ‘‘ hurricane.” 
The causes of this aGrial current, and its connection with the 
circulation of the whole terrestrial atmosphere, it is not the 
writer’s purpose at present to discuss, though he considers the 
discussion one of almost cosmica/ importance. But the existence 
of such a stream is a fact of practical commercial value, in fixing 
the natural highways for sailing vessels betwen Liverpool and 
the Atlantic and Gulf ports of the Southern States. Obviously 
the short route from Northern Europe to those ports will be that 
southward along the coast of Europe until reaching the trade 
winds, then westward to strike the cyclonic current in the neigh- 
bourhood cf the West Indies, and then, if bound to Atlantic 
ports, northwestward with that current. When bound, on the 
contrary, from the Southern ports to Northern Europe, the short 
route is obviously that along the Gulf Stream, which is also that 
with the current of the atmospheric steam. To reverse this 
practice, either way, is deliberately to sail ‘against wind and 
tide,” if such a stream exist. 
The flow of atmospheric waves which, in a recent work, has 
been described as setting from the coast of America towards 
Europe, though the writer has not seen that work, he believes 
cannot be other than the flow of cyclones in that portion of the 
atmospheric stream lying between the vicinity of New York and 
the English Channel. The cyclonic character is not always dis- 
tinct, and sometimes is completely masked by the great distance 
of the observer from the centre, and the consequent apparently 
rectilinear course of the wind ; and the chances of mistake are 
still further increased when the observer is moving in a course 
parallel to the path of the centre of the cyclone, 
These observations have already been brought to the notice ot 
the Smithsonian Institution, and the writer hopes that something 
will be donein America towards the comprehensive, precise, and 
detailed inquiry which the subject demands. Bat unless atten- 
tion of the same kind be given in Great Britain, and in the 
voyages of the Atlantic steamships, the resulting information 
will remain incomp.ete. Joun M. Crapy 
Curator of the Museum of the College 
Charleston, U.S.,Sept. 13 ~ of Charleston 

Singing of Swans 
In times ancient and modern ‘‘singing ot swans” has been 
reckoned by naturalists among ‘‘ vulgar errors” and groundless 
superstitions. It may therefore be interesting to your readers to 
hear that swans actually do sing, which I can testify by my own 
personal experience, 


| 
From my ninth to my eighteenth year I lived at a place in the 
west of Iceland, called Gufudalur. ‘It is situated at the end of 
a small firth, called Gufufjérdur, which is so shallow that by low 
water itis almost dry: the bottom of the firth is covered with 
sea-grass (marhalmur). In this firth hundreds of swans gather 
together all the year round, except during the winter months, 
when the firth is covered withice; and in the month of August, 
which is their moulting season, when all of them leave this firth 
and go to another not far off, called Gilsfjérdur. There is no 
apparent reason for this migration, as Gufufjordur seems in every 
way as safe and convenient for them during this season as 
Gilsfjérdur. Tradition therefore accounts for this migration in the 
following manner :—Once upon a time two widows lived one on 
each side of Gufufjordur. At that time the swans did not go away 
during the moulting season, and the widows used to gather great 
quantities of swans’ feathers, which are sold in Iceland at the 
present day at a halfpenny a piece. Thus the swans’ feathers 
formed a considerable item in the income of the two widows, 
Once, however, one of the widows gathered feathers on a piece 
of land belonging to the other. A quarrel arose, and one of the 
widows uttered a spell to the effect that henceforth all the swans 
should leave Gulufjordur during the moulting season. I will 
not vouch for the correctness of this tradition, but the fact 
remains that this migration takes place annually during the aboye- 
mentioned season. 
During nine years I have heard the singing of the hundreds of 
swans which gather together in Gufufjordur. In the morning 
and evening their singing is so loud that it can be heard miles 
away, and the mountains on both sides ring with the echo of it, 
for at that time every individual swan seems to join in the chorus. 
This is, indeed, a wonderful concert. The singing of the swan 
has not the least resemblance to the cackling of geese or the 
quacking of ducks. In fact, its voice is unlike the voice of any 
other bird that [have heard; it seemsso clear and full, and has, as 
it were, a metallic ring init. When it is calm and clear in the 
morning or the evening, the swans fly along the valley towards 
the mountains in parties of seven or nine, sometimes only three ; 
as far as I can remember they are always in odd numbers. 
During their flight, they either keep in a straight line, one after 
another, or they form a triangle, leaving an open space in the 
middle: the foremost swan sometimes emitting single sounds at 
short intervals. The tradition of the singing of the swan being 
sweetest just before its death is well known in Iceland; but [ 
am unable either to deny or to confirm this tradition, because I 
have never been present at the death of a swan. 
The swaus of Gufufjérdur do not lay eggs there, and I am 
inclined to think that the most of them do not lay eggs at all, 
for their number in this firth does not seem to be less from the 
middle of May to the end of July, which is the season during 
which swans in Iceland Jay eggs and bring up their young ones. 
On the mountains round Gufufj6rdur there are many small lakes 
or tarns, and on the banks of those lakes I have seen swans 
build nests and lay eggs; as a rule there is only one pair on each 
lake, and, strange to say, these swans sing but very seldom. 
6n A, HJALTALIN (Icelander), 
152, St. Paul’s Road, Camden Square, N. W. 
State Aid to Science 
I REGRET that I should have worded my lecture on Cosmical 
Physics in such a way as to leave it doubtful how the central 
establishment I spoke of was to be supported. 
Unable myself to conceive the possibility of such an institution 
being properly supported otherwise than by State aid, I fear I 
did not sufficiently realise that others might not be of the same 
opinion. At the time of the establishment of the present Meteo- 
rological Office, it was acknowledged that private scientific enter- 
prise cannot be expected to furnish the moncy requt-ite to carry 
on an extensive system of meteorvlogical observations, and the 
same conclusion equally applies to the other branches of cosmical 
inquiry. aes 
‘The most convincing proof of the justice of this conclusion lies 
in the fact that the British Association, who have hitherto con- 
tributed a large portion of their income to advance terrestrial 
magnetism, find that they cannot do so much longer without 
detriment to other subjects which have an equal claim upon their 
liberality. They have therefore resolved to give up their con- 
nection with the Kew Observatory after the autumn of 1872, 
Further proof is surely needless. pay B. STEWART 
