16 REPORT 1864. 



Meteokologt. 



On a New Anemometer. By C. 0. F. Caxok, M.A. 

 The object of this instrument is to obtain, by tbe wind acting on one suiface 

 only, a daily curve of its pressure in pounds on an area of a sq[uare foot, and the 

 number of miles travelled by it iu a horizontal direction in twenty-fom- hours, or 

 any other given time, and thence its houi-ly velocity. The surface upon which 

 the wind acts, or the pressm-e-plate, is the base of a cone, the axis of which is 

 horizontal, and the area of the base equal to one square foot, the object of the 

 cone being to offer as little resistance as possible that may be due to any air on the 

 leeward side of the plate, and to neutralize the effect of any vacuum formed behind 

 it. The pressure-plate is attached to the end of a horizontal bar, and with it is 

 moved backwards and forwards, the bar resting on friction-rollers ; this is the only 

 portion of the instrument out-of-doors and exposed to the weather, and is connected 

 by a chain and steel rod with the rest of the instrument within the biulding on 

 which the anemometer is fixed. The pressure of the w-ind is measm-ed by two 

 cm-ved levers of equal length acting against each other, their motion being in a ver- 

 tical plane. At one end of the upper lever is a fixed weight, and to the opposite 

 end of the under one is attached the end of the connecting rod. When there is a 

 calm, the point of contact is at the fixed weight, and as the wind presses against 

 the pressure-plate it causes the rod to lift up the levers, and then the point of 

 contact moves along towai-ds the other end, indicating the strength of the gale, and 

 the levers retmn by their own weight as the pressure of the wind subsides. To the 

 end of the under lever a cord is attached, can-\ang a pencil to and fro along a cylinder 

 in the direction of its length, upon which a pencil will trace the pressm-e of the wind 

 for twenty-fom- hours. The velocity of the -u-ind is shown by a "gaining-clock;" 

 a second cord attached to the end of the imder lever is connected with the regulator 

 of this gaining-clock, and is so arranged that as the wind blows more or less strongly 

 it pulls the regulator more or less towards the fast end, and proportionally accele- 

 rates the gaining of the clock. A countei-poise weight brings the regulator back 

 as the pressure decreases. This gaining-clock also shows the true mean daily pres- 

 sm-e. This anemometer also registers simultaneously, and on the same paper with 

 the pressure, a perfect record of the directional variations. 



On the EartJiquahe and Storm in Sussex of 21st August 1864. 

 By the Eev. E. B. Ellmak. 



In this paper attention was directed to the following facts : — For the previous 

 three months there had been scarceh* a shower, and the wells were consequently 

 very low, and watercourses dried up, when, towards the end of the week ending 

 20th August, in certain situations springs broke up, or increased in their supply 

 of water (a circimistance not imcommon after a long drought, and which is always 

 considered a prognosticator of approaching rain, but to which public attention is 

 not known to have been directed). It was full moon on Wednesday the 17th, 

 and consequently the highest tides were on the 18th and 19th, which are said 

 to raise the level of the water in certain wells ; but that the tidal pressm-e was not 

 the only influence on this occasion to increase the supply of spring water was 

 evident from springs largely increasing their supply, which had never been known 

 to have been influenced by the tide. At last, on Saturday the 20th, there were 

 copious showers ; but in the evening it was fine and clear, and so continued, when, 

 about 1.2.5 on the Sunday morning, the inhabitants of the district for about fifteen 

 miles around Lewes were aroused by a shock of an earthquake, the wave pro- 

 ceeding from N.W. to S.E. The -violence of the shock was manifested by bottles 

 and even heavy stoneware being thrown down and broken, bells rimg, walls 

 cracked, &c. 'The time of the shock was coincident witli that of high tide on 

 that part of the Sussex coast, when, of course, the tidal pressure was the gi-eatest. 

 After the shock had passed, it was perfectly calm and clear for some hom-s ; but 

 about 8 or 9 a.m. a very heavy storm came fi-om the S.W., the lightning being 

 very vivid, and the hail coming down in such quantities as to lie on the ground 

 in some places more than two feet deep. Two -waterspouts were observed, which 



