64 Meteorological Register. 



cumulus, and sink into the action and influence of the lower cur- 

 rents. From their observations on these clouds on the Cordille-- 

 ras of South America and Mexico, Humboldt and Boussingault 

 have inferred, and I think with good reason, that in the upper 

 regions of the atmosphere there is a current constantly flowing 

 from west to east, an inference which, if admitted, assists mate- 

 rially in developing the theory of storms, sudden changes of tem- 

 perature, &c. 



A glance at that part of the table showing the course of the 

 wind will explain the fact noticed by Darby and others, that the 

 mass of trees growing on the eastern shore of the great lakes have 

 a sensible inclination to the east, and that in all cases where the 

 hemlock occurs, the long, flexible, terminal twig of that tree has the 

 same uniform declination from the perpendicular, and in the same 

 direction, a little north of east. The same thing may be observ- 

 ed of orchards, in which probably nine tenths of the trees in ex-^ 

 posed situations have a similar inclination. In the first year, two 

 hundred and twenty days of the three hundred and sixty-five 

 the winds were from the W. and S. W., and in the last one hun- 

 dred and ninety-seven. The remaining days the winds were so 

 equally divided as not to counteract this influence in the least, 

 and consequently the winds from that quarter overpower all others. 



The average temperature of the years 1838, 1839, and 1840, 

 for the months of January and February, is given below. 



January. February. 



1838 26° --.--.= 9° 



1839 20° - - - - - 24° 



1840 ----- 14° - - - - - 26° 



Time of observation, 9 o'clock, A. M. 



Thus, it seems January of this year averages 12° colder than 

 1838, and February of this year 17° warmer than that year. 



The month of April with us has been remarkable for its extreme 

 and rapid fluctuations. The warmest day recorded of any April 

 here, was on the 25th. On that day the thermometer in the shade 

 at 2 p. M. was at 85° and at 3 p. m. 86° y — on the 27th at 6 a. m< 

 it stood at 28° ; being a change of 58° in 37 hours. On the 18th 

 at noon the thermometer was at 80° ; on the 19th at sunrise, it 

 was at 29°, being a change of 51° in 18 hours. The range of 

 the thermometer from Jan. 1st, when it was — 14°, to April 25th7 

 when it was -1-86°, is 100°, a difference rarely equalled in our 

 changeable climate. 



