290 Proximate Causes of certain Winds and Storms. 



day, wiU hold good for large tracts of the earth's surface, and dif- 

 ferent portions of the year. Land is more rapidly and powerfully 

 heated than water, by the rays of the sun during the summer, and 

 more rapidly cooled by radiation during the winter ; consequently a 

 country whose predominant winds, come from over the land, such 

 as the eastern parts of Asia and North America, will have hot sum- 

 mers, and winters intensely cold. The following extract from Rus- 

 sel's Natural History of Aleppo, may be given as an additional proof 

 and illustration. 



" The coldest winds in the winter, are those that blow from be- 

 tween the N. West and the East, and the nearer they approach to the 

 last mentioned point, the colder they are during the winter and part 

 of the spring ; but from the beginning of May to the end of Septem- 

 ber, the winds blowing from the very same points, bring with them a 

 degree and kind of heat, which one would imagine came out of an 

 oven, and which, when it blows hard, will affect metals within the 

 house, such as locks of room doors, nearly as much as if they had 

 been exposed to the sun."^' 



It is easy to see what the climate of Aleppo would be, if this east 

 wind were to blow constantly, or even to predominate, and on 

 looking at the map, we see the reason of its peculiar characteristics. 

 It is preeminently a land wind. It is for a similar reason, that in 

 the United States, where the predominant winds are from the west, 

 the winter is excessively cold, and the summer as intensely warm. 



A little attention to the causes, which conspire to produce our 

 coldest winter and hottest summer weather, will lead to an explana- 

 tion of the suddenness of those changes of temperature, which often 

 take place within the space of a few hours. Our coldest weather is, 

 when the wind is somewhere between the west and north-west, and 

 depends upon the following concurrent causes. 



"* Dr. Adam Clarke, commenting upon this passage from Russel, but with reference 

 to a part not quoted above, in which the debilitating effects of this east wind are 

 spoken of, remarks — " A gentleman who lived long in the east, gives rather a differ- 

 ent account — I was at Madras many years, where this wind prevails in the hot sea- 

 son, and the effect it had on nie, was extremely pleasant; I was always in better 

 health." The case places in a strong and clear light, the importance of the union of 

 philosophy with learning to the formation of an accomplished scholar. What could 

 the wind, coming to Madras from the east, over the Bay of Bengal, be expected to 

 have, in common with an east wind at Aleppo .' 



