276 Caleb Ahmtcr on the Winds of the West. 



quate to such projectile force as would carry a body from the 

 moon's surface beyond the sphere of her attraction, would vo- 

 latilize the matter of meteoric stones m a moment ; hence they 

 would not be projected from the Lunarian crater in solid mas- 

 ses, but in elastic vapour. 



In conclusion, although the theory which I have endea- 

 voured to elucidate and establish, be subject to some difficul- 

 ties and objections which science may hereafter remove, it ap- 

 pears to me perfectly consonant with the relative dependence 

 and harmony of our system, and by no means at variance with 

 the infinite wisdom and power by which it was originated. 



Art. XII. Observations upon the prevailing Currents of 

 Air in the State of Ohio and the Regions of the West, by 

 Caleb Atwater, Esq. of Circleville, Ohio; in Letters 

 addressed to His Excellency De Witt Clinton, LL. D, 

 Governor of the State of JVero- York, and President of the 

 Literary and Philosophical Society. 



(Communicated for the American Journal of Science, &c.) 



Circleville, Ohio, July 23, 1818, 

 Dear Sir, 



W ITH pleasure, I acknowledge the receipt of the circular 

 letter bearing date the 5th instant, which you addressed to me, 

 for which you will be pleased to accept my warmest acknow- 

 ledgments for yourself personally, and the Philosophical Soci- 

 ety of which you are the president. To answer all the ques- 

 tions which are put to me in that letter, is not at present within 

 my limited means, either as it respects the leisure or the 

 ability. I shall therefore, at this time, confine myself to "ob- 

 servations upoij the prevailing currents of air in the state of 

 Ohio."* These observations will be wholly founded on per- 

 sonal experience, during the four years in which I have tra- 

 versed this state, from Lake Erie to the Ohio river, whilst at- 



* We Jiave taken the liberty to give Mr. Atwatef's lyiemoir a more extensive 

 Title, for reason's that will be obvious on a perusal of the piece. 



