METEOROLOGICAL DISCOVERIES. 201 



they travel not more than a hundred miles in twenty-four hours, at other times 

 they will travel fifteen hundred miles in the same time. And herein is the trouble 

 as regards " indications." We cannot, at least at present, know in advance the 

 direction, the intensity, the speed or the spread, the s'orm-centre "Low" will 

 take; it is never twice alike nor does it have any periodic similarity. In meteor- 

 ology there are no special rules to guide us, and that which is past does not, only 

 in a general way, help us much as to what is to come. The study of the map, 

 however, is far more satisfactory than any " indication." But the map can only 

 be studied with satisfaction when near at hand. We can, however, with slight 

 cost, have a substitute which will be nearly as good, and far better than none. 

 The substitute is a skeleton map. Let the people throughout the country have 

 rough outline maps of the United States, divided into squares on the lines of lati- 

 tude and longitude. Let the size be regulated by convenience. The squares to 

 be designated by letters or figures. The report then to be sent from headquarters 

 at Washington ; not only once a day, but say at morning, noon and evening, indi- 

 cates where the " High" and " Low is, their num.ber, (if more than one), direc- 

 tion, and movement since the last report. Let the public once get accustomed to 

 this system and they would not think of relinquishing it, nor of turning back 

 to even the present system, much less to the ante-diluvian no-system which we 

 received from the old school of " physical geography." The new school of phys- 

 ical geography will embrace the " Weather-Map " as its all important source of 

 information in this department. 



As the storm-centres " Low" appear in our west and disappear off the east- 

 ern coast and are tracked across the ocean to Europe, so far as we know always 

 disappearing in the east, the inference is that they encircle the earth. We can- 

 not at present prove this, but as we can trace them a quarter the way around the 

 earth and they disappear and reappear in this manner it is not unreasonable to 

 believe that they encircle the earth. The question is often asked, where do 

 storms come from ? This idea of encircling the earth being true they do not 

 come from any specified place or quarter, and have no more beginning or end- 

 ing than a circle, and of them it may well be said, they come from nowhere, if the 

 phrase may be understood to conform to the statement in regard to their course 

 and origin. They are ever present on the surface of the earth, varying in shape, 

 in size, intensity, compass and direction, but always having an existence, ever 

 coming and ever going. Late in the season, when we have what is termed "set- 

 tled weather," as many storm-centres pass us by as during the "inclement sea- 

 son," but they pass us on different lines. During the warmer months a greater 

 number pass us on a high line of latitude and carry heat far to the north, mak- 

 ing the north country productive. 



Before the advent of the Weather-Map we could not understand that mar- 

 vel of the year " Indian-summer." The map shows us that it is the effect of an 

 autumnal " Low " on a high line. During the colder months more "Lows" 

 travel on low lines of latitude, making it cold at the south. The "Lows" that 

 produce the most storm, rain or snow, are those which travel on diagonal lines. 



