SERIES D.— THEORETICAL CONSIDERATIONS. 



171 



former. The same reason does not exist in the States farther west, and accordingly 

 we find, even there, slight traces of the oceanic influence, as already remarked. 



That the lakes are capable of exerting considerable influence upon the direction 

 of the surface-wind, is proved from the feet that at the "Western Reserve College, in 

 Ohio, some twenty-five miles south of Lake Erie, the mean direction is uniformly 

 more northerly by several degrees in the afternoon than in the forenoon, as may be 

 seen by the following statement.^ 









More northerly in the 



Months. 



9 O'CLOCK A. M. 



3 O'CLOCK P. M. 



afternoon by 



January . . " . 



S. 71° 32' W. 



S. 82° 34' W. 



+ 11° 2' 



February 











S. 79 41 W. 



S. 86 17 W. 



+ 6 36 



March . 











N. 75 20 W. 



N. 68 28 W. 



+ 6 52 



April . 











N. 78 12 W. 



N. 59 50 W. 



-f- 18 22 



May 











N. 85 19 W. 



N. 61 44 W. 



-f- 28 35 



June 











S. 81 55 W. 



N. 77 6 W. 



+ 4 49 



July . 











N. 84 50 W. 



N. 61 45 W. 



-f- 23 5 



August 











N. 81 41 W. 



N. 48 24 W. 



4- 33 17 



September 











S. 69 33 W. 



N. 75 15 W. 



+ 35 12 



October 











S. 73 19 W. 



N. 89 29 W. 



-f 17 12 



November 











S. 70 14 W. 



S. 82 52 W. 



+ 12 38 



December 











S. 82 20 W. 



N. 87 11 W. 



+ 10 29 



The year 







>»HM1 



^ 



S. 83 46 W. 



N. 77 7 W. 



+ 19 7 



The peninsular form of South-western Europe no doubt prevents the full deve- 

 lopment there of the general law we have been discussing; yet we have already 

 had proof of its existence in the general similarity of form in the annual curves 

 (Plate X.). We can see traces of it also in the deflecting forces (Plate XII. Nos. 

 80, 83, and 85). In all three, the arrows for June, July, and August point toward 

 the land, and those for the colder months generally toward some neighboring body 

 of water. No. 80, being so nearly equidistant between the North Sea, the Baltic, 

 the Mediterranean, and the Bay of Biscay, shows more irregularity. No. 72 ought 

 to afford evidence of the law, and I am unable to account for its failure to do so. 

 No. 75 fails also, which is not surprising, since over half of the observations from 

 which it was computed were taken more than 1200 miles from the nearest point in 

 Europe, and so nearly in the middle of the Atlantic as not to feel the influence 

 we are speaking of. 



The peculiar curvature at Rome and Naples (Plate VII. No. 3), is easily ex- 

 plained. Both places are near a sea-coast, whose general direction is from N. W. 

 to S. E., and have in their rear the range of the Apennines, running nearly in the 

 same direction, and rising to an elevation of several thousand feet. The mean 

 direction of the wind for the two places is from W. N. W. to E. S. E., which, com- 

 bined with deflecting forces acting at right angles with the coast (landward in 

 summer, and seaward in winter) must plainly give us a curve of the same general 

 form as that which we find to be actually described. 



Nos. 81, 83, 86, and 91 (Plates VII. and XII.) have caused me much perplexity. 

 The arrows for the warmer months evidently indicate a point of rarefaction situated 



Loomis on the Meteorology of Hudson, Ohio, published in the American Journal of Science and Arts. 



