294 Transactions.— Miscellaneous. 
“ strong," “a gale," or in figures, as by the scale introduced in 1805, by 
the late Admiral Sir Frederick Beaufort, and still known by his name— 
other scales of relative force have been tried, but none have maintained so 
permanent a hold and extensive a use as the Beaufort scale of 0-12-; 
secondly, by gauging the pressure in pounds on a plate one foot square, 
which, acting on a spring, enables the actual apparent pressure to be 
registered by a simple mechanical contrivance (this is the principle of 
Osler's anemometer) ; thirdly, by measuring the velocity of the wind in miles 
per hour, with an instrument known as Dr. Bobinson's anemometer—to be 
described later. i 
5. All attempts to reconcile the results of these three methods, so as to 
institute any trustworthy comparison, have proved futile. And here I 
would observe that it is necessary to bear in mind the distinction between 
force, pressure, and velocity, in the following comparisons. The primary 
object is to ascertain the wind's force, but (excepting the rough guess-work 
relative force, estimated by the Beaufort scale,) this is obtained from deduc- 
tions from the recorded pressure, or velocity, or both. In fact, the modern 
practice is to observe the velocity by instrument; thence to ealeulate the 
pressure, and from that to deduce the relative dynamical force exerted. 
The Osler anemometer, on the whole, is so unsatisfactory, both from the 
difficulty of estimating the mean pressure registered by it, and from the 
liability of its machinery to get out of order, that I fully agree with the 
Director of the English Meteorological Office, Mr. R. H. Scott, who says in 
his paper on the subject, **I am convinced that meteorologists on the whole 
have acted rightly in preferring velocity to pressure as a mode of register- 
ing the action of the wind." Taking, then, velocity, as our standard of 
comparison, we find that 49 miles per hour is described by Denham as a 
* great storm ;" while, in the Beaufort scale, as translated into velocities 
by the Meteorological Office, that velocity only represents force 8, or what is 
called a “ fresh gale;" and the maximum force, 12, is stated to represent a 
* furious hurrieane," which is estimated as having a velocity of 85 miles 
per hour. The result has been rather absurd, for, as anemometers have 
recorded a velocity of over 100 miles per hour, it has been found necessary 
in describing the wind’s force by the Beaufort scale to add extra numbers, 
up to 14, or two degrees beyond the wind’s greatest possible force! This 
obvious absurdity caused a re-arrangement of the tables, and the force 12 
was made to represent a velocity of 100 miles per hour by anemometer. 
Even this, however, did not meet the difficulty, for I myself, have registered 
velocities of 107 and 109 miles per hour: 120 miles has been registered at 
Holyhead and Liverpool; and in the recent storm at Sydney the observer 
there recorded the hitherto unprecedented speed of 153 miles per hour 
