iiiilliiiiL; of an cxlfanrdiiiary cliai';u-kT apiirariiiL; ; wind from the 

 Xdrth l'',ast. and. it \vc except a tendency of the l)aronicter to 

 fall sli^iitly, there appeared no sig'n of a hurricane S. S. W. of 

 1 laxana. 



■■(.'irnis cloud>. well detiiied. extended in the sk_\- in the 

 form of a fan; they were like the arms of an aerial river carry- 

 ing in ihcir hosoms the currents shot forth hy the hurricane. 

 These line> converged in an a])parent]y tixed center of great 

 magnificence which remained nearly the whole of the 16th. This 

 nucleus seemed to be the point of convergence not only of the 

 most elevated cirrus clouds, but also of the high and low cumidi. 

 .\ halo, like a crown of glory, surrounded the sun all day. All 

 of these phenomena we observed and noted with great care, as 

 if observing a masked enemy hiding himself under an agreeable 

 breeze and peaceful weather. On the morning of the 16th we 

 entertained serious fears that a cyclone was moving anrl that in 

 its recurve it would pass over our island." 



From our experience and that abundance of data at our 

 disposal we are able to shed some light upon a current opinion, 

 subjecting it to the test of facts, which should be the supreme 

 test rather than a priori reasoning. 



Mr. Bigelow denies that the highest currents in cyclones are 

 divergent; yet, it is worthy of note that, in his own diagrams 

 and maps, there is manifest a convergence of superior currents. 

 He holds, however, that the cirri and cirri-strati in cloud forma- 

 tions do not enter into the cyclonic circulation, but that they 

 float in the higher strata of atmosphere, which according to the 

 observations of the United States Weather Bureau, have a 

 general drift from West to East. If Mr. Bigelow should re- 

 strict himself to the assertion that currents do not take a radial 

 or divergent direction in the storms of high latitudes, perhaps 

 we would let his position pass without contradiction, although 

 such notable meteorologists as Sprung. Angot, Hildebrandsson 

 and others would not concur with him in that. In fact, in the 

 Northern States proofs to the contrary have been submitted by 

 J\lr. Clayton and Father Odenbach. But Mr. Bigelow asserts of 

 tropical hurricanes (and ]Mr. Garriot of the Weather Bureau 

 agrees with him) that the law proposed by Father Vines has 

 not been established as to the divergent, radial currents in the 

 upper atmosphere. Father Gangoiti in the appendix to the 

 observations of this obsedvatory for 1902, answered the criticisms 

 of these writers ; and paying no further attention to them he 

 has continued to reafifirm the law of divergence in his later 

 writings. Let us examine some of the data presented in the 

 appendix referred to which throw much light on the situation : 



Father Gangoiti says : 



"Omitting many examples which might be adduced of cy- 

 clones in their second and third quadrants, observed at Havana 



10 



