268 



[Sect. IX. 



Section IX. 



METEOEOLOGY, 



» 



By thk editor. 



There is no branch of physical science which can be 

 advanced more materially by observations made during 

 sea voyages than meteorology, and that for several dis- 

 tinct reasons. Istly. That the number and variety of the 

 disturbing influences at sea are much less than on land, 



by reason of the uniform level and homogeneous nature 

 of its surface. 2ndly. Because, owing to the penetra- 

 bility of water by radiant heat, and the perpetual agitation 

 and intermixture of its superficial strata, its changes of 

 temperature are neither so extensive nor so sudden as 

 those of the land. 3rdly. Bc-^use the area of the sea so 

 far exceeds that of the land, and is so infinitely more 

 accessible in every part, that a much wider field of ob- 

 servation is laid open, calculated thereby to afford a far 

 more extensive basis for the deduction of general conclu- 

 sions. 4thly. The sea being the origin from which all 

 laud waters are derived, in studying the hjgrometrical 

 conditions of tlie sea atmosphere, we approach the chief 

 problems of hygrology in their least involved and compli- 



xed 



ate of the land (as tli( 

 of deriyatiye moisture) 



r 



