397 
after the N. N. E. wind began to blow. On the night of the 9th of Fe- 
bruary it blew from the N. E., and so continued for 40 hours afterwards. 
The temperatnre, during the prevalence of the 8. W. wind, and falling 
barometer, was mild, and the air damp, producing a feeling of closeness, 
from the vapour present in the air. For eight days previous to the mi- 
nimum height of the barometer, the mean temperature was 49°°7 ; while 
during the three days following the minimum of the barometer, the mean 
temperatures were— 
Bebo, at lO Acm.. «8. 4095 
2) 8, > 9? b C 40 8 F 
SOM Gs bu Gn ches noaot PEM cima OF pale, 
Mean, . . 39°4 
., This shows a rising barometer, a falling thermometer, reaching a 
maximum and minimum, respectively, at the time of the storm; and on 
the 8th and 9th of February heavy hail showers fell at intervals. Such 
a phenomenon cannot by possibility be confounded with a Cyclone, which 
has a minimum barometer just before, and in the middle of the storm, 
and no such relation of the gale to temperature as Dove has pointed out 
in the class of storms to which that of the 9th of February unquestion- 
ably belongs. The storm of the 9th was also only the first of a series, 
arising from the same cause, viz., the direct and non-cyclonic collision 
of the equatorial and polar currents of air. 
I have drawn in Plate XI. the curve of Barometric Pressure at 10 a.m. 
and 10 p,m. for the week preceding the 9th of February, and also the 
curve of Temperature at 10 4. m. during the same period. These curves 
show at a glance that the storm occurred on the maximum of pressure 
and minimum of temperature; that the rising barometer occurred witha 
wind shifting from 8.W. by W. and N. to N. E., and that the curve of 
temperature is inverse to the curve of pressure. Combining these facts 
with the fact that the wind continued for twenty hours in the N. N. E., 
and for twenty hours more in the N. E., the storm occurring during the 
first of those periods, I believe it impossible to suppose that any Cyclonic 
movement could account for such a combination of circumstances. The 
succession of gales from the 9th to the 21st of February was due to the 
Equinoctial gales arriving this year before their time, as is indicated by 
the high temperature and great moisture of the month, and by the ex- 
cessive rain-fall, occasioned by the conflict of the polar and equatorial 
currents, unusual at so early a period in the year. 
A second gale occurred on the night of the 18th, which was felt se- 
verely at Drogheda, Dunmore East, and Penzance, and caused the loss 
of several vessels; at all three places the wind blew steadily from the 
S. E. ; 
A third storm has been reported from London, Chichester, Plymouth, 
and other places, on the evening of the 21st of February. It was felt 
in Dublin early on the morning of the 22nd, from the 8.8. W., but not 
severely. At7Pr.m., in London, it was at its height, and is said to have 
