126 



The Wind and its Direction. 



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FIG:1. 



Pencil 16 records the hygrometrical state of the air every fifteen 

 minutes. 



,, 17 records the amount of atmospheric electricity. 



„ 18 ^ zero pencils from the barometer, the one marking a 

 > zero of 28 inches pressure, and the other one of 31 



,, 19 ) inches. 



„ 20 records the height of the barometer every fifteen 

 minutes. 



„ 21 records the hour on the east edge of the paper. 

 It will thus be seen that twenty-one pencils are constantly 



employed, and, in fact, doing 

 the work of a whole corps of 

 observers. Our present pur- 

 pose is not to describe the 

 instrument except as regards 

 the wind-pencils. 



It is of the greatest im- 

 portance to have the means of 

 knowing when every change in 

 the wind takes place ; and were 

 a dozen instruments like the 

 "Atmospheric Recorder" in 

 action, in as many well-selected 

 places in England, we should 

 speedily know more about the 

 wind and its movements. 

 Waves of air would be de- 

 tected, and the time when they 

 passed across each observatory 

 accurately recorded. 



From this instrument we 

 learn that the wind works in 

 several different ways, at 

 one time a steady immoveable 

 current in a certain direction, 

 which can change to any other 

 direction without oscillation ; 

 at another, it is nodding on a 

 certain point of the compass ; 

 whilst, at a third, it oscillates, 

 ami sometimes violently, so 

 that (as instance) a south wind 

 may la' immoveable in south, 

 or it may slightly move 1° or 

 2° on either side of south, or 

 S.E., or even from W. to E„ 



AUG: 30. 

 9.20. ajvI. 



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it may oscillato from 8.W. to 

 and still be a south wind. 



