AIR. 



llf 



cjach of the two continents, as it is modified by their 

 respective topographical circumstances. 



Thus, if in the United States it rain more than in 

 Europe, it is because all the winds there, except the 

 north-west, and particularly those that are most pre- 

 valent, come from some sea, and consequently ar- 

 rive loaded with moisture. 



If the rain here be more heavy and sudden, it is 

 because the winds differ widely in the degrees of 

 heat and cold, which in the first instance is a cause 

 of solution ; and the mixture of these hot and cold 

 currents is very frequent, which in the next place 

 occasions heavy and copious rains. The gentle 

 ahowers of Europe are so rare in the United States, 

 that the Americans call them English rains or 

 finglish weather • 



In the Europe, on the contrary, lofty mountains 

 break the currents of air ; the atmosphere is more 

 calm, more stationary ; the mixtures of cold and hot 

 winds are less easy, and less frequent ; consequently 

 dissolution takes place with less rapidity, the rains 

 are more slow and gentle, the air remains more 

 loaded with vapours and humidity, there are more 

 fogs and cloudy days, Sec. and evaporation is more 

 tardy. 



If evaporation be more rapid in the United States, 

 it is because the winds are free, in consequence of 

 the general plainness of surface, and because one of 

 these, the north-west, which is extremely diy, pre- 

 vails for two-fifths of the year. 



In Europe, on the contrary, the grand prevailing 

 ^«irind is the west, which is also the most wet. 



