MAGNETISM AND CIRCULATION OF THE ATMOSPHERE, ijg 
above the clouds from one hemisphere into the other, and whose 
footprints had become so palpable ? 
221. Taking up the theory of Ampere with regard to the mag- 
netic polarity induced by an electrical current, according as it 
passes through wire coiled with or coiled against the sun, and ex- 
panding it in conformity with the discoveries of Faraday and the 
experiments of a Prussian philosopher,* we perceive a series of 
facts and principles which, being applied to the circulation of the 
atmosphere, make the conclusions to which I have been led touch- 
ing these crossings in the air, and the continual "whirl" of the 
wind in the Arctic regions against, and in the Antarctic with the 
hands of a watch, very significant. 
In this view of the subject, we see light springing up from va- 
rious sources, by which the shadows of approaching confirma- 
tion are clearly perceived. One such source of light comes from 
the observations of my excellent friend Quetelet, at Brussels, 
which show that the great electrical reservoir of the atmosphere 
is in the upper regions of the air. It is filled with positive elec- 
tricity, which increases as the temperature diminishes. 
222. May we not look, therefore, to find about the north and 
south magnetic poles these atmospherical nodes or calm regions 
which I have theoretically pointed out there ? In other words, 
are not the magnetic poles of the earth in those atmospherical 
nodes, the two standing in the relation of cause and effect, the 
one to the other ? 
This question was first asked several years ago,t and I was 
then moved to propound it by the inductions of theoretical rea- 
soning. 
Observers, perhaps, will never reach those inhospitable regions 
with their instruments to shed light upon this subject ; but Parry 
and Barrow have found reasons to believe in the existence of a 
perpetual calm about the north pole. Professor J. H. Coffin, in 
an elaborate and valuable paper^ on the " Winds of the North- 
ern Hemisphere," arrives at a like conclusion. In that paper he 
has discussed the records at no less than five hundred and sev- 
enty-nine meteorological stations, embracing a totality of observa- 
* Professor Von Feilitzsch, of the University of Greifswald. Philosophical Mag- 
azine, January, 1851. f Maury's Sailing Directions. 
t Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge, vol. vi., 1854. 
