on the Climate and Agriculture of the British Isles. 
47 
Showing an excess of the heat of the water above the air of 
1-2°. 
The charts of the American coast also show that in the 
Arctic current the water and air are in January usually as low 
as 30° ; that when the ship passes eastward into the warm eddy 
of the Gulf Stream the water rapidly attains a temperature of 
57°, but the air lags behind, and its heat gradually increases 
over a distance of 250 miles before it becomes assimilated to 
that of the water. In all these cases the water is the governing 
element, has a preponderating influence, and cannot derive its 
higher temperature from the somewhat colder air which rests 
on it. 
Winds. — The wind is the vehicle of climate ; it is to us the 
carrier, bringing warmth and humidity from the west, or Con- 
tinental cold from the east. The wind from each point of the 
compass impresses its peculiar character on the weather of each 
day, and it makes or mars the seasons as they pass. It is usual 
to speak of the variable and fickle nature of our climate, but 
this characteristic is mainly impressed on it by the indeterminate 
changes in the direction of the wind. 
The following tables, which give a condensed view of the 
subject, are taken from a valuable paper by Mr. Glaisher in the 
Proceedings of the British Meteorological Society : — 
Table III. — Showing the NumLer of the Days of the Wind, during each of 
the Years 1841 to 1860, referred to 8 points of tlie Compass. 
Number of Days the Mean Direction of the Wind was 
N.E. 
E. 
S.E. 
S. 
S.W. 
W. 
N.W. 
Cahn. 
1841 
40 
19 
22 
9 
49 
112 
60 
17 
37 
1842 
46 
40 
31 
15 
31 
112 
38 
25 
27 
1843 
42 
44 
22 
8 
18 
102 
37 
29 
63 
1844 
48 
57 
18 
14 
22 
89 
35 
26 
57 
1845 
30 
49 
11 
13 
43 
104 
43 
38 
34 
1846 
27 
25 
20 
18 
39 
94 
30 
22 
86 
1847 
41 
23 
16 
4 
55 
111 
36 
10 
69 
1848 
53 
38 
19 
36 
58 
90 
29 
20 
23 
1849 
59 
54 
20 
23 
39 
102 
35 
22 
11 
1850 
59 
48 
24 
21 
30 
116 
27 
19 
31 
1851 
52 
39 
21 
20 
28 
100 
37 
25 
43 
1852 
45 
58 
36 
21 
52 
108 
27 
8 
11 
1853 
43 
65 
16 
27 
28 
86 
32 
27 
41 
1854 
31 
45 
17 
20 
30 
117 
42 
30 
33 
1855 
56 
74 
23 
17 
25 
84 
30 
26 
30 
1856 
44 
54 
27 
30 
31 
80 
50 
26 
24 
1857 
21 
58 
28 
27 
33 
119 
34 
21 
24 
1858 
26 
61 
38 
27 
26 
106 
40 
29 
12 
1859 
31 
54 
16 
29 
25 
128 
40 
31 
U 
1860 
30 
47 
26 
19 
22 
120 
64 
31 
7 
