48 
BIRD-FL TING. 
cury is, bulk for bulk, 10,800 times greater than the weight 
of air : therefore a column of air of uniform denfity equal 
in weight to the barometric column, would be 10,800 times 
higher. Now taking the average height of the barometric 
column at feet, a column of air of equal weight, and 
having a uniform denfity equal to that of air at the furface of 
the earth, would give a height of 27,000 feet; and, fince 
the barometric column is fubjedt to irregular variations, 
which range within a twelfth of its entire height, the corref- 
ponding column of air would be fubjedt to like variations, 
ranging within a like proportion of its entire height, which 
according to this calculation would amount to 2,250 feet. 
If, therefore, the atmofphere were, like the ocean, of uni¬ 
form denfity, the height of the waves , which would be inci¬ 
dental to its furface agitated by the difturbances to which it 
is expofed would b z nearly half a mile .—But as the atmof¬ 
phere is not of uniform denfity, but diminifhes in denfity in a 
rapid proportion, as the height increafes, its altitude is much 
greater than 27,000 feet; and the change incidental to its 
fuperficial level indicated by the variations of the barometer 
mult therefore be proportionately greater. The waves of the 
fea , therefore , even in the mofi violent forms , are ahfolutely 
infgnif cant compared with the waves which prevail in 
the upper furface of the ocean of atmofphere under which 
we live!! ” See “ Lardner’s Philofophy,” book v., chap. 3. 
The italics and exclamation points are my own. 
It is very eafy to perceive from the above how vaftly 
