The Sun.
London, England, 1854-11-20 00:00:00

OUR IFEATHER TABLE.

We this day resume our weather table, which for some
time past has been discontinued, in consequence of the
reports being received from too few stations. The -
scheme, as organised in the year 1849, embraced obser- gbh
vations of the direction and force of the wind at 9
a.m. : every station having been visited by James Gird-
slier, Esq.. F.R.S., for the purpose of determining a
meredian line, forming a compass card and giving instruc-
tions necessary to insure uniformity of observation : -
for the science of meterology is perhaps more than any 50
other, dependent upon co-operation and method. But 13i
it was found, although every facility was given by the
directors and secretaries of the various railways, that 31
the frequent change of stations and removal of station
masters, to whom the making the observations was en- 271
trusted, called too much and too frequently upon the
time of the superintendent to prevent deviations from 22
the conditions imposed by the great problems of meter- 25
ology, of which these observations were intended to st
contribute to the solution. St:
When, however, it is considered that the health of 10
man ; the operations of the agriculturist, by means of
which he procures his food ; the observations of the 50
botanist ; and many other of the interests of mankind 50
are dependent upon the laws of climate, which must be 20
known and studied before practical inferences can be 20
deduced from them, it would seem to be the duty of all 10
persons in a civilised state to help to provide the data
which have such important bearings upon the people.
The meteorology of this country, so far as collecting 25
data for the determination of climate, is zealously col- St
lected, and ably discussed quarterly by Mr. Glaisher, the 20
results being published by the Registrar-General ; St
but these do not aim at the solution of the
lam of storms. The object we have in view St
is the collecting the data daily, and publishing 25
them in the form best fitted for their discussion, Bg,

and for supplying the wants of science in the most com-
plete and satisfactory manner. The questions we allude
to are the law storms ; whether all storms are cyclonic ?
and, if not, what proportion do cyclonic storms bear to
the whole ? _ _

In analysing the observations before collected by us, St. 1
it was soon found that when the wind is moderate local St. I
causes greatly influence its direction, and that in by far St.
the greater number of instances when the wind is blow- St.
ing strongly the phenomena of rotation may be die- St°
tinctly traced. At such times the simultaneous direc- 12
tion of the wind was laid down by arrows, upon a series 50
of skeleton maps, and a glance of the map showed the 16i
existence or non-existence of rotatory movement. In IG3
many cases well-marked instances of aerial rotation wore St.
noticed during the course of the observations ;in some 19i
cases the cyclone was perfect, its vortex, or centre, 14
being neatly calm, with the least barometrical pressure, 20
whilst all around the wind was blowing strongly, in Is-1:3/4
opposite directions on different sides of the cyclone, and St.
the barometer readings inereasing regularly with the dis- 20
tance from the centre. Some instances were observed 10
of an interesting and instructive character, in which
conflicting currents generated a rotatory movement, St.
and. it is necessary in the present state of our knowledge, 50
to collect moro facts. The discussion of the results may
25
40
lead to consequences of great value to meterology, and
25
have a practical influence upon navigation. Their prac-
tical importance as regards shipping interest, cannot
812 s
well be overrated. To assist in the solution of these St.
problems the directors of the Electric Telegraph Corn- St.
pang, with their usual generosity, have kindly given 60
their aid, and, to aid in the elaboration of a reliable 25
theory, have given Mr. Glaisher every facility to adopt 100
precautions to ensure perfect comparability of the
results.—Daily News. 2F