The daily union. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1845-1857, 1845-05-06
THEORY OF STORMS.
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| THEORY OF STORMS.
! stormy subject enough,--but everyp henomenon
admits of its proper solution. The winds Of heaven,
capricious they appear to us, may be grasped by
the hand Of the philosopher, and reduced to fixed
and unal,erable laws Tempests may be at least
comprehended by the wisdom, if not controlled by
the hand of man. The only thing is, to discover
the scientific word Of invocation-the proper sesame
to open the cave of Eolus. Who shall approach
its secretsi Who shall ascertain the proper mode
of Analysing the facts, and thus investigating the
laws of meteorology' May years ago, the cele-
DRAFTED Volney visited our extensive country-not
more to understand people and their institutions,
than, wag said at the time, "to how the wind
blew in America" The great effort, in our ''cty Of
magnificent distances" of many quidnunc, is to
discover how the wind blows from day to day
We have rumors enough, indeed; but not as many
facts as reports. Our government has as few mys-
teries about it any other upon the face of the
earth; but speculation frequently outruns, and
sometimes mistakes,'its course; and many man is
yet at loss to know ho,o the ,cind biotos
Professor Espy has long been studying the
mysteries of the clouds; and perhaps no
man with as much success as himself His
"First Report on Meteorology" is on our table,
1t contains vast amount of welldigested facts, OBJ
tanned from his numerous correspondents, extending
over an area much wider than the United States.
In fact he is able to trace the progress of storms
one-ninth round the globe; and from the uniformity
which is already known to prevail in many of the
phenomena attending storms, we doubt not that, in
few years meteorology will be placed among the
exact sciences The system which Professor Espy
has adopted, seems to be acknowledged on all hands
as the only one calculated to bring out this happy
result
1t was the passion for time to laugh at least
at one of the deductions from the theory; that ofform.
ing clouds, and bringing down rain artifcially in
time of drought but that time seems now to have
partially passed.
! The French Academy (and there is no higher au-
thority) have declared that "Mr Espy has triumph
ed over all objections, and rallied all opinions to his
own" And they enumerate among his opinions, that
rain may be produced in calm weather in time of
drought, and great storms may be prevented"
Those however, who heard Professor Espy deliver
course of lectures on this subject we have had
the pleasure Of doing, need no authority to satisfy
them of the great truths which his theory demon
strates he builds his system on ..well-known physi-
cal laws, which oil admit.
| Now, since experiments have been made again
and again, and always with entire and triumphant
success, as the certificates accompanying Professor
Espys circular prove we conclude by requesting all
| our correspondents to copy the following extracts
| from the s'report," and from the circular TO the
friends of science and we entreat the farmers to fol-
! low the instructions.
| From the Philadelphia Ledger.
| Professor Espy's first report on meteoroogy has
been laid on our table, II consists chiefly of charts
exhibiting, by various symbols, the winds and ba-
rometric fluctuations, and changes Of temperature,
which accompany storms as they pass from the
western the eastern part of the United States for
ii appears that all storms in the United States travel
towards the east. We extract from the report the
following
| CONGRATULATIONS.
rains and travel from the west towards the in
the United States during the months of January Febru-
ted '''u 'iaieA' "''''' - - ''' Ass
I'D TiS are accompanied with depression Of
| the barometer the central lne Of the storm.
I'D This central line Of minimum pressure is generally
great length from north to SOUTH and sdeforemos
cath This line is sometimes nearly straight but general
curved and most frequently with its convex side towards
18th The velocity this line SUCH that from
the Mississippi to the Connecticut river in about twenty
four hours and from the Connecticut st. John Newfound
land in nearly the same time, OF about thrysx miles an
hour
part Of New England 1t rises at the time in the val
ley of the Mississippi and also at St. john Newfound
land.
18th In great storms, the wind, for several hundred
miles both sides Of the line Of minimum pressure blows
| towards that line directly obliquely
sh The force Of the wind is in proportion to the sudden
ness and greatness Of the barometric depression.
In and "a
there much rain snow; and in all sudden great
rains there great fucuaton of the barometer
10th Many storms oil great and unknown length from
the north to the SOUTH reaching beyond observers
the Gulf of Mexico and the northern lakes, while their
east and west diameter is comparatively small The storms
therefore move side foremost.
our most western observers but some commence in the Uni
al2h When storm commences in the United States the
line OF minimum pressure does not from the Far
West, but commences with the storm and travels with 1t
18th There Is generally lu Of wind at the line Of mini.
mum pressure, and sometimes calm.
18th When the wind changes to the west the barometer
"l5th. There generally but little wind the line Of
are irregular, but tend outwards from that line
10th. The fluctuations Of the barometer generally
in the northern than in the southern parts Of the
nth The fluctuations of the barometer are generally
In the eastern than In the western parts OF the United
18th In the northern parts Of the United States, the
Of east and terminates from the north Of west
leh In the southern parts of the United States the wind
generally sets in from the south Of east and terminates from
| the south Of west
Doth During the passage Of storms the wind generally
changes from the eastward to the westward by the SOUTH
especially in the southern parts Of the United States
| Accompanying this report is a circular to the
friends of science, the subject of artificial rains,
containing many certificates of gentlemen of high
standing, in various parts Of our country, that rains
of great extent actually produced before their
eyes, precisely as predicted by Professor Espy.
Il AZ -.
sky, right over the fire, and pour down food Of
rain, which increased in magnitude at least twenty
eight miles east of the place of beginning, whilst it
rained none to the west. Several of these rains
took place in Pennsylvania, last summer, and some
ofthem in Indiana two summers ago. All occurred
in extreme dry, warm weather.
We at liberty to publish, also, written state
ment of Judge Catron, Of the Supreme Court of the
United States. After mentioning number of storms
| which have occurred from time to time in Tennes-
hare ba. .,I Ind