The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1867-02-27
sernr wIsDs m rHEIa CIRCUITS,
An Old telegraph Operator On the
weather.

The Cincinnati Commercial publishes the
following letter. The fact to which it calls
attention is curious:
IA matter Of interest to your readers who mo-
tice weather reports from the West, l rill state
that in my experience . telegraph operator Tor
the past eighteen years have noticed that nine
cut OF every ten changes in wsathsr come IRON
the WestI FIRST noticed this while in baltimore
Oyster DEALERS in Cincinnati advised their CORES
pondents in Baltimore of any change in weather IN
Cincinnati. Eighteen hours afterward We would
experience the ssmechange stPilumorc- Dur1ng
three years service in the Baltimore telegraph Oh
Zee noticed that but one storm earne In any otn-
or direction than from the west, and that was the
day after the great battle Of Mcclellan before
Richmond. The greatest and heroest storm OF
wind and rain ever experienced came directfrom
the South; and upon the hypothesis, about that
time going the rounds Of the press, that great
storm followed g great battle, concluded that
Mcclellan's and Lees artillery had something to
do in sending US that storm.
Since coming to Cincinnati hare noticed that
all changes in the weather are first felt at St.
Louis. Twelve hours afterward We experience
the same change here.
We clip the above as text, in calculation
of which we may be permitted to condense
such information, drawn from scientific works,
as may serve the purpose of enlightening our
younger readers. upon subjects OF frequent
remark in daily intercourse-the wind and
the weather. The winds, as we'll as the wa
tiers, have their laws and their limits, and
move in the circuits appointed them by the
Creator of the Universe, in obedience TO uni
versal and uniform laws
And, although it is true that we cannot tell
the home of the wind, nor "whence it com
eth nor whittier it goeth," yet We have the
same Divine authority, directing our minds,
and giving assurance that "The wind goeth
toward the south and turneth toward the
north it whirleth about continually, andthe
wind returneth again according TO his cir
cults No more definite information in re-
gard to the winds than this furnished by the
Preacher, was possessed by the ancients, nor,
indeed, by the moderns, till within = recen,
period.
When Columbus was on his great voyage OF
discovery into unknown seas, the ships got
into q current of wind which blew constantly,
and bore them westward. They had never
experienced the like before, and their fears
grew upon them more and more, as the wind
bore them increasingly on, farther and farther
from the home they had left. And rs time
wore on and they pondered doubtingly the
possibility Of making head against such .
wind on their return voyage, they became
restless and mutinous, and well nigh unman-
ageshe That was the trade wind, blowing
constantly from the East, around the earth,
between the equatorial tropics. This wind,
then unknown. to the most learned, or the
most adventurous, either by name or by
nature, is now Ia some sense familiar to the
boys who autobiography and its motions;
furnished the ci lie Of still wider generaliza-
ton of the laws of the wind.
The earth is enveloped in an atmosphere,
over fifty miles in thickness, which becomes
more attenusted as the distance from the
earth's surface increases. Surprising the at
mosphere in state of equilibrium,
the heat at the equator will expand it, and il
will rise up from the earth to the more rare
fed strata Of the atmosphere and rush of to-
wards the colder regions Of the poles and
in the meantime the air North and South of
the equator, will rush in TO supply the va
CUM, and thus the circuit is formed, and the
wind is kept in perpetual motion in lis
circuits from the equator to the poles, by the
contraction of the air caused by cold and the
expansion resulting from heat But as those
forces would not necessarily operate to keep
up the motion Of these winds in their circuiu
through all intermediate ATTITUDES, science
has suggested that in some waythese winged
winds are endued with some magnetic polar
ity Of a positive and negative character which
holds them TO their course.
Now, as the wind starts from the North
Pole, Southwark TO the Equator, by an
upper current, directly opposite the surface
wind, OF which We are sensible, the earth is
turning over on its axis, from West to East,
ct rapid rate, and the effect is to give the
wind Southwest direction, bearing still
more westerly, as it progresses South, till
near the equator, it is the NortheruT de
wind blowing ever westerly, in variable
belt, some fifteen degrees wide, between the
tropic Of cancer, and the equator. And the
wind from the South Pole makes its circui.
toward the northwest, and constitutes the
trade wind south of the equator, the same
that blew ths Spanish sailors in so much
trouble, and Columbus 70 haven of imper-
ishsble fame.
The air that leaves the equator, it will be
remembered, proceeds from the higher strata
OF the atmosphere, in an upper current, bu,
ss this current progresses northward. it be-
comes more dense, and in the vicinity of Can
Ger, it becomes surface current. This sur
face current, from the Equator to the pole,
owing now to the eastward motion of the
earth on its axis, gets momentum eastward
as it travels north, and the farther north, the
more easterly the trend of the wind.
II these principles then, be correct, tbs
general course of our winds, and our storms
would be from the southwest, or from point
between the south and west, to the northeas
or easterly. And storms would consequent,
have a general tendency in that direction
from the Mississippi valley and the Gulf o
Mexico 10 the Middle and Atlantic States.
Ihs theory, it will be seen, sccords in tn
main, with the facts observed above: and i
must be remembered tina. we are not TO ex
pect entire uniformity in every respect, OWN
10 reflections IN the course OF the wind
caused by mountains, by difference in TEN
peratnre, at different seasons of the yea,
and on different days in the same season.
Rain and snow come upon us from
humid atmosphere, suddenly condense
by cold. The trade winds receive
into their bosom, in copious abundance,
the waters evaporated from tn
ocean, and they bear i. into III
upper regions Of the air, and north
ward, till becon ng surface winds they swee
on and discharst heir laden treasure of ',
pors IN shower snow as they collsps
under the iniiuen. Of a colder climate a
their way to the N.siheast. Thus. 81. J,ou
and the valley for iusny miles above. is su,
Piled with moisture evaporated in the Torr;
Zone, by the S. " trade winds f,or, =,
Pacific ocean, al borne on 1.-THE wing.
the wind across Caiifornia over moun.s;n an
plain, TO quench the thirst of this mighty =.
ley, and feed the great Father Of Waters a.