The Hickman courier. [volume] (Hickman, Ky.) 1859-current, 1881-07-15
FEELING THE EARTH MOVE.
Account of Some CurIOsitIes or tlle Win
by q PbIIOsOpher on the Roof

New York Sun.1
''Would you like to feel the motion of
the earth whirlfng on its axis just as you
feel the motion of buggy by the air
driven against your face?'
The man who asked this singular
question looked both sane and serious.
AS he spoke he touched with his finger
q small globe, which, with the slight
impulse thus communicated, began to
revolve smoothly and swiftly within a
brass ring and broad wooden zone, on
which were pictured the odd-looking
figures that represent the twelve signs
of the zodiac The green painted oceans
and the variously tinted continents on
the little globe blended into a confused
tumble of color with the motion. Europe
aud America, the Atlantic and the
Pacific lost their outlines. Greenland
made dark circle about the pole like
a streak on boys top.
"You know the earth is whirling like
that-many times faster than that, said
the philosopher, land if the atmosphere
did not partake of the same motion there
would be a constant hurricane blowing
mt the rate of thousand miles an hour
Most persons accept the explanation
that the atmosphere revolves as fast as
the solid ground without inquiring any
further, and so they lose sight of one of
the most startling facts in nature. Just
step up here.
The reporter followed the philosopher
to the flat roof of the house.
Don't you feel that?" asked the phil
osopher, putting his hand to his
cheek
81 feel wind from the northeast, 3"
replied the reporter.
''Well, that's it, Them" said the phil
osopher GAS the surface of the earth
revolves eastward, it meets a current of
air flowing from the north, which has
not yet acquired velocity of rotation
equal to that of the ground it passes
over. So objects on the earth are driven
by the earth's motion through air that
Is moving more slowly to the eastward
than they are. The result is that the
wind which started to blow from the
poles toward the equator, instead of
moving straight from north to south APP
pears to come from the northeast. The
reason of this will be plain the minute
you look at a revolving globe. You see
that close to the poles the revolution of
the surface is very much slower than at
the equator, just as a point on the hub
of a wheel moves more slowly than q
point on the tire.
''You must not, however, suppose that
every wind from the northeast is the re-
suit of this curious law. In fact, in this
latitude it is very difficult to say when
the true wind of revolution, if l may sc
speak of it, Is felt, because there are sc
many local causes that govern the direc-
ton of the wind. Nevertheless, when
| ever q current of air starts from the fal
north toward the equator, this phenome-
non will be experienced in all the places
| it passes over, although it is very often
obscured by the changes of direction
caused by ranges of mountains, great
valleys and local temperatures. But tie
| curious fact remains that we can feel IN
the wind the whirling of our globe about
its axes. In the tropics this phenome-
non manifests itself perfectly in the IA
nous trade winds In fact the west and
southwest winds that prevail here large
part of the year are the returning trade
| winds. In this case the air, moving
from the equator, where the revolution
is fastest toward the poles where it is
/ slowest, has, as it advances, a westward
| motion greater than that of the surface
over which it passes. So marked is the
prevalence of this wind that sailors call
it down hill from here to England on
account of the easy sailing with the
wind SO, you see, that, although the
winds alone would never enable us to
detect the fact that the earth revolves,
| yet now that the fact is known, we see
in them one of its most striking re-
| suits.