The Dawson journal., 1883-05-03

much-mooted question of the maximum
torce OF the wind. In the current snumher
OF Longman's Magazine Professor Laugh
ton, OF the Royal Naval College at Green
Wlch, attempts to elucidate ''Wind Force
and how it is measured" but he is candid
enouge to tell his readers that on the latter
part OF his subject his article is "eminently
unsatisfactory" because as yet mo exact
measurements" of the force of the wind
nave been made. The imperfection of all
thermometers yet devised more or less
Vltlates their readings, and long before the
seVerest tornado or hurricane wind attains
Its maximum force the best thermometer is
invariably disabled. In recently publish
ed report on the charactero of 600 tornadoes
by Sergeant j. P. Finley, Of the Signal
Service, 1t is stated that ''the velocity of
the wind within the cloud vortex was
varlously estimated at from 70 to $50 miles
an hour, the average being 392 miles
This is startling estimate A velocity of
o0O miles an hour corresponds on the lowest
basis Of calculation to a pressure of about
three fourths of ton on square foot.
Such force is totally incomparable with
the utmost pressure recorded or indicated
by the wind gauge in the most disastrous
hurricanes. In the almost unprecedented
British cyclone of October Il, 1881, a
pressure of So pounds was registered at
Greenwhich almost at the very monient
when 30 magnificent trees near by were
blown down, and no recorded hurricane
has risen to velocity of more than one
hundred and eighty miles an hour, which
would correspond to pressure of only
eighty-one pounds per square foot, by Mr..
Laughton's method of calculation. Aside.
however, from nice questions of anemonet-
ry it is important To all people to know
that the limit of wind pressure even at sea
level has not been determined and that in
dealing with this unknown quantity they
must not underrate it. At a meeting of
the London Institution of Civil Engineers
last year, oneof its foremost representatives
well said: Engineers are not at present
very far advanced in their knowledge with
regard to wind" The large number of
houses and other structures blown down in
this country shows that our architects and
engineers have something to learn in this
direction.
The important question is can safety be
assured us against these visitations They
connot be prevented, nor is it possible to
turn their courses, but meteorologists have
made some advancement in the way of
predicting their coming. They cannot
draw an exact line which the storm may
follow, but they can indicate the section Of
country likely to be visited The chief
signal officers at Washington knew as early
as the morning Of the 10Th, that storm
centre had formed in California and was
moving southwark. The sea voyage of
President Arthur from Savannah to For
tress Monroe, was abandoned in the likeH
hood Of meeting rough weather off Cane
Hatteras. If meteorologists have accom-
plished this much they may be expected to
accomplish great deal more, so that the
inhabitants Of a threatened region NAV be
put upon notice of the coming of storm
This may save many lives and much pro-
p9rty, and it is the duty of the government
to promote by liberal expenditures the eff
cheney of this service.
AS Commodore Maury has marked path
ways across the ocean and has shown the
mariner how he may use the winds and
tides, why may not the scientist disarm the
storm by foretelling the period of its COM
ing? 1t will be robbed of something of its
power and danger when it does not come
like thief in the night and in the twink
ling of an eye.
And yet in the face of this, the late
Congress crippled the strength and re-
sources of the weather bnreau. A station
in the West Indies which cost four thou
sand dollars per annum to keep up has been
1t had furnished portents of
storms that saved many millions of money
to say nothing of life. In REGARD to the
discontinuance of other stations, that is,
those in the United States, the selection IS
left to General Hazen, but the Generals
sayssthat about fifty of the two hundred
stations now in existence will have to be
discontinued at the beginning Of the next
fiscal year, or sooner, The appropriation
for the meteorological service proper next
year is $242, 500, against $3.50 900 for the
current year, and $1,000 next year is set
aside for the 'cotton belt" service, which
was not specified in the previous appropria-
tion bill.
Signal stations in the extreme Northwest
whence most of the storms come, will have
to be retained, but it is expected that the
stations west of the Rocky Mountains will
be dropped, and there is reason to believe
that the Southern stations will be heavily
cut down. 1t is proposed to discontinue
all, or nearly all, the stations at FL Paso,
Silverton, Santa Fe, Stockton and Elliott,
in Texas, Vicksburg, Chattanooga and At
lanta, and river stations generally will suf-
fer. With no desire to cause undue alarm
or apprehension, it may be said in con-
clusion that those who have devoted most
attention to this subject, predict that the
season will be stormy until the middle of
May.
Good for Babies.
With baby at breast nothing is so