New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1889-10-14
THE WINDS,
A LEARNED AND USEFUL WORK

A LEARNED AND USEFUL WORK.
4 POPULAR TREATISE ON THE WINDS: Com
priing the Motions of the Atmosphere Monsoons'
etc. BY William Ferrl, NJ A.. Pm. d. evo'
PIP. sos. John Wiley Sons.
Foremost among American mctcorologists during
the last generation, by reason OF the new ana I'M
portant general principles which they enunciated,
stand Elias LOOMS and William Ferret; the former
At his death few weeks ago. leaving his precious
"contribu tons" In a somewhat disconnected shape
the latter fortunately living long enough TO prescnb
his work well organized. LOOMS. pursuing che IN
ductivc method started out with observed facS rom
which he might in time have built up complete
structure while Fer1el deductve reasoner, In pre-
septng the fruit researches, begins with funda-
mental principles and thus educcs perfect system
The magnificent way in which he does so reminds
one of textbook geometry; one proposition
betne demonstrated conclusively after another, with
only a few axtoms TO proceed from.
Tho Germs Of Ferreis IDEAS TO be found IN
detached papers written thirty years ago He
worked them out more fully In his Researches FOR
tho Coast Pilot under the auspices of the Coast Sur
vey us75 1878 and 1891, and for the Signal Service
An bis Recent Advances In Meteorology.' me
mathematical formulas therein employed TO illustrate
the subject made him untntellgible b the average
reader. His latest book reembodies the matter In
more popular form talhough he does not entirety
dispense with algebra, and opens the way to better
appreciation OF his worm Dy MS ieHo"7Nou""'"o''
This is fortunate For while Redfeld and some Other
American pioneers In weather science have not ~
ceived the credit due them from foreign -meteoToogs
there was at one time a prospect that FerTeP "ouio
receive a fuller recognition from French and German
savans than on this side Of the Atlantic
Maury IN that charming and learned book inc
Geography Of the Sea- 1885, had made 1t clear that
In the distribution of atmosphere oyer the earth there
were belt. OF maximum pressure near each OF the
tropics, with diminution near the equator ana inc
poles Ferrelps attention being arrested py 'nlS
fact upon which the wind system OF the
world largely depended, he set out 10 explain H.
And he moro than any other man OF any nanohalty'
has done so satisfactorily And as the
smechanics of the atmosphere 10 use
his own phrase undere all our weather
changes his eluctdation thereof has constituted
one Of the most important advances In meteorology
that was possible Hadley. early as 1875, had &C.
counted the slant Of the trade-winds by the IN
nuence of the earhs rotation. Maury accepted tho
notions Of that physicist. and employed them also to
show why the prevailing surface winds north OF north
latitude 80 were southweserly. and, In the CORE
spending region Of the other hemisphere north
westerly. But Hadey's ideas Is TO the method ac-
cording which this force operates Ferrel finds 10
be somewhat erroneous. Hadey assumed that the air
coming from pole Tor rather the tropic toward the
equator retained its initial velocity; and that the
motion of the wind westward, relatively to the earhs
surface ensued from the greater Gyratory velocity of
the earth at lower than higher latitudes. Ferro bv
bringing into his calculations the principle Of pres
ervation Of areas" obtained appreciably different
suits The accumulation of air in belts near latitude
80 north and south, which Maury believed due to
the meeting of currents from equator and pole Fenel
treats as the result of centrifugal force which tends
TO defect moving body Tor fluid TO the right of It's
original path In the northern hemisphere and to the
left in the southern The air system within Sixty de-
gees Of each pole is found to be vast cyclone. with
its antcyclonic periphery near the Tropics OF cancer
and Capricorn. 1t was no discovery Of Ferrel'S, Of
course, that the prime agent in the atmospheric Cir
cuauon is the greater heat received from the sun
near the earths equator, which in that region
an expansion of air with outflow overhead toward
the poles and influx at the surface. But he re-
veals more fully and accurately than his predecessors
the general laws controlling the movement when once
initiated. This effected, he takes up the modify
ing influences of aqueous vapor diversity between land
and water surfaces, mountain ranges and other topo
graphical features. Apparatus for meteorological pur
poses he does not refer to. One can learn all
he wants these matters elsewhere 1t IS only the
broad aspects of the subject that this master is dealing
with.
large portion of the volume in hand discusses the
shifting the rain and dry belts. the monsoons. COM
parative climates of east and west sides
OF oceans and continents, and other general cl.-
matte phases. They are treated in an in
teresting manner If novel facts or theories are
brought out; and the may be said of his
handling Of the chinook, sirocco, pampero and other
local winds.
The same principles, of centrifugal force and the
preservation of equal areas which explain the general
Circulation applied by Ferrel TO the wind system
Of a cyclone. Other meteorologsts have shown that
The air moves into a storm centre by a spiral Fcrrel
shows why It must do so, and give the means of
computing the angle of detection. His citation of
testimony by Redfeh, Plddington TOynbee, Loomis
Vines and other high authorities TO the fact Of this
inward motion ought 10 convince NJ. Faye, who
Insists, Reid did the "ciIcuarity" of the winds
about the centrc. In this splendid chapter on
cyclones Ferre suggests other agency in originating
a storm than heat and humidity; and he asserts the
existence OF the ascending column at tho centre
which of late is being questioned again.
The mechanism of local storms, including the
tornado, waterspout cOudburst, and thundeIshower,
with the attendent phenomena OF hail forms the subject
of the concluding pages These disturbances, while
often much violent than broad storms shown
TO be dominated by the same physical laws The
difference between cyclone and tornado, Is care
fully pointed out-he former being a rotating mass
of air very great in lateral extent (say 200 TO 1900
miles, with comparatively little height IA mile or
two); while the latter, mere gyrating column, has
the same or greater vertical extent but with nsg.
nifcant horizontal diameter from so feet TO mile)
Ferre compares the initial phase of tornado to the
rising of a vapor bubble in caldron OF boiling water
History and description INDUCED in here to
degree worthy OF this striking and terrible type OF
storm and an excellent asSembage is made OF the
latest facts observed by himself and others in regard
to kindred phenomena. Atmospheric electricity, being
outside the scope OF his discussion Of dynamics is
not touched upon nor are any of the curious popular
theories and supershions, to which Van Bebbcr
devoes one half Of his famous work, alluded