The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1889-05-11
THE LAWS OF STORMS,

Meteorologists are not yet agreed re-
garding the laws that govern the origin
of storms. Storms of all kinds, whether
they are called tornadoes, hurricanes,
cyclones, or typhoons, present in gen.
eral way the same phenomena, that
there is an area of light atmosphere, or
law barometer, as it is called, toward
which the air rushes from all sides to
hll the vacuum, thus producing whirl-
ing movement near the center. There
is at the same time motion forward in
given direction. The greater part of
those who are within the range of
storm only feel the wind as blowing
from fixed quarter, especially when its
diameter is great, and this may some
times be 1000 miles. In the very GEN.
tire OF a typhoon or cyclone there is a
dead calm, which lasts but few miu-
utes, after which the object, be 1t
ship or a village, finds itself in the
midst of a conflict of the elements more
terrible than ever. In this revolution
of storm around an upright axis the
revolution IS in the northern hemisphere
from right to left, and in the southern
hemisphere from left to right.
To understand a storm, it is always
necessary to 60 back to frs: principles.
Its origin is invariably near the equator,
where, on account of the eastward
movement of the earth, the winds have
an apparent direction toward the west;
but as the revolution of the surface of
the earth north and south of the equa-
tor is less rapid, owing to its diminished
diameter, as these air currents diverge
therefrom they Immediately take an
apparent direction toward the east.
Given this law of air currents, it only
remains to consider the great cause of
storms, which is the unequal heating of
the air over the earth's surface. Storms
have their favorite routes of travel. No
storm was ever known to travel from
Boston to Philadelphia, from Chicago
to St. Louis, or from Nashville to New
Orleans and when the word storm is
used i means the storm center. Storms
cross the Atlantic invariably from Amer
ica to Europe and exhaust their force
on the coasts of Great Britain and
France, or not far in the interior. They
never return by the same route.
When large area of air near the
surface of the earth has been heated to
high temperature, 1t rises, giving orr
gin not only to the currents that rush
in from all sides, but causing mass of
the colder air to fall from the upper
strata of the atmosphere, or in some
cases coming from a cooler, northern
latitude.
According to the theory of M. Faye,
into an air vacuum at the surface of the
earth falls one of the eddies already
formed in the upper stratum of the at
mosphere. The rotary motion increases
in velocity as it descends. not only from
causes inherent in itself, but because
the conditions of the lower air are favor
able to the propagation of the circular
movement. Hence result the storms
that are most terrible in their effects,
such as the cyclones of the west, the
cyclones of the Indian Ocean, and the
typhoons of the China seas. 1t would,
perhaps, be too much to assert that
were it not tor these upper currents and
eddles there would be no cyclones, for
the lower stratum of atmosphere ap-
pears to contain all the conditions nee
essary to their formation but it is GER
tain now, as it always has been, that the
descending currents produce violent
complications.
Sailors assert that the wind blows in
certain cases straight down. They have
not only felt it, but they say it is the
cause OF that condition of the sea when
the waves seem beaten fiat upon its sur
face. 1t is useless to understand TIE
nature of air currents and the cause of
storms unless the knowledge assists in
navigating the ocean, and In the pro-
lection of life and property by sea as
we'll as on lard. In this study of the
weather it is pleasant to know that this
country has always taken and still main
tains the lead, simply because as prac-
tical people we approach the subject
from its practical side.-SEC Chronicle.
SLIPS OF THE TONGUE.
A certain preacher, discoursing