The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1900-11-15

mdsphere Is unhinged, as it were, that
the typhoon makes its awful appear
ance n ny reader Is familiar With The
phenomenon ( the miniatu Whillwi I'd
Mn.c ne mas so often seen sweep a4ong
street or reoad for a sort distance
and then disappear; the want of local
equilibrium in the atmosphere, which
gave rise to ii, having been restored.
These little whiriWinds generally oc-
cur at street corners, or at cross roads,
and are produced by the meeting of
two winds. When these winds meet,
the STRONGER will bend the weaker and
whirl will lensue The two winds still
coming on, the Wh!rl will be increased
and thus a whirlwind will be increased
and thus whirlwind is formed, which
Immediately begins to travel--not at
random Of course. but in the direction
Of least pressure. The meeting of two
currents Of water, which sorm whirl-
pool may be used as another illustra
ton. 1t is just so, that the typhoon is
formed 1t steps in as great conserva-
tor of the peace, to put an end to the
atmospherical strife which has been 60
ing on, and to restore harmony to ma
ture. 1t is a terrible scourge whilst it
lasts; the whole heavens seem to be in
disorder, and that which was only a
partial battle between outposts of the
aerial armies has now become a gen.
eral enga cement, The great whirl
sweeps over a thousand miles or more,
and when 1t has ceased, nature smiles
again; the old monsoon has given up
the ghost, and the new monsoon has
taken its place. All will be peace now
until the next change-the storms that
will occur in the interval being more or
Hess local We have monsonns in the
western hemisphere, as we'll as in the
eastern, though they are much more
partial, both in space and duration.
The cyclones which sweep over the
north Atlantic are generated, as has
! been rema rked to the eastward of the
West India islands-somewhere between
| them and the coast of Brazil. They
occur in August September and Octo-
bar-sometmes, indeed, as early as the
latter part of July. In these months,
the sun has drawn after him, into the
no thern hemisphere, the southeast
trade winds of the South Atlantic.
These trade winds are now struggling
WIN lllC ilpl tDGtt9l VIA Niil6, w iilIii
prevail in these seas, for three-fourths
of the year, for the mastery. We have
thus anothr monsoon of this struggle
going on: and the consequence of this
struggle is the cyclone. The reader may
rec lice the app2a ances of the wealth
er, noted by me some chapters back
when we were in these seas in the
Sumter. in July and August of 1861 to
wit, the colors, light, battling winds, wa
ter spouts and heavy rains.
If the reader being in the northern
hemisphere. will turn his face toward
the sun, at his rising and watch his
course for a short time, he will observe
that this course Is from left to right. |
The gvration of the wind. in the storm,
Is aga INST the course of the sun. This
Is an invar.able law in both hemis-
pheres; but, in the southern hemis- T
phete, the reader will not fail to remark
that the gyraton of the wind is in the I
opposite direction from its gyration In /
the northern hemisphere, for the reason !
that to an observer in the southern
Hemisphere the sun appears to be NOV
ing. not from left toright, but from
right to left. Whilst, therefore the .
s orrn in the northern hemisphere gy-
rates from right to left in the southern
hemisphere it gyrates from left to right; 4
both eyt atoms being against the course
of the sun.
This Is curious phenomenon which
has thus far puzzled all the philoso-
piers. 1t is double puzzle; first, why
the storm should gyrate always in the
same direction, and secondly, why this
gyration should be different in the two
The law seems TO be so
subtle as terly to elude Investigation.
There is a curious phenomenon in the
V getable wosld which seems to obey
this law of storms, and which I do not
recolect ever to have seen alluded to
by any writer. It may be well known .
to horticulturists, for aught that I
know but it attracted my attention in
my own garden for the first time since {
the war. 1t is that all creeping vines
and tendrils, when they wind them
ewes around a pole, invaribly wind s
themselves from right to left or against l
the course of the sun! / was first
struck with the fact by watching, from :
lay to day, the tender unfolding of the
ina bean--each little creeper, as it |
came forth, feeling, as with the instinct |
II animal life, FOR the pole, and then Y
nva iab'y bending around it, In the di- 7
'ection mentioned. / have a long ave- I
1ue of these plants, numbering several a
hundred poles, and upon examining a
hem all, l invariably found the same S
esult tried the experiment with some r
If these little creepers Of endeavoring V
o compel them to embrace the pole t
rom left to right, or with the course of Il
he sun, but in vain. In the afternoon s
would gather blades of grass, and tie l.
ONE of the tendrils to the poles. in a f
way to force them to disobey the law, S
'ut when l went to inspect them the il
GLOWING morning, / would invariab bly, t
ind that the obedient little plants had f
urned back and taken the accustomed c
rack! What is the subtle influence
which produces this wonderful result? e
lay it not b. in the same law which V
ides on the Whirlwind and directs the o
torn? n
The cyclone, of which | am writing. II
lust have travelled a couple of thous- 81
nd miles before it reached the Alaba- q
IA Its approach had been heralded by
everal days Of bad weather; and on is
ne morning of the gale, which was the e;
jth of October, the barometer the tC
nal ,r ho Ia.