WINDS.
_Entertained theories Erroneous._
The mere mechanical theory which regards the atmosphere as a loose
mixture of gaseous materials, and the winds as mere mechanical
disturbances within it, misses its real intimate nature and is
insufficient. But once conceive the atmosphere as arranged like a
perfectly adjusted instrument for the meeting-place and co-operation of
sun-force, and earth-force, where are elaborated all the benefits
designed for our mundane creation, and we begin to look for better
explanations.
_Their true Character._
What we call the wind is mediately the air moving but causatively, and
immediately, and more profoundly, it is the action of the vito-magnetic
fluid. _It is therefore a purely magnetic phenomenon. In the interplay
of that subtle, all-pervasive fluid, is found the key to the theory of
the winds._ Hurricanes, cyclones, tornadoes, zephyrs, etc., are
manifestations of its operations. These phenomena imply the existence of
a force at times stupendous, and at times so gentle as simply to move a
leaflet.
This power in full magnitude may spring instantaneously into action; and
it may, too, as instantaneously cease. It may suddenly drive a body of
air at the rate of one hundred miles per hour, and as suddenly arrest
its progress. The air having no inherent propulsive powers, that
originate and control its directions, velocities, and varied forms of
movement, is yet subject to definite laws. What these laws are has never
been divulged.--"The wind bloweth where it listeth." Yet in viewing
earth and atmosphere as vast reservoirs of vito-magnetic fluid, shifting
back and forth to maintain an equilibrium, we believe we see the
workings of the very force which moves and sways the atmosphere; which
causes its currents, both general and special; and which gives rise to
all its more extraordinary and unaccountable phenomena.
_What gives rise to the Currents._
The changes in the magnetism of the earth and atmosphere give rise to
these currents. They are developed in various forms. The following may
be mentioned as the most important.
1st. The general and widespread perturbations, occurring within the body
of the earth, and implicating immense areas, even whole continents.
2d. The interruptions of continuity of the _solar currents_ as in the
phenomena called sun-spots. These changes, to whatever cause due, are
capable of disturbing the terrestrial magnetic equilibrium over varying
areas, and of working instantaneously.
3d. The effects of the interruptions of the sun's rays through the
medium of clouds.
4th. Purely local vito-magnetic, or electrical, actions occupying
smaller or larger areas.[13]
That the origination, suspension, and continuation of these movements,
in all their forms are due to purely vito-magnetic force, we think
demonstrable. Thus, no other can act so instantaneously, none with such
varied exhibitions of power, and none so widespread in their
development.
In the movement of a body of air, the space previously occupied by that
body must be resupplied by another of equal volume. This resupply may
not necessarily be derived from the circumambient atmosphere as
heretofore supposed. In some instances the resupply is derived _in but
slight degree_ from that source, but rather from that great reservoir,
the earth; as in the instances of whirlwinds and tornadoes.
_Philosophical Considerations drawn from Observation._
FLAMMARIAN says:--"We know that a whirlwind is a column of air which
turns upon its own axis, and which advances comparatively slowly, for,
as a rule, a person can keep up with it at a walking pace. This whirling
column of air is both caused and set in motion by electricity."
If whirlwinds are caused and set in motion by electricity, why may not
all other forms of wind be productions of the same force? PELTIER has
established both by numerous facts and by a series of ingenious
experiments, that the waterspouts of the land and sea are electrical
phenomena.
This had been suspected by BECCARIA a hundred years before.
The hurricane which occurred in the Barbadoes in 1831, was the most
remarkable on record. In the actions of the hurricane and the electrical
displays, there was abundant evidence of cause and effect.
The lightning for hours played in flashes and forked darts, and moved
frightfully between the clouds and the earth, with a most surprising
action, and the earth was felt to tremble. The moment this singular
alternation of the lightning passing to and fro ceased, the hurricane
burst forth with a violence which exceeded all that had yet been
experienced. The winds blowing with appalling velocity, changed their
course frequently and almost instantaneously, occasionally abating but
only to return in gusts from S. W.-W. and N. W. with accumulated fury.
These alternations of wind and violent electrical phenomena, were
something more than coincident, more than a casual connection. Here we
observe a manifest inter-dependence.
In another hurricane, "the wind blew about twelve hours with the utmost
fury from the N. E. and then, in an instant, perfect calm ensued for an
hour, then, quick as thought, the hurricane sprang up with tremendous
force from the S. W." No other power known can suspend and put in
motion, in opposite directions, such marvellous velocities and so
instantaneously.
A remarkable phenomenon was exhibited by a hurricane in 1837, and
described by CAPT. SEYMOUR of Cork. "For nearly an hour we could not see
each other nor anything else, but merely the light, and most
astonishing, every one of our finger-nails turned quite black and
remained so nearly five weeks afterwards. This fact may be classed among
other proofs of the agency of electricity in the production of
hurricanes."
The following facts are entirely inconsistent with usual methods of
explanation of the cause of winds: "The entire atmosphere, to the
altitude of many thousand feet, is constantly traversed by numerous
horizontal currents of air, flowing in different directions and at
different heights."
The course of a balloonist was altered no less than five times in the
space of fourteen hours. "The aëronaut GREEN, at the height of 14,000
feet, encountered a current that bore him along at the rate of five
miles per hour, but upon descending to the altitude of 12,000 feet he
met a contrary wind blowing with a velocity of eighty miles an hour."
The vito-magnetic fluid is capable of becoming amassed, condensed and
rarefied. In the tornado that happened at Natchez, in 1840, the houses
_exploded_ whenever the doors and windows were shut, the roofs shooting
up into the air, and the walls even of the strongest buildings bursting
outward with great force.
On the 18th of June, 1839, a whirlwind fell upon the village of
Chatenay, near Paris. In the room of a house over which it passed,
several articles of needle-work were lying upon a table. The next day
some of them were found in a field at a distance from the house,
together with a pillow-case taken from another room. They must have been
carried up the chimney by the rush of air outwards, as every other means
of exit was closed.
It is a fact well-known to miners that during and before violent
tempests, strong ascending currents are observed.
[Illustration: Pl. IV. MANUFACTURED WIND.]
If a metallic rod terminating in a point be attached to the conductor of
an electrical machine, electricity escapes in large quantities from the
point. A continuous current is thus kept up and the flame of a taper, if
placed in front of the current, is blown in a horizontal direction. Wind
is thus _manufactured_ on a small scale. Pl. IV.
At a recent meeting of a Meteorological Society in England, a paper was
read by the REV. JOSEPH CROMPTON, M.A., F.M.S. "The author, when walking
close to the Cathedral of Norwich, was struck with the unusual
fluttering of the flags on the top of the spire, which was 300 feet
high. They were streaming with a strained, quivering motion
perpendicularly upwards. A heavy cloud was passing overhead at the
moment and as it passed, the flags followed the cloud and then gradually
dropped into comparative quietness. The same phenomenon was noticed
several times. As the cloud approached, the upper banner began to feel
its influence and streamed towards it, _against the direction of the
wind_, which still blew as before, steadily on all below. As the cloud
came nearer, the vehement quivering and streaming motion of the flags
increased; they began to take an upward perpendicular direction into the
cloud and seemed almost tearing themselves from the staves to which they
were fastened. Again as the cloud passed, they followed it as they had
previously streamed to meet its approach, and then dropped away as
before, one or two actually folding over their staves. All the other
flags at the lower elevation did not show the least symptom of
disturbance." In this phenomenon we observe the operation of two of the
wind-producing causes just mentioned, viz.:--a wind arising from purely
local causes, and of limited extent, occurring within the boundaries of
a wind produced by the action of more general, and widespread causes--_A
wind within a wind._
The above instances plainly carry a suggestion of magnetic origin and
power.
_Winds may not arise from Presumed Causes._
If winds are due to such a simple mechanical causation as the production
by the sun, of a rarefied atmosphere, the colder air rushing in from all
sides into the empty spaces, we should hardly expect to find any
definite currents bounded by well-defined limits; much less should we
look for transverse and opposite currents going like messengers at
varying rates of speed, some slow, and others exceedingly swift. Nor may
stronger gales suddenly cease, as though stopped by some mighty
invisible wall. And in no wise can they, from mere calorific agencies,
leap out of perfect calmness into hurricane velocity, or subside into
silence as by magic. On no such principle can they shift back upon their
own track, going either way with terrific velocity.
_A Great Cosmical System._
We have seen the marks of electrical action in the cases cited, and
since we know something of the subtlety of the agent; that it may be
"amassed, condensed and rarefied," that it is not loose and wandering,
and the mere plaything of fortuitous forces, as the atmosphere is
supposed to be; but, on the contrary, has close and most sympathetic
adjustment with the earth-force; and that _it_ is the invisible hand
that holds and manages the grosser atmospheric matter; since we know
this, we are now brought to the study of a great cosmical system.
FOOTNOTES:
[13] Appendix, p. 105.