of fancying. The consideration of weather, again,
is an inclusive expression, stating all that we
know concerning all the meteors of a country and
district, and their mutual bearing on each other—
is a matter rather rising out of meteorology than
a part of it. But we learn by the observations
hitherto made some satisfactory results, proving
that what for a long time was regarded as ever
shifting and changing is really fixed, and that
the climate of a district hardly changes, however
the seasons may vary.

These results have not been obtained without
enormous labour, and have required the collection
of an almost incredible amount of conscientious
detail. A series of observations has
been continued for ten years at a thousand
localities, requiring, of course, at least as many
intelligent and instructed persons, and the
number of observations in this series amounted to
eighty-seven millions. Many arranged series were
made at intervals of two hours, day and night,
for years, at a number of selected stations,
the corresponding observations being regularly
taken at the same moment. It is thus only that
material can be collected from which sound
conclusions are to be based.

One of the most important and valuable of
the results of having a continued and minute
record of the state of the air, has been the
determination of what is called the atmospheric
wave, which means an ideal surface in the
atmosphere at which the pressure is everywhere the
same. If the atmosphere were still and
undisturbed, this would be parallel to the earth's
surface, and would never vary. Such, however,
is by no means the case, the variation being
sometimes enormous, rapid and incessant, and
strictly marking the conditions of calm and
storm in the parts of the earth over which the
wave is traced.

Let us conclude with an illustration of the
state of this wave on the occasion of the great
storm which seriously injured the English and
French fleets in the Black Sea on the 14th of
November, 1854. This was by no means a local
storm, as we shall see by the state of the wave
recorded in meteorological observatories, and it
serves well to illustrate the nature of meteorological
observation. After this storm as many as
two hundred and fifty reports were obtained
from different stations and compared together.

On the 12th November, 1854, the pressure of
the air, which had been low, was enormously
high on a line ranging from the west of England
into France, reaching almost to the Pyrenees,
but at various places east and west of this line
the barometer was low. A great undulation
of the air was taking place, and the ridge of
a commencing wave was in the line here
stated. As yet the storm had not commenced;
but, before four-and-twenty hours had elapsed,
this vast wave had moved towards the east,
the north part of the crest having then
reached Sweden, while the southern part had
advanced far in the Mediterranean. It went
through the great cities of Berlin, Dresden, and
the southern part having entered the Alps was
lost in their windings. On each side of this
crest the indications of storm were very marked.

Still another day elapsed, and the wave had
now reached St. Petersburg and Dantzig, while
its southern part was close to Vienna and had
entered the Adriatic, running down the coast of
Dalmatia. On the 15th it was on the Carpathian
Mountains, and on the 16th the crest had
reached the Black Sea. Beyond that, there were
no observatories to mark its progress. The
storm took place when the low advancing wave
glided over the gloomy waters of the Black Sea,
long before the crest made its appearance. The
weather is described as having been favourable
enough until the fatal atmospheric wave bore
down on the spot. Then, indeed, the barometer
fell rapidly, but it was too late.

We have said that the high crest so curiously
indicated could not be unaccompanied by
depression. This commenced and was traceable
at a great distance, and, in point of fact, this
depression everywhere preceded the advancing
wave, while another less considerable followed
it. But while at the beginning the difference
was small and the result unimportant, in
proportion as the wave advanced towards the east,
the hollow in advance became greatly deepened,
or, in other words, the mercury stood very low
indeed. The strength of the storm was felt
where the depression reached its minimum—in
the Black Sea on the 14th November. At that
time the depression had been succeeded by the
crest of the wave between St. Petersburg and
the Dalmatian coast. The course of this storm,
from its first commencement on the shores of
the Atlantic till it reached the Black Sea, and
the rate at which it was travelling, were matters
perfectly within calculation after it had passed
over the British islands, and the time of its
probable arrival in the Black Sea might have
been telegraphed some forty-eight hours in
advance.

The wide spread of telegraphic communication
has greatly facilitated meteorological observations
of importance, and has already allowed useful
warning to be given of some great storms
advancing in certain directions. The mode in
which these storms will advance, the way in
which certain storm-winds will veer round,
blowing in succession from all points of the
compass, but in regular order, and even the
duration of the storm, were all more or less
calculable.

Our readers may now, perhaps, see something
of the use and meaning of that table that appears
daily in some of our newspapers, communicating
the state of wind and weather at a number of
stations at a fixed hour. A glance at this will
often show the nature of the advancing weather,
and the direction in which it comes. But it
requires that all the facts should be considered, as
they mutually affect each other, to obtain all
the use of this table that it is capable of yielding.
Meteorology a few years ago so small
and weak that a child could master it, is
already becoming strong and almost unwieldy.
It now requires a clear head and powerful grasp