and the Carolinas. In the southern hemisphere the body of the storms moves in exactly the opposite direction. The hurricanes which originate south of the equator, and whose initial path is from N. E. to S. W., bend round at the tropic of Capricorn, and then bend from N. W. to S. E.

The extent and velocity of these storms are great; for instance, the hurricane that took place on the 12th of August, 1830, was traced from the eastward of the Caribbee Islands to the bank of Newfoundland, a distance of more than 3000 miles, which it passed over in six days. Although the hurricane of the 1st of September, 1821, was not so extensive, its velocity was greater, as it moved at the rate of 30 miles an hour: small storms are generally more rapid than those of greater dimensions.

The action of these storms seems to be at first confined to the stratum of air nearest the earth, and then they seldom appear to be more than a mile high, though sometimes they are raised higher; or even divided by a mountain into two separate storms, each of which continues its new path and gyrations with increased violence. This occurred in the gale of the 25th of December, 1821, in the Mediterranean, when the Spanish mountains and the Maritime Alps became new centers of motion.

By the friction of the earth the axis of the storm bends a little forward, so that the whirling motion begins in the higher regions of the atmosphere before it is felt on the earth. This causes a continual intermixture of the lower and warmer strata of air with those that are higher and colder, producing torrents of rain and violent electric explosions.

The rotation is different in direction in different hemispheres, though always alike in the same. In the northern hemisphere the gyration is contrary to the movement of the hands of a watch, that is to say, the wind revolves from east round through the north to the west, south and east again; while in the southern hemisphere, the rotation about the axis of the storm is in the contrary direction.

The breadth of the whirlwind is greatly augmented

when the path of the storm changes on crossing the tropic. The vortex of a storm has covered an extent of the surface of the globe 500 miles in diameter.

The revolving motion accounts for the sudden and violent changes observed during hurricanes. In consequence of the rotation of the air, the wind blows in opposite directions on each side of the axis of the storm, and the violence of the blast increases from the circumference toward the center of gyration, but in the center itself the air is in repose: hence, when the body of the storm passes over a place, the wind begins to blow moderately, and increases to a hurricane as the center of the whirlwind approaches; then, in a moment, a dead and awful calm succeeds, suddenly followed by a renewal of the storm in all its violence, but now blowing in a direction diametrically opposite to its former course. This happened at the Island of St. Thomas, on the 2d of August, 1837, where the hurricane increased in violence till half-past seven in the morning, when perfect stillness took place for forty minutes, after which the storm recommenced in a contrary direction.

The sudden fall of the mercury in the barometer in the regions habitually visited by hurricanes is a certain indication of a coming tempest. In consequence of the centrifugal force of these rotatory storms the air becomes rarefied, and as the atmosphere is disturbed to some distance beyond the actual circle of gyration or limits of the storm, the barometer often sinks some hours before its arrival, from the original cause of the rotatory disturbance. It continues sinking under the first half of the hurricane, and again rises during the passage of the latter half, though it does not attain its greatest height till the storm is over. The diminution of atmospheric pressure is greater and extends over a wider area in the temperate zones than in the torrid, on account of the sudden expansion of the circle of rotation when the gale crosses the tropic.

As the fall of the barometer gives warning of the approach of a hurricane, so the laws of the storm's motion afford to the seaman the knowledge to guide him in avoiding it. In the northern temperate zone, if the gale begins from the S. E. and veers by S. to W., the ship

L

should steer to the S. E.; but if the gale begins from the N. E., and changes through N. to N. W., the vessel should go to the N. W. In the northern part of the torrid zone, if the storm begin from the N. E. and veer through E. to S. E., the ship should steer to the N. E.; but if it begin from the N. W. and veer by W. to S. W., the ship should steer to the S. W., because she is in the south-western side of the storm. Since the laws of storms are reversed in the southern hemisphere, the rules for steering vessels are necessarily reversed also. A heavy swell is peculiarly characteristic of these storms. In the open sea the swell often extends many leagues beyond the range of the gale which produced it.

Waterspouts are occasioned by small whirlwinds, which always have their origin at a great distance from that part of the sea from which the spout begins to rise, where it is generally calm. The whirl of the air begins in the clouds, and extending downward to the sea, causes the water to ascend in a spiral by the impulse of the centrifugal force. When waterspouts have a progressive motion, the vortex of air in the cloud above must move with the same velocity, otherwise the spouts break, which frequently happens.

SECTION XVI.

Sound-Propagation of Sound illustrated by a Field of Standing CornNature of Waves-Propagation of Sound through the AtmosphereIntensity-Noises- A Musical Sound- Quality-Pitch-Extent of Human Hearing-Velocity of Sound in Air, Water, and Solids-Causes of the Obstruction of Sound-Law of its Intensity-Reflection of Sound -Echoes-Thunder-Refraction of Sound-Interference of Sounds.

ONE of the most important uses of the atmosphere is the conveyance of sound. Without the air deathlike silence would prevail through nature, for in common with all substances it has a tendency to impart vibrations to bodies in contact with it. Therefore undulations received by the air, whether it be from a sudden impulse such as an explosion or the vibrations of a musical chord, are propagated in every direction, and produce the sensation of sound upon the auditory nerves. A bell rung under the exhausted receiver of an air-pump is inaudi

ble, which shows that the atmosphere is really the medium of sound. In the small undulations of deep water in a calm, the vibrations of the liquid particles are made in the vertical plane, that is up and down, or at right angles to the direction of the transmission of the waves. But the vibrations of the particles of air which produce sound differ from these, being performed in the same direction in which the waves of sound travel. The propagation of sound has been illustrated by a field of corn agitated by the wind. However irregular the motion of the corn may seem on a superficial view, it will be found, if the velocity of the wind be constant, that the waves are all precisely similar and equal, and that all are separated by equal intervals and move in equal times.

A sudden blast depresses each ear equally and successively in the direction of the wind, but in consequence of the elasticity of the stalks and the force of the impulse, each ear not only rises again as soon as the pressure is removed, but bends back nearly as much in the contrary direction, and then continues to oscillate backward and forward in equal times, like a pendulum to a less and less extent, till the resistance of the air puts a stop to the motion. These vibrations are the same for every individual ear of corn. Yet as their

oscillations do not all commence at the same time, but successively, the ears will have a variety of positions at any one instant. Some of the advancing ears will meet others in their returning vibrations, and as the times of oscillation are equal for all, they will be crowded together at regular intervals. Between these there will occur equal spaces, where the ears will be few, in consequence of being bent in opposite directions; and at other equal intervals they will be in their natural upright positions. So that over the whole field there will be a regular series of condensations and rarefactions among the ears of corn, separated by equal intervals where they will be in their natural state of density. In consequence of these changes the field will be marked by an alternation of bright and dark bands. Thus the successive waves which fly over the corn with the speed of the wind, are totally distinct from, and entirely

independent of the extent of the oscillations of each individual ear, though both take place in the same direction. The length of a wave is equal to the space between two ears precisely in the same state of motion, or which are moving similarly, and the time of the vibration of each ear is equal to that which elapses between the arrival of two successive waves at the same point. The only difference between the undulations of a corn-field and those of the air which produce sound is, that each ear of corn is set in motion by an external cause and is uninfluenced by the motion of the rest; whereas in air, which is a compressible and elastic fluid, when one particle begins to oscillate, it communicates its vibrations to the surrounding particles, which transmit them to those adjacent, and so on continually. Hence from the successive vibrations of the particles of air the same regular condensations and rarefactions take place as in the field of corn, producing waves throughout the whole mass of air, though each molecule, like each individual ear of corn, never moves far from its state of rest. The small waves of a liquid and the undulations of the air like waves in the corn, are evidently not real masses moving in the direction in which they are advancing, but merely outlines, motions, or forms passing along, and comprehending all the particles of an undulating fluid which are at once in a vibratory state. It is thus that an impulse given to any one point of the atmosphere is successively propagated in all directions, in a wave diverging as from the center of a sphere to greater and greater distances, but with decreasing intensity, in consequence of the increasing number of particles of inert matter which the force has to move; like the waves formed in still water by a falling stone, which are propagated circularly all around the center of disturbance (N. 156).

The intensity of sound depends upon the violence and extent of the initial vibrations of air; but whatever they may be, each undulation when once formed can only be transmitted straight forward, and never returns back again unless when reflected by an opposing obstacle. The vibrations of the aerial molecules are always extremely small, whereas the waves of sound