"Association of the Alumni of the Cambridge Theological School," on the 19th of July, 1839. With Notes. By Andrews Norton. Cambridge: 1839. John Owen. 8vo. pp. 64.

"The Latest Form of Infidelity" Examined; a Letter to Mr. Andrews Norton, occasioned by his "Discourse before the 'Association of the Alumni of the Cambridge Theological School,' on the 19th of July, 1839. By an Alumnus of that School. Boston: 1839. James Munroe & Co. 8vo. pp. 160.

Remarks on a Pamphlet entitled "The Latest Form of Infidelity' Examined," By Andrews Norton. Cambridge: 1839. John Owen. 8vo. pp. 72.

An Historical Sermon, delivered in St. Peter's Church, Cheshire, July 28, 1839 it being the last Sunday on which Divine Service was performed in the Old Church. By the Rev. E. E. Beardsley. Hartford: 1839. ́Case, Tiffaney, & Co. 8vo. pp. 16.

*Tracts for the Times. By Members of the University of Oxford. New York: 1839. Charles Henry. Volume First. Second Edition. 8vo. pp. 611. * A Letter to the Right Reverend Father in God, Richard, Lord Bishop of Oxford, on the Tendency to Romanism, imputed to Doctrines held of old, as now, in the English Church. By the Rev. E. B. Pusey, D. D. With an Appendix, containing Extracts from the Tracts for the Times, the Lyra Apostolica, and other publications; showing that to oppose Ultra-Protestantism is not to favor Popery. From the Second Oxford Edition. New York: 1839. Charles Henry. 8vo. pp. 160 and 24.

A Call to Union on the Principles of the English Reformation. A Sermon preached at the Primary Visitation of Charles Thomas, Lord Bishop of Ripon. By Walter Farquhar Hook, D. D. With Notes, and an Appendix containing copious Extracts from the Reformers. From the Fourth London Edition. New York: 1839. Charles Henry. 8vo. pp. 131.

VOYAGES AND TRAVELS.

A Winter in the West Indies and Florida, with a particular description of St. Croix, Trinidad de Cuba, Havana, Key West, and St. Augustine. By an Invalid. New York: 1839. Wiley and Putnam. 12mo. pp. 199.

History and General Views of the Sandwich Island Mission, by the Rev. Sheldon Dibble. New York: 1839. Taylor and Dodd.

*A Diary in America, with Remarks on its Institutions. By Captain Marryatt. Philadelphia: 1839. Carey and Hart. 2 vols. 12mo.

Travels in North America, during the years 1834, 1835, and 1836. By the Hon. Charles A. Murray. New York: 1839. Harper and Brothers. 2 vols. 12mo. pp. 324 and 246.

Society, Manners, and Politics, in the United States: being a series of Letters on North America. By Michael Chevalier. Translated from the third Paris Edition. Boston: 1839. Weeks, Jordan, and Company. 8vo. pp. 467.

In Press.

Harper and Brothers are bringing out Hallam's Introduction to the Literature of Europe in the Fifteenth, Sixteenth, and Seventeenth Centuries.

A. V. Blake is about to publish a new and improved edition of Bishop Brownell's Family Common Prayer Book.

THE

NEW YORK REVIEW.

No. XII.

APRIL, 1840.

ART. I.-1. Remarks on the Prevailing Storms of the Atlantic Coast of the North American States. By WILLIAM C. REDFIELD. From Vol. XX. of the American Journal of Science, etc.

2. On the Gales and Hurricanes of the Western Atlantic. By WILLIAM C. REDFIELD. From Vol. XXI. of the American Journal.

3. Observations on the Hurricanes and Storms of the West Indies. By WILLIAM C. RedfielD. From Vol. XXV. of the American Journal.

4. Mr. Redfield in Reply to Mr. Espy. From the Journal of the Franklin Institute.

5. Courses of Hurricanes and Typhoons of the China Sea. By WILLIAM C. REDFIELD. From Vol. XXXV. of the American Journal.

6. Meteorological Sketches, by an Observer. From Vol. XXXIII. of the American Journal.

7. Meteorological Sketches, by an Amateur Observer. From the American Coast Pilot.

8. Remarks on Mr. Espy's Theory of Centripetal Storms. By WILLIAM C. REDFIELD. From the Journal of the Franklin Institute.

9. Whirlwinds excited by Fire, with farther notices of the Typhoons of the China Seas. By WILLIAM C. REDFIELD. Redfield. 10. Papers, by JAMES P. ESPY. From the Journal of the Franklin Institute, passim.

11. An Attempt to develop the Law of Storms. By Lieut. Col. W. REID, C. B., of the Royal (British) Engineers. London: John Neale. Svo. pp. 432.

MAN is by nature and habit a meteorologist. In our changeable climate, the very forms of ordinary salutation are borrowed from the weather, and the topic of conversation which meets a willing attention, and adapts itself to every capacity, is the nature and character of the season. We thus, almost without exception, take the first steps in the inductive process by which the science of meteorology is to be created, but are generally satisfied when we have observed the more obvious phenomena, or have compared them with those of former days, which are yet present in our recollection. Much, therefore, remains to be done, before the appearances can be reduced to any general laws, and far more before we can proceed to investigate the natural causes to which they are owing.

Observations which can be applied to the purpose of founding a theory of meteorological phenomena, require to be pursued with regularity and patience, and demand that instruments be brought to the aid of the senses. The inquirer must be furnished with the thermometer, to indicate the temperature of the air; the barometer, to measure its pressure; the hygrometer, to ascertain its relations to aqueous vapor; the rain-gauge, and various other apparatus, which the progress of science has brought into use for general or specific purposes. When the indications of these instruments have been carefully read and faithfully registered, the task is only commenced. The records require to be collated with those of other places, by the comparison of contemporaneous occurrences, or of the mean of long continued registers. It is therefore not to be wondered, that the science of meteorology is still in its infancy. The thermometer in an efficient form

1

dates only from the time of Fahrenheit; the barometer was perfected by Shuckburgh and Deluc, towards the close of the last century; the hygrometer, as an actual measure of moisture, was planned by Daniell within the last twenty years; and an unexceptionable wind-gauge is still a deside

ratum.

The courses of the wind are among the phenomena most easily observed, and when they are either constant, or observe regular periods, navigators speedily learn to define their limits, and predict their effects. Theory, however, has lagged behind the history of these familiar phenomena; and although the voyages of old Dampier contain a most exact account of the trade winds, no explanation of their cause, which was not in part contradicted by the facts, was given by men of science, until Daniell published his work in 1823. In this work a paper by Basil Hall is included, which contains by far the best account of the regular and periodic winds which has yet been published.

The variable winds of temperate and frigid climates, with the sudden and violent tempests which interrupt the regular course of the trades and monsoons, or accompany the changes of the latter; the typhoons and hurricanes which originate in tropical climates, and often spread their devastating influence to the vicinity of the polar circles, appear to the superficial observer confined in their limits, and short in their duration. They therefore have been usually considered as subject to no fixed law, and even when it has at last been suspected that they can be accounted for on known principles, many difficulties have occurred in the application of them. Starting from admitted facts, two of our own countrymen, whose names figure as authors of the works under review, have given birth to theories almost diametrically opposite. It is our intention to examine these theories, for the purpose of inquiring how far they are respectively consistent with the facts of the case, and with the well established laws. of physical and mechanical science. Both are well entitled to the name of theories; for Mr. Redfield proceeds to his conclusions by an admirably conducted chain of inductive evidence, while Mr. Espy establishes his inferences upon well known and incontestable laws. We shall see, however, that both have not been equally successful; and that while the one has been enabled to lay down practical rules of the utmost value, the other, by unwarranted steps in his argu

ment, has leaped to conclusions which his premises by no means support.

For the full understanding of our subject, it may be permitted us to exhibit in a brief form the facts in relation to the winds, and the flow of vapor in the atmosphere, which were known before the date at which Mr. Redfield commenced his researches, together with the explanations of these phenomena which were admitted by men of science.

The winds for which a just and accurate scientific explanation had been given, are:

1. The trade winds;

2. The monsoons;

3. The land and sea breezes of tropical climates; 4. The zone of variable winds near the equator.

In addition, Daniell had stated principles which gave a very satisfactory explanation of the westerly winds which prevail between the latitudes of thirty-five degrees and fortyfive degrees in the north Atlantic, and blow almost constantly in the other great oceans.

The trade winds blow in the Atlantic, Pacific, and the southern part of the Indian ocean. They extend, on the northern side of the equator, to the latitude of thirty degrees in the summer of that hemisphere, and in the winter some few degrees less. In the southern hemisphere they do not extend, in the hottest months, beyond the latitude of twentyeight degrees. In the Atlantic and Pacific oceans they form two great belts, which are separated from each other by a zone of varying extent, which is the seat of variable winds. The middle of this zone does not coincide with the terrestrial equator, but is always so far to the north of it, that the southern limit of the variable winds never, even in the winter of the northern hemisphere, reaches the equator, while the northern limit in our summer extends to twelve degrees north. To the north of this zone of variable winds, the trades blow froin a point between north and east, being almost east-north-east, or even east by north, at their northern limit, and becoming almost north when they are last experienced, on the verge of the zone of variable winds. The southern trade winds blow from points between south and east, and vary from its southern limit to the variable zone in the same manner, becoming more and more southerly in their direction as they approach the equator. These winds are not experienced