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THE MOTION OF "CIRRUS" CLOUDS.

partial; each aspect is sincere, but incomplete. Perhaps at such times the only clew is the dim sense of a whole to be completed; the craving for more time, for distance that defines and cancels the less important facts, and reveals the truth. Felicia had followed her impulse and let Aurelius go, though in her heart she would fain have called him back to her again. Baxter had set the estimation of others beyond his own conviction. Instead of thinking only of Felicia, he had thought of his shortcomings; and she, instead of thinking of Baxter, had talked about him to Flora Bracy. It had all been so short that she could scarcely realize it. If her happiness had been vague, her unhappiness was still more intangible. What had these two days brought about? A possibility. Aurelius had reproached her; she had answered angrily; but it was all over. "Forever," he had said. She sat there till the loud dinner-bell began to din through the house, and raps at the door reminded her that Pringle was outside, the others were waiting. Could she bear to tell them? Some feeling in her heart shrank from their comments. She felt that it would be best to try and behave as if nothing had happened. She bathed her aching head, let Pringle smooth her hair, and then hurried down-stairs.




From The Academy.

THE MOTION OF "CIRRUS" CLOUDS.

The researches of Mr. Clement Ley into this subject are well known, and now we have to notice the appearance of a most important work by Prof. Hildebrandsson, of Upsala, entitled "Atlas des Mouvements supérieurs de l’Atmosphère," which is published at the expense of the Swedish government, and is copiously illustrated by fifty-two charts. In the discussion the author fairly says that meteorology is still in the first stage of its development as a science, and that what is at present necessary is to determine what are the real facts of air movement before beginning to theorize about them. The paper accordingly contains a most careful digest of the present state of our knowledge of the motion of the air in cyclones and anticyclones, as given by the best recent authorities, and then proceeds to treat the materials for the study of the motions of upper clouds furnished by the observations collected from the various volunteer stations established in different parts of Europe, which are, however, very scanty compared with what is really requisite. He summarizes the final outcome of his labors as follows: — Around a barometrical minimum the air moves along the earth's surface in a spiral path towards the centre, in the direction opposite to watch-hands. At the centre it rises and moves further and further away from the axis the more it ascends. In the upper strata of the atmosphere the air flows away from the region of minimum pressure, and collects itself in a uniform layer above the district of maximum pressure, where it gradually descends to the surface of the ground in order to flow away from the region of highest barometrical readings. These statements are based on the evidence afforded by the charts, and, speaking generally, we find some eight or ten cirrus observations on each chart. The final dictum, however, merits great attention, as it comes from a most painstaking investigator, but it is needless to say that it indicates the necessity of increased efforts to collect observations of cirrus clouds.




A correspondent at Waterloo, N. Y., sends us a quotation from Littell's Living Age, No. 1741, page 182, where, in an article on Commodore Goodenough, the writer speaks of the ship sailing into port "with yards scandalized and flags at half mast." A ship's yards are "scandalized" when instead of being drawn shipshape they are, as a greenhorn expressed it, "every which way," or as a landsman had it, "all at sixes and sevens." It is a common practice for extreme Catholic nations, notably the Spanish and Italians, to scandalize (or as the French would say to dishevel) the ship's yards when lying in port on Good Friday. The object is to express extreme mourning, as an individual would have done it in the earlier days, with disevelled hair and disordered raiment. The ship puts on a distracted appearance, like an inconsolable mourner plunged in the depth of grief.N. Y. Journal of Commerce.