Part 1

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+------------------------------------------------------------------+ | | | Transcriber's Note | | | | Transliterations: The original book used a number of special | | characters. Most have been replaced by obvious text equivalents. | | The Greek phrase on the title page has been transliterated. | | The book also used special symbols for planets, etc; this | | version renders these in capitals surrounded by square brackets, | | e.g. [NEPTUNE]. [VOLCANO] represents an unknown planet, in the | | original denoted by a right-angled triangle which the author | | wrote represented a volcano. | | The degree symbol is here rendered as d. It is hoped that no | | confusion will result from the author's use of "2d" and "3d" for | | "second" and "third". | | The plus-or-minus sign is rendered +/-. | | | | The ISO-8859-1 text version preserves more symbols, including | | the latter two. The UTF-8 text and HTML versions preserve all of | | the symbols originally used. | | | | Printer errors: Obvious typographical errors in the original | | have been corrected in this version, and full details of the | | corrections can be found in the HTML version of this ebook. | | However, the inconsistent spelling of Ottawa/Ottowa, and the | | inconsistent use of comma or full-stop as thousands separator | | has been left as in the original. The value given for the | | eccentricity of Uranus may also be a printer error. | | | +------------------------------------------------------------------+

OUTLINES

A MECHANICAL THEORY OF STORMS,

CONTAINING

THE TRUE LAW OF LUNAR INFLUENCE,

WITH

PRACTICAL INSTRUCTIONS TO THE NAVIGATOR, TO ENABLE HIM APPROXIMATELY TO CALCULATE THE COMING CHANGES OF THE WIND AND WEATHER, FOR ANY GIVEN DAY, AND FOR ANY PART OF THE OCEAN.

BY T. BASSNETT.

He de mesotes en pasin asphalestera

NEW YORK: D. APPLETON & COMPANY, 346 & 348 BROADWAY, AND 16 LITTLE BRITAIN, LONDON. 1854.

Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1853, by T. BASSNETT, In the Clerk's Office of the Southern District of New York.

CONTENTS.

SECTION FIRST.

Present State of the Science of Meteorology--Primordial Condition of the Solar System--Theory of Gravitation the great key of Nature--Bessell's doubts of its perfect adequacy--the Newtonian Vacuum: its difficulties--Nature of the element called Ether--The Medium of Space and the Electric Fluid--Ponderosity of Matter--Dynamical law of Equilibrium--Specific heat and its relation to space--A Plenum not opposed to Gravitation--The medium of space in motion--Formation of Vortices--A new principle developed--Elements of the problem--Hutton's theory of the production of rain--Indications of change and the cause--Action of the Ethereal Current--Physical process of Atmospheric Derangement--Redfield's theory of Storms: its difficulties--All storms are of brief duration and limited extent. 13

SECTION SECOND.

Mechanical action of the Moon--The Moon's mass--Axis of the Terral Vortex affected by the Moon: its inclination and position: its displacement--An example of the principle--Corrections necessary--Milwaukie storm--New York storm--Ottawa storm--Liverpool storm--Names and recurring order of the storm-producing agents--Record of the weather--Second New York storm. 58

SECTION THIRD.

Lunar influence rejected by the learned--Their conclusions not valid--Modifying causes in accordance with these principles--Years and seasons vary in character--Superficial temperature of different Planets--No storms on the planet Mars--Rotation the cause of Ocean and Atmospheric Currents--Pressure of the atmosphere and its regular and irregular variations--Terrestrial Magnetism--Internal Constitution of the Globe--Magnetic variations--Cause of these variations--Magnetic storms--Aurora Borealis: its altitude--Earthquakes; their possible connection with Storms. 101

SECTION FOURTH.

The solar spots--Law of periodicity compared with the theory--Existence of another planet beyond Neptune probable--Masses of the Sun and Planet yet uncertain--The Law of Gravitation not above suspicion--Proofs of this--The full of the Moon--Density of the Ethereal Medium: its law in the Solar Vortex--Bode's law of the planetary distances--Law of planetary density--Law connecting the present and former diameters of the planets--Disturbing action of the Ether--Kepler's third law not rigidly exact--Inconsistencies of Astronomers--Nature of light and heat--Distinction between light and heat. 147

SECTION FIFTH.

Comets--Their small inclinations--Their motions chiefly direct--Comet of 1770 and 1844--Cause of acceleration in the case of Encke--Anomalous motions of the comet of 1843--Change of diameter at different distances of a comet from the sun--Cause of this change--Nature of the nebulosity--Formation of the tail--Compound nature of a comet's light--motion and direction of a comet's tail--Phenomena presented by the great comet of Halley--Mass of a comet--The Zodial light--Nebulous stars--Shooting stars--Periodic showers--Periodicity doubtful--Cause of the apparent periodicity--Cause for being more numerous in Autumn than in Spring. 187

SECTION SIXTH.

State of the polar ice since 1845--Sir John Franklin's track--Probable existence of islands north of Behring's Straits--Possibility of subsisting in the Arctic islands--News from the Investigator--Necessity of searching in a higher latitude than the Investigator visited--Franklin's misfortunes due to Scientific Errors--Relative levels of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans--The Arctic seas more accessible in a few years--Conclusion. 233

PREFACE.

On presenting to the public a work of this novel character, overstepping, as it does, the barriers erected by modern systems to the further progress of knowledge, a few words of explanation may not be inappropriate. Early imbued with a desire to understand the causes of natural phenomena, the author devoured with avidity the interpretations contained in the elementary works of orthodox science, until reason and observation rendered him dissatisfied with the repast. To him it appeared that there was an evident tendency in scholastic instruction, to make the knowledge of nature inaccessible to the many, that the world might be made more dependent on the few; while many of the established principles, on which the learned rested, seemed to be at variance with the simplicity and consistency of truth. Thus situated, he ventured to think for himself, and looking back on the history of the past, and finding so many cases in which the philosophy of to-day was supplanted by a different system on the morrow, he was led to suspect the possibility of future revolutions, and was thus determined to be no longer embarrassed by previous systems, nor deterred by opinions however learned, which conflicted with a rational recognition of the mechanical nature of all physical phenomena.

The science of meteorology, to which the following pages are devoted, is, and always has been, a confessedly complex subject; and on this account, any suggestions and facts which observation gleans,--no matter how humble the source may be, should not be denied a hearing by those professedly engaged in the pursuit of truth. Step by step, the author became more and more confirmed in his doubts of the soundness of many modern theories; and in 1838 he had attained a position which enabled him to allege in the public prints of the day, that there did exist certain erroneous dogmas in the schools, which stood in the way of a fuller development of the causes of many meteorological phenomena. This annunciation was made in general terms, and no notice was taken of it. Subsequently, he forwarded to the British Association of Science, then convened at Birmingham, a communication of similar tenor; and at a later date still, a more particular statement of the advantages of his discoveries to the navigator and agriculturist, was sent to the British admiralty. The first of these communications was treated with silent contempt; the last elicited some unimportant reply. In 1844 a memorial was presented to Congress, accompanied with a certified copy of predictions of the weather, written several weeks before the event, and attested in due form by two impartial witnesses; but neither did this result in any inquiry as to its truth. During the time since elapsed, he has been engaged in pursuits which prevented him from pressing the subject elsewhere, until the spring of 1853, he brought his theory under the notice of the Smithsonian Institution. This led to a correspondence between himself and the gentlemanly Secretary of the Institution, whose doubts of the truth of his allegations were expressed with kindness, and whose courtesy was in strange contrast with the conduct of others. In the communications which he forwarded to that Institution, he gave a detailed statement of the difficulties he had met with, and expressed the hope that an Institution, created for the purpose of increasing and diffusing knowledge, would feel justified in lending the influence of its name to facilitate the completion of a theory which was yet undeniably imperfect. In view of this, a test was proposed. "Give us, for example, a prediction of the weather for one month in each season of the year 1854, for the City of Washington." This test the author refused, for the reason that he did not consider it necessary to wait so long; but he informed the Secretary of the Institution, that he would prepare an outline of his theory, which would enable him to decide upon the merits of the discoveries claimed. This outline is contained in the following pages. During the summer of 1853 he called upon Professor Henry, then at Chicago, with his manuscript; but a sudden indisposition prevented that gentleman from having it read. He, however, strongly recommended its publication from such impressions he then received. This the author had resolved on, from a sense of duty to the world at large, although the promise was rather of prospective loss than of present benefit. The peculiar form under which the theory appears, is, therefore, a result of the circumstances above stated, and of the author's present inability to enter into the minute details of a subject, which embraces in its range the whole visible creation.