The ocean / By P.H. Gosse.

  • Gosse, Philip Henry, 1810-1888.
Date:
1846
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The ocean / By P.H. Gosse. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    35/388 (page 17)
    dians of the magnetic poles, that of the American cutting the West Indies, and that of the Siberian the China Sea, are peculiarly liable to tempests ; the hurricanes of the former, and the typhoons of the latter, being well known A It is pretty certain, also, that the changes in the atmosphere produced by electricity, which is but another development of the same principle as magnetism, have considerable influence in the production of the variable winds of temperate regions. Our knowledge of these sub- jects, however, is yet in its infancy; and though in all ages until the present, navigation has been entirely dependent on the aid of the winds, no laws for their certain prognostication have yet been dis- covered, and much obscurity, at least in detail, still hangs over their production. But within the tro- pical regions there are winds which possess great regularity, and may be depended upon with nearly the same precision as the great marine currents already noticed, which indeed they very closely re- semble, not only in their direction and their utility, but also in their origin. I refer particularly to the Trade-winds, so named from the facility they afford to commerce, which blow constantly, within the tro- pics, from the north-east on the north side of the equator, and from the south-east on the south side, the two currents merging near the line into one, which takes an easterly direction. The dividing line, how- ever, is not exactly at the equator, but a little to the north of it. The air in the equatorial regions be- comes strongly heated by the rays of the vertical sun, * See Reid on Storms.