Discussion and Analysis of Professor Coffin's Tables and Charts of the Winds of the Globe (Classic Reprint)

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Excerpt from Discussion and Analysis of Professor Coffin's Tables and Charts of the Winds of the GlobeThe aim of Prof. Coffin in this work on the Winds of the Globe, the reason why he did not write the text, and how I came to take charge of this part of it, has been already explained in the preface.In what way the ideas of the deceased author would have been modified by the progress of theoretical meteorology in the last twenty years, as well as by the much more extended knowledge of facts we possess now, it is impossible to say. It is very likely, however, that he would have continued to rely principally on the inductive method, would have avoided hasty generalizations, and would have shown the same caution and candor as in his other works, omitting explanations of what our present knowledge did not give sufficient data, rather than mislead his readers.Before drawing the conclusions which seem to follow from the tables and maps of this work, some explanations are necessary.The object of this work is to ascertain the movement of the air over different parts of the earth's surface. For this purpose the mean direction and rate of progress of the wind were calculated according to the formula of Lambert. It is easy to see that to accomplish this with precision, we should know the velocity of the wind at all places at which calculations are to be made. Now we know the velocity of the winds in a somewhat accurate manner only for a very small number of stations. For many more the velocity of the wind was merely esti mated, and for a majority of places, the direction of the wind alone is known. Now the progressive movement of the air over a certain place, even taking into account the direction only, without considering the number of miles travelled, can be ascertained from the number of observations alone if we make the suppo sition that all winds have the same velocity, but this is obviously not the case. In nearly all known instances where the velocity of the winds has been ascertained, it has been found to vary considerably, generally, the more accurate observations with self-registering anemometers give a greater difference between the velocities belonging to different directions of the winds than mere estimates have given, the difference being seldom less than 1 to 2, and sometimes even 1 to 4 or 1 to 5.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully, any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.