tial uniformity; and,
although the changes are always extensive, often covering an area of one
thousand miles or more, and our vision can not extend in any direction
more than from thirty to fifty, yet those changes are always, to a
considerable extent, intelligible, and may often be foreseen."

"Has meteorology made such progress?"

"By no means. It has, indeed, been raised to the dignity of a science, and
professorships endowed for its advancement. Some books have been written,
and many theories broached in relation to it; and innumerable observations
of the states of the barometer and thermometer, of the clouds, and the
quantity of fallen rain, and the direction and force of the wind--made and
recorded simultaneously in different countries--have been published and
compared; and a great many important facts established, and tables of
'_means_' constructed, and just inferences drawn, yet the _few and simple
arrangements_ upon which all the phenomena depend, and _their philosophy_,
have not yet been clearly elicited or understood."

"Have not the 'American Association for the Advancement of Science'
arrived at some definite and sound conclusion upon the subject?"

"No; it has been with them, for many years, an interesting subject for
papers and debate. Some very valuable articles, upon particular topics, or
branches of the subject, have been read and published. But the
_Cyclonologists_, as they term themselves, and who seem to think the great
question is, '_Are storms whirlwinds?_' appear with new editions and
phases of their favorite views as regularly as the annual meeting recurs;
and, though they have not convinced, they seem to have silenced their
opponents. The only conclusion, however, judging from their debates, to
which the Association appear to have come with any considerable unanimity,
is, that they are yet without sufficient _authentic observations_ and
well-established facts, to authorize the adoption of the Huttonian,
Daltonian, Gyratory, or Aspiratory, or any of the other numerous theories
which abound. And they are right. The subject is mystified by these
theories and speculations of the study, founded on barometrical and
thermometrical records, and the direction and force of the surface winds.

"The qualities of heat were among the earlier discoveries of science, and
all the phenomena of the weather were forthwith attributed to its
influence. Hastily-formed and erroneous views of its power, and the ma