, with the exception of here and there a broken, melting piece of
stratus, but scud were still running from the southward, and the wind has
been from the south, veering to S. W., all day, with sunshine. As I have
before remarked, this middle current is always present, in this locality,
in stratus storms, when there is a heavy fall of rain or snow, although,
when the latter happens, the middle current is sometimes from the
northward; if it be from the southward, it turns the snow first into very
large flakes, and then to rain in our part of the storm.

Doubtless, the same thing occurs every where. In the West Indies, and
especially over the Leeward Islands, the middle current is most commonly
from the stream of warm water which runs off to the westward into the
Caribbean Sea; as the S. W. moonsoon is from the same current below the
Cape de Verdes. The S. W. winds, which come from those south polar waters,
in the West Indies, appear to be the most violent. But it may be on either
or both sides.

The hurricane cloud of the West Indies moves confessedly N. W. in most
instances, and undoubtedly it does in all. There is an immutable law that
requires it. The seeming exceptions are not such; they are but instances
imperfectly investigated. Now, a circular storm moving N. W. can set in N.
W. only on the left front, and _can not change to S. W. on that side of
the axis_. Nor can the wind blow at the axis from N. W. at all. It should
be N. E. in first half, and S. W. in last half. Strange as it may seem,
the axis of a West India hurricane in conformity with Mr. Redfield's
theory, and a N. W. progression, has never been found, with perhaps a
single exception, in any one of which I have seen a description. On the
west coast of Europe, the gale is commonly from the Atlantic, either
following under the storm from the S. W., or blowing in diagonally from
the W. or N. W.; the N. E. wind of western Europe being a cold, dry wind,
which there is reason to believe has been around the Siberian pole and is
returning, as the cold northerly winds of the North Pacific have around
the North American magnetic pole. "If the N. E. winds always prevailed,"
says Kaemtz, speaking of Berlin, "even at a considerable height it would
never rain." This was based on an observation of showers, and not fully
reliable. But the dry and cool character of the N. E. wind of western
Europe is unquestionable. The S. E. wind is also a storm wind, but owing
to the cha