OF METEOROLOGY, WITH QUESTIONS FOR EXAMINATION, BY JOHN BROCKLESBY, A.M., Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy in Trinity College, Hartford. V RD UNIVERSITY 43*307 Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1848, by In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of Connecticut. CASE, LOCKWOOD & CO., ELECTROTYPERS AND PRINTERS, HARTFORD, CONN. PREFACE. METEOROLOGY is a subject of interest to all. We live in the very midst of its phenomena, and are constantly subjected to their influence. Many of the singular processes of nature which this science unfolds, are intimately connected with our being and happiness, while others, on account of their beauty and sublimity, fill the mind with admiration and awe. The subject being one of universal interest, we might naturally suppose it to be universally understood; but such is not the case. Meteorology, as a science, is of recent origin; for it is only within the space of a very few years that it has risen, through the efforts of many gifted minds, to the rank it deserves to hold amid the various departments of knowledge. Meteorology is a portion of Natural Philosophy, and in the colleges of our land, lectures upon this subject form a part of the regular academical course; but no similar system prevails in our High Schools and Academies. Nor is it to be expected; since, with the present want of facilities for obtaining information, the teacher would be obliged to devote an undue share of his time to the acquisition of the knowledge requisite for this object. Neither can a text-book be procured; for the author is not aware that any distinct treatise on this science is extant in the English language, except the |