he admitted progress of the storm_. At this point, or at S.
W., it blows with most force. Sometimes it veers gradually, and sometimes
falls calm, and comes out from the S. W., blowing violently. It ends by
veering to the S. E., following gently the course of the storm. Thus, Mr.
Edwards, in the third volume of his History of Jamaica, as herein before
cited, "_all hurricanes begin from the north, veer back to W. N. W., W.,
and S. S. W., and when they get round to S. E. the foul weather breaks
up_."

A short, sudden gale, resembling those of our summer thunder-showers, is
sometimes met with from the S. E.; but the violent hurricanes of any
considerable continuance are, in almost every case, as just stated.

Now, there is, in our latitudes, an obvious law on the subject, and it is
this:--If the storm is not disproportionately long, northerly and
southerly, there is a general tendency to induce and attract a surface
current, in opposition to the course of the storm on its front, and
especially its north front. At the same time, there is a tendency to
induce a lateral current on its side, particularly the southerly side, and
sometimes its south front: that the latter current is, in the first part
of the storm, above the former; in the middle and latter part, it becomes
the prevailing current at the surface, and the wind changes accordingly,
with or without a calm--that this lateral change sometimes takes place on
either side, but usually occurs on the side where the water is warmest, or
there is, for other and local reasons, a _greater susceptibility in the
atmosphere to inductive and attractive influence_. Thus, our N. E. storms
very frequently have a southerly current also, drawn from the ocean, south
of us, which forms the middle current, and, in the middle and latter part
of it, becomes the prevailing one. _I have seen more than a hundred such
instances, clearly and distinctly marked._ Since I have been writing this
chapter, January 29th, 1855, such an instance has occurred. On Sunday, the
28th, the cirro-stratus were all day passing from the S. W. to N. E., and
gradually thickening with light air from the E. N. E., in the afternoon.
During the evening the wind set in _violently_ from the N. E., with a
deluging rain. During the night, and after a brief calm, it changed
suddenly to the southward, and blew in like manner. This morning the storm
was gone, and with it, six inches of hard, frozen icy snow; the trade was
clear