Seven Lectures on Meteorology

About this book

A reprint of a classical work in the Cambridge Library Collection.

Luke Howard (1772-1864) was a pharmacist and businessman, but is most famous for his contributions to meteorology. He classified clouds by their appearance and gave them their modern names of cumulus, cirrus, nimbus and stratus. He was educated at a Quaker school in Oxfordshire, then trained as a pharmacist, but was fascinated by weather throughout his life, and developed into a keen amateur meteorologist. He wrote several important texts on the subject including The Climate of London, an early study in urban climatology, and On the Modification of Clouds (both also reissued in this series).

Published in 1837, Seven Lectures on Meteorology covers the components of the atmosphere, seasonal variation in winds and temperature, the use of barometers, cloud structure, and visual phenomena such as rainbows and the Aurora Borealis. This reissue also includes Howard's short 1842 book which details selected British weather data from 1824 to 1841.

Contents

Preface

1. Constitution and properties of the atmosphere
2. Constant and variable winds. Climates and seasons
3. Cycles of temperature
4. The barometer, its principle, construction and variations
5. The clouds: their varieties or modifications of form and structure
6. Electricity of the atmosphere, and of clouds
7. Colour of the sky, cyanometer, conclusion

Appendix: A cycle of eighteen years in the seasons of Britain deduced from meteorological observations made at Ackworth, in the West Riding of Yorkshire, from 1824 to 1841

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