[footnote] *'Monsun' (Malayan 'musim', the 'hippalos' of the Greeks) is
derived from the Arabic word 'mausim', a set time or season of the year, the
time of the assemblage of pilgrims at Mecca. The word has been applied to
the seasons at which certain winds prevail, which are, besides, named from
places lying in the direction from whence they come; thus, for instance,
there is the 'mausim' of Aden, of Guzerat, Malabar, etc. (Lassen, 'Indische
Alterthumskunde', bd. i., 1843, s. 211). On the contrasts between the solid
or fluid substrata of the atmosphere, see Dove, in 'Der Abhandl. der Akad.
der Wiss. zu Berlin aus dem Jahr' 1842, s. 239.
In the knowledge of the monsoons, which undoubtedly dates back thousands of
years among the inhabitants of Hindostan and China, of the eastern parts of
the Arabian Gulf and of the western shores of the Malayan
p 317
Sea, and in the still more ancient and more general acquaintance with land
and sea winds, lies concealed, as it were, the germ of that meteorological
sciences which is now making such rapid progress. The long chain of
'magnetic stations' extending from Moscow to Pekin, across the whole of
Northern Asia, will prove of immense importance in determining the 'law of
the winds', since these stations have also for their object the
investigation of general meteorological relations.
Pages:
640
641
642
643
644
645
646
647
648
649
650
651
652
653
654
655
656
657
658
659
660
661
662
663
664