THE winter of 1859-60 will command a mournful distinction in meteorological annals. Other winters may be found, perhaps, of equal severity and duration ; nor would it be difficult, we dare say, to produce examples of springs as backward as that which has just commenced; but we very much doubt whether any twelvemonth could be matched with the last for the more violent and destructive phenomena of the atmosphere. From that dreadful tempest in which the Royal Charter was lost up to this very moment, storms of the most terrific fury have been incessantly recurring; even the pleasant holidays ol Whitsuntide have been signalized by such a hurricane as is rarely felt in these latitudes, and the present week was ushered in by a gale scarcely less tremendous than those which preceded it. The Wreck Register of the year will be a shocking one. We can hardly venture on calculating the statistics of desolation which will be next year, but it will be surprising indeed if the figures are not high beyond all precedent.

It is said that some 300 vessels have been lost since Monday week, and that the sacrifice of life is in proportion to that of property. The interest, however, attaching to such appalling accounts will be strongly enhanced, if we do but reflect that the disasters were to a great extent preventible.

Men cannot still the raging of the wind, but he can foretell it He cannot appease the storm, but he can escape its violence; and if all the appliances available for the salvation of life from shipwreck were but properly employed, the effects of these awful visitations might be wonderfully mitigated. It is for the purpose of enforcing these truths while the impression is still fresh that we recur to this subject once more.

Nothing is now more plainly established than that coming storms may be accurately predicted from the evidence of the barometer. We cannot put this fact in a stronger light than by stating— what is unquestionably true—that at least two days' clear notice was given of the storm which swept our coasts on Whit Monday. The very quarter from which the gale would blow might have been foreseen, and experienced eyes could have read in the skies and the weather-glass on what points of our shores the first fury of the tempest would fall. The barometer began to sink as early as the 21st of the month, and declined daily, till even on the 26th it was ominously low.

On Whit Sunday, however, the 27th, by five in the afternoon, the signs were such as the most heedless should have observed. The glass showed a decline so rapid, that in the course of the night a fall of three-quarters of an inch was registered in four hours and a half; while combined with this prognostic was an abrupt change of temperature from sultry heat to almost wintry cold. These tokens told their own tale. The storm was called sudden— so sudden, that its unexpected burst was * From the Times of June 5th, 1860. While we are going to press, we have been unable to obtain the statistics relating to these heavy gales, for all the official returns had not been received by the BOARD OF TRADE.

reported to us as one of the prominent features of the phenomenon ; but it is now perfectly certain that the very warnings which, according to meteorological science, should have preceded such a tornado, coming from such a quarter, did precede it, and might have been proclaimed in time to prevent half its consequences. One of our scientific correspondents, indeed, assures us that a central station for such observations, communicating by telegraph with those points of Ireland and Cornwall where the signs of the heavens are earliest seen, could flash the information of a coming tempest to all parts of the country with as much ease and certainty as the approach of an Atlantic steamer or a gold-ship. It seems plain that, with such powers placed providentially in our hands, the calamities now endured by our fishermen and coasters might in most instances be avoided. A good barometer in a public situation would inform them exactly what to expect. They would be able to tell whether there was a storm in the air as surely as whether there was a shoal of herrings in the sea; nor can we think they would neglect the opportunity. Mariners, with all their hardihood, are even superstitiously solicitous about the chances of a voyage, and the descendants of men who once consulted witches and bought children's cauls might easily be induced to forecast the future from a weather-glass.

Supposing, however, as must often be the case, that .a vessel is surprised at sea, there is still a guarantee for its security which is too frequently neglected. An anchor is the very symbol of hope and safety, and with such anchors and such cables as can now be manufactured a ship should ride out the worst of storms. Unhappily this resource is often deliberately sacrificed in the merchant-service to considerations of parsimony or profit.

Worthless anchors and ill-made cables are purchased because the price is low, and, as a necessary consequence, they fail the vessel in the hour of need. Parliament has lately been occupied with this subject, and it seems that cables and anchors might be so tested by machinery as to come into the market with their true qualities fixed upon them. It would then, at any rate, be ascertainable whether a ship was or was not supplied with the certificated article, and conclusions could be drawn accordingly. The importance of this point may be estimated from a single fact. In the Royal Navy, where extraordinary care is bestowed upon the anchors and cables in use, disasters arising from the source referred to are almost unknown.

Lastly, and after all is done that can be done, either by foresight or preparation, we have yet another resource remaining. Life-boats are now constructed with such success, that a wreck can be reached in almost any sea; and it is only necessary to multiply and maintain the useful establishments for this purpose which are to be found at most exposed points of our coasts. It is about 35 years since the ROYAL NATIONAL LIFE-BOAT INSTITUTION was founded, with the special object of saving lives from shipwreck, and its agents during the past year succeeded in rescuing 227 persons from imminent destruction. But though these were saved, it is computed that seven times asmany were left to perish, many of whom might probably have been snatched from death if lifeboats had been more generally available. Altogether, it cannot be said that we are making the best use of the means of preservation actually in our power. We do not turn the warnings of the barometer to sufficient account, nor provide ourselves with the safeguard of proper cables, nor support, as we should do, the life-boat establishments.

Yet the demand is not very heavy. It takes but 3002. or so to set up a life-boat station, and about 301. a-year will keep it in efficiency. Barometers are not extravagantly dear, nor is the skill required for combining the evidence of the mercury with the signs of the sky at all hard to be attained. It is not much that is asked of us to protect ourselves from such calamities as are now felt along our coasts, and to obviate the deplorable losses which are now annually experienced. The sacrifice of property alone has been estimated at 1,500,0002. upon an average of years, and the storms of the present year will be traceable, we fear, in still more lamentable results. Perhaps we shall never learn the full extent of the aggregate loss; but when we are told that in the year 1859 alone as many as 1,600 fellow-creatures perished in the sea within sight and reach of our coasts, and when we hear that in a single week of 1860 some hundreds more were added to the tale, it must be perfectly evident that we are falling far short of our proper duties in the preservation of human life.