ALTHOUGH the scene of the recent terrible disasters, caused by the hurricanes in the West Indies, is far distant from the sphere of the operations of THE NATIONAL LIF£-BOAT INSTITUTION, which finds ample scope for the full exercise of its means and capabilities on our ovta shores, yet those storms are calculated especially to interest us, not only on account of the sympathy which must be felt for the many sufferers from their effects, but from their extraordinary meteorological character.

We are likewise of opinion that they are deserving of our consideration as illustrative of the wonderful force or power of wind, when propelled at much higher velocities than we have any opportunities for witnessing in our northern latitudes, and one lesson to be learned from that fact in connection with the Life-boat work is, the con-? viction of our own impotence to contend successfully with the elements in then- wilder moods, and of the consequent injustice of expecting impossibilities, as is sometimes done, from the brave men whom we induce to venture in our Life-boats, at the risk of their own lives, to save those of others.

Detailed accounts of the late fearful Hnrricane in the West Indies, when so many lives and so vast an • amount of property were sacrificed, not only on the sea but on the land, have been so lately published in all the newspapers in the United Kingdom, that it would be superfluous for us to enter on any minute relation of the circumstances; we propose, therefore, to confine our remarks to a brief general description of this great storm and of its supposed origin and disastrous effects.

It will be known to most of our readers that, from time immemorial, the West India Islands have been liable to be devastated by hurricanes of so violent a character as not only to cause fearful loss of life and property at sea, but to sweep everything before them on the land; not only tearing up trees by their roots and unroofing houses, as is not onfrequently witnessed in our own islands and in European countries, but blowing dow n the most solid structures, hurling rocks into the air, and even, as related of these last storms, having force to raise an anchor from the ground, which, with a strange medley of other articles, was seen whirling round in the air and was carried to some distance from where it was taken up.

It is also recorded of the West Indian hurricanes of 1780—" That forts and castles were washed away—that great guns were carried about in the air—and that twenty thousand persons lost their lives on shore in the different islands." These fearful aerial distiirbancesappear to be always of a rotatory nature, revolving round a centre or vortex, yet the whole whirlpool of air having likewise a progressive motion, the two motions being similar in character to those of the planetary bodies which move diurnally, on their own axes and, annually, round the parent body, the sun. On a smaller scale, and perhaps more intelligibly to some persons, they may be compared to the water eddies, which can be noticed in running water, where the whole body of the stream is flowing from a higher to a lower level and carrying the numerous eddies with it. In consequence of the rotatory character of these storms they have been termed cyclones, tornados, and typhoons.

• The whole of the causes of these eddies in the aerial currents are perhaps not perfectly understood; but it appears to be generally considered by meteorologists that their primary cause is the overheated state of the air over large tropical areas, which causes it to be carried rapidly upwards into higher regions, and the surrounding colder, and therefore denser air, to rush simultaneously in to occupy its place. Their diameter is said to be sometimes as much as five hundred miles, and one has been known to travel more than three thousand miles, viz., from the east of the Caribbee Islands to the bank of Newfoundland before being exhausted, occupying six days in its transit.

They are supposed not to extend more than one mile upwards, and their axes incline forwards as they ascend, so that their upper part is always in advance of that at the surface of the earth.

The Atlantic cyclones rotate from N. to W. and from S. to E., and therefore in a contrary direction , to the motion of the earth on its axis. They appear to be generated to the east of the lesser Antilles, and thence to travel at first to the N.W., inclining then to N., and finally to N.E., following the Gulf Stream", the heated waters of which have probably therefore some connection with the phenomenon. The southern cyclones travel from S. to S. W., and, at the tropic of Capricorn, bend round to S.E.

These storms, like the trade-winds, are doubtlessly much influenced by the motion of the earth on its axis, which can be readily imagined when' we reflect that wind, in its passage from a higher to a lower latitude, comes in contact with other air which, together with the earth's surface, is travelling at a much greater velocity through space, consequent on the larger circle which it there describes.

In the centre of these eddy storms there is always a calm, giving rise to the phenomenon of a gale suddenly ceasing and being followed, after a brief interval, by another in a contrary direction. Their approach is not usually indicated by the barometer until they are near at hand, but the mercury then falls rapidly and very. low. At the Island of St. Thomas, on this occasion, it fell to 27-95.

The late West Indian hurricane passed over the Danish Island of St. Thomas and the adjacent islands on the 29th October last. At St. Thomas, no less than about 80 vessels were sunk or blown ashore, amongst the former the West Indian and Pacific Steam Navigation Company's Steamer the Columbia, just out from Liverpool with a cargo valued at more than 200,000?., and the British .Empire, with 3,800 tons of coal on board for the use of the steamers of the Royal Mail Company.

At Buck Island the Royal Mail Company's steam-ship Wye was totally wrecked while attempting to put to sea; and of her crew of 70 only 13 were saved.

At Salt Island, about 25 miles from St. Thomas, the fine Royal Mail Company's steamer, the Rhone, was lost, and only 24 persons out of 125 who were aboard were saved, the captain and all the officers being amongst the lost. She had rode out the first or N.W. storm safely at the Island of St. Peters, and on the fatal lull in the centre of the cyclone occurring, she weighed or slipped her anchors and made for the open sea, and had almost cleared the dangerous coast from which she was fleeing, when she was caught by the full force of the S.W. hurricane and driven ashore on a reef off Salt Island.

These were the chief disasters afloat, but there is a long list of vessels sunk, stranded, and dismasted too numerous to recapitulate ; whilst the devastation on the Islands, and especially on those of St. Thomas and Tortola, are described as terrible, and the scenes witnessed, as the collection of dead bodies and of the remnants of ruined property proceeded, as heartrending.

At St. Thomas alone, about 300 bodies are said to have been recovered from lie sea and buried. The majority of these were our fellow-countrymen, and many a widow and orphan at our great packet station at Southampton, and elsewhere, are left to mourn their loss..