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Current of air   /kˈərənt əv ɛr/   Listen
Current of air

noun
1.
Air moving (sometimes with considerable force) from an area of high pressure to an area of low pressure.  Synonyms: air current, wind.  "When there is no wind, row" , "The radioactivity was being swept upwards by the air current and out into the atmosphere"






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"Current of air" Quotes from Famous Books



... breeze from the eastward, and the current of air slanting up the face of the peak assisted the balloon in mounting with its burden, and favored us by promptly swinging the little airship, with the grapple swaying beneath it, over the brow of the cliff into the atmospheric eddy above. As ...
— The Moon Metal • Garrett P. Serviss

... which a current of air is driven through a flame, and the flame directed upon some fusible substance to fuse ...
— The Nuttall Encyclopaedia - Being a Concise and Comprehensive Dictionary of General Knowledge • Edited by Rev. James Wood

... hammer from me in a fit of temper; it struck upon a large square in the cement floor which gave forth a hollow sound. I was on my knees in an instant, my fingers searching the cracks, and drawing down close I could feel a current of air, slight but ...
— The House of a Thousand Candles • Meredith Nicholson

... terrible, and were of themselves sufficient to render sleep impossible. Oppressed with the heat, I found my way to the grating of the main hatchway, where on former nights I had frequently passed some time, for the benefit of the little current of air which circulated through the bars. I obtained a place on the larboard side of the hatchway, where I stood facing the East, and endeavored, as much as possible, to withdraw my attention from the terrible sounds below me, by watching, through the ...
— American Prisoners of the Revolution • Danske Dandridge

... I start any reflection with a lighted match. But in all of them I heard a certain sound: a thud—thud—thud, like the beating of some big engine; and I discovered, from the flaring of my matches, that a steady current of air set down the shafts. Further, I threw a scrap of paper into the throat of one, and, instead of fluttering slowly down, it was at once ...
— The Time Machine • H. G. (Herbert George) Wells

... most generally adopted theory of which is explained in a celebrated treatise of Halley,* are a phenomenon much more complicated than most persons admit. (* The existence of an upper current of air, which blows constantly from the equator to the poles, and of a lower current, which blows from the poles to the equator, had already been admitted, as M. Arago has shown, by Hooke. The ideas of the celebrated English naturalist are developed ...
— Equinoctial Regions of America • Alexander von Humboldt

... for experimenting with surfaces and models, and through which a current of air is made to flow by ...
— The Aeroplane Speaks - Fifth Edition • H. Barber

... through the superimposed gauze, the slightest irregularity there. But, the trap opened, a perfectly clear view of the room could be obtained through the gauze, which, by reason of its texture, also admitted a current of air. ...
— The Yellow Claw • Sax Rohmer

... and minute portions of terrestrial plants. The investigation led him to certain conclusions: '1. That meteoric dust-rain is of terrestrial origin. 2. That the same is not a rain of volcanic ashes. 3. That it is necessarily a dust carried up to a great height by a strong current of air or whirlwind from a dried-up swamp-region. 4. That the dust neither demonstrably nor necessarily comes from Africa, notwithstanding that the wind may blow from thence as the nearest land when the dust falls, ...
— Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, No. 432 - Volume 17, New Series, April 10, 1852 • Various

... not know. I heard the waves thundering up the cave, while a terrible wind blew, which drove me further into the darkness. I dared not venture to go seaward, so, keeping my hand against the side of the cavern, I allowed myself to follow the strong current of air. Presently the cave began to get smaller; indeed, so narrow was it that I could feel both sides at the same time by stretching out my hands. All the while the wind blew tremendously. At this I wondered much, for it seemed strange ...
— The Birthright • Joseph Hocking

... exclaimed the Pathfinder, as a current of air whirled a little column of the vapor from the land, allowing it to rise spirally above the bed of the river. "A good flint, a small bit of steel, and plenty of dry leaves makes a quick fire. I hope Eau-douce will have the wit ...
— The Pathfinder - The Inland Sea • James Fenimore Cooper

... respects the Church resembles a coal furnace that has been burning quite a while without being cleaned out. There form in the bottom certain hard substances which give off neither light nor heat, nor allow a free current of air to pass through. These hard substances are called "clinkers." Once they were good pieces of burning coal, igniting the coal around them, but now their fire is dead, their heat is spent, and they must be removed for the good of ...
— The Next of Kin - Those who Wait and Wonder • Nellie L. McClung

... had not deceived her! No; she remembered debating the matter with herself and deciding to do so. Could it have shut by itself afterwards? She could scarcely believe it. It was a heavy oaken door, that moved ponderously on its hinges; and the night was calm and breathless. No current of air could have blown upon it. Had some person from above come down and shut it after her? and if so, who could that person be? and had he suspected that she had slipped out into the night, and ...
— The Lost Treasure of Trevlyn - A Story of the Days of the Gunpowder Plot • Evelyn Everett-Green

... her starting-point, at a height of six feet or more, the Spider is now in possession of a double line, bent into a loop and floating loosely in a current of air. She fixes her end where it suits her and waits until the other end, wafted by the wind, has fastened its loop ...
— The Wonders of Instinct • J. H. Fabre

... advance with a low flight, while the heavens were half-covered by the threatening mass which came gathering in dark and heavy folds about the island. Suddenly the great body of vapour which had been hanging sullenly over the western horizon all the morning, now set in motion by a fresh current of air, began to rise with a slow movement, as if to meet the array advancing so eagerly from the opposite direction; it came onward steadily, with a higher and a wider sweep than the mass which was pouring ...
— Elinor Wyllys - Vol. I • Susan Fenimore Cooper

... observation was near the residence of Jos. D. Pownell, Lancaster Co., Pa. He gave us a short account of the cloud, and of the movement of the currents of air which formed it. As he sat upon the front porch of his residence, he saw a strong current of air blowing from the south-west. To the north a storm had just passed, and a powerful current set in from that direction and blew directly across, coming in conflict with the current from the south-west. The whirl commenced on their coming together, and was set in motion about half-a-mile from ...
— A Full Description of the Great Tornado in Chester County, Pa. • Richard Darlington

... directions stood gray, dismal cypress trees, coarsely buttressed at the water's edge and tapering to slender tips. Draped in long streamers of Spanish moss which were delicately swayed by an almost imperceptible current of air, this was a ghoulish place—suggesting a rookery for shrouded spirits which perched along the bonelike branches awaiting their resurrection. Here, too, upon some convenient root of these gray ancients—perhaps the longest lived of our southern trees—lay coiled the dozing ...
— Wings of the Wind • Credo Harris

... soldiers were standing together irresolute, a noise came upon their ears like distant thunder, but even more appalling; and a slight current of air, as if propelled by it, passed whispering along the sweetbriers, and the broom, and the tresses of the birch trees. It came deepening, and rolling, and roaring on; and the very Cartland Craigs shook to their foundation, as if in an earthquake. "The Lord have mercy upon us! What ...
— McGuffey's Sixth Eclectic Reader • William Holmes McGuffey

... and then she stood toward the west end of Elba, going, as usual in so light an air, three feet to the frigate's two. The hour, however, was not favorable to the continuance of the breeze, and in ten more minutes it would have puzzled the keenest senses to have detected the slightest current of air over the surface of the sea. Such flickerings of the lamp before it burnt entirely out were common, and Raoul felt certain that there would be no more wind that day until they got the zephyr. Accordingly he ...
— The Wing-and-Wing - Le Feu-Follet • J. Fenimore Cooper

... sword-hilt tighter, and turned in the direction mentioned by his companion. There, indeed, came a fresh ship, shoving the cloud aside, and, by the clearer atmosphere that seemed to accompany her, apparently bringing down a current of air stronger than common. When first seen, the jib-boom and bowsprit were both enveloped in smoke, but his bellying fore-top-sail, and the canvass hanging in festoons, loomed grandly in the vapour, the black yards seeming to embrace the wreaths, merely to cast them aside. The proximity, too, was fearful, ...
— The Two Admirals • J. Fenimore Cooper

... mines, if I ever fainted. "Never," was my reply. Persons sometimes faint in going down this shaft. "Step into the cage," was the order given. I obeyed, and, reaching up, took hold of some iron bars that went across the top. The signal was given, down I started. After I had descended a few feet a current of air coming up from below put out my light, which left me in the darkness of an Egyptian night. Down, down, down I went. There are a great many things in life that I have forgotten. There are a great many more that I expect to forget, but that first ride down ...
— The Twin Hells • John N. Reynolds

... Sometimes they gave it to the men in order to stimulate sexuality or sensuality. At Varailles, in Provence, waxen images of the male and female sexual organs were offered to St. Foutin, and, since these images were suspended from the ceiling and moved by every vagrant current of air, the effect was sometimes very astonishing. "Temoin Saint Foutin de Varailles en Provence, auquel sont dediees les parties honteuses de l'un et de l' autre sexe, formees en cire; le plancher de la chapelle en est fort garni, et, quand le vent les fait ...
— Religion and Lust - or, The Psychical Correlation of Religious Emotion and Sexual Desire • James Weir

... speed, it appeared to be crawling like a worm, and was soon left far behind. Now they were in Bulgaria: those grey crinkly masses beyond must be the Balkans. Crossing the Dragoman Pass, they came into an upward current of air that set the machine rocking, and Smith for the first time felt a touch of nervousness lest it should break down and fall among these inhospitable crags. Rodier planed downwards, until they seemed to skim the crests. The air was calmer here: the aeroplane steadied; and ...
— Round the World in Seven Days • Herbert Strang

... him to hold his tuft down near the bottom of the door-way. He did so, and found that the current of air was there very strong. The tuft swung into the ...
— Rollo's Philosophy. [Air] • Jacob Abbott

... the specific inductive capacity is perceptibly the same as that of a vacuum, the displacement, according to the idea of Lorentz, will be null; while, on the contrary, according to Hertz, it will have a finite value. M. Blondlot has made the experiment. He sent a current of air into a condenser placed in a magnetic field, and was never able to notice the slightest trace of electrification. No displacement, therefore, is effected in the dielectric. The experiment being a negative one, is evidently ...
— The New Physics and Its Evolution • Lucien Poincare

... surprise the dark outlines of a human figure perched on the arched gateway of his house, exactly opposite the spot where Jean had perished. Wondering who it could be, he leaned forward to inspect it closer. The figure moved, an icy current of air ran through him, and he saw to his horror the livid countenance of the dead Jean. There she was, staring down at him with lurid, glassy eyes; her cheeks startlingly white, her hair fluttering in the wind, her neck and ...
— Scottish Ghost Stories • Elliott O'Donnell

... intercepted them before they could roll far enough to gather force, so that he had all the advantage of the gale without its risks. Except a light haze all round the horizon, the sky was perfectly clear, and it was pleasant now the strong current of air cooled the sun's heat. As he came round the islands he constantly met and disturbed parties of waterfowl, mallards, and coots. Sometimes they merely hid in the weeds, sometimes they rose, and when they did so passed ...
— After London - Wild England • Richard Jefferies

... metal, and at the bottom of this cylinder is a grate on which a fire is built up. Under the grate is a closed chamber, and a jet of superheated steam plays into this and carries with it by induction a continuous current of air. The pressure of the steam forces the mixture of steam and air upward through the fire, so that the combustion of the fuel is maintained while a continuous current of steam is decomposed, and in ...
— Scientific American Supplement, No. 303 - October 22, 1881 • Various

... with cobwebs, stretched from floor to ceiling, but very little light came through them. The wall paper, of indistinguishable pattern, was partially torn from the walls and the hanging portions swayed in the same current of air that waved the cobwebs. There was no furniture of any description in the room, except the heavy, gilt-framed mirror over the mantel. It was cracked and much of the gilt frame had fallen away. She went into the next room, then ...
— Master of the Vineyard • Myrtle Reed

... times, though, we believe, seldom more than twenty are set at one time, for it is obviously useless to extend or set a sail, if the wind is prevented from filling it by another which intercepts the current of air. ...
— The Illustrated London Reading Book • Various

... complied, and heating the stones to redness in the fire they placed him against them, but failed to see that by his magic breath he kept a current of air flowing between him and the hot surface. Rising unhurt, he demanded that they also should submit to the torture, and, like true Indians, they did so. When their flesh had been burned half through and they were dead, he sounded his ...
— Myths And Legends Of Our Own Land, Complete • Charles M. Skinner

... all shapes, all dimensions, hideously jumbled together; gaiters pinned to a sleeve, a shawl shading the neck of a coat; dresses of peasants, workmen, carters and brewers' frocks, women's gowns, all faded, discoloured, shapeless, flap against each other in the current of air which entered through the windows. There is something here appalling in the sight and sound of these objects, soulless, body-less, yet moving as if they had life, and presenting the form without the flesh. ...
— The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction, Vol. 19, - Issue 549 (Supplementary issue) • Various

... the town, it being, in heavy rains, partly covered with water; however, there are other causes in addition to this, that are said to contribute to the unhealthiness of the place. One of these is a belt of wood on the hill above the town; which must considerably impede the current of air, and, if this was cleared and cultivated, it would greatly improve the salubrity of the place; but, I fear, the greatest evil of all is insurmountable, under existing circumstances, as it is not within the control of the colonists. This is the low marshy land that lies ...
— A Voyage Round the World, Vol. I (of ?) • James Holman

... to a brattice, which is a screen, of either wood or heavy cloth, set up in a passage to divert the current of air to a bench where workmen are engaged, and dodged down behind it, after turning off ...
— Boy Scouts in the Coal Caverns • Major Archibald Lee Fletcher

... fire began to die down. The current of air from the northeast had become stronger, and the column of smoke was swaying more and more to the southwest. Just as daylight began to appear in the east the last remaining timber of the stable fell, and, though there was a great cloud of sparks and still much heat, I saw that ...
— Track's End • Hayden Carruth

... as they submitted to His baptism of fire or not. The homely image of the threshing-floor, on some exposed, windy height, carries a solemn truth. The Lord of the harvest has an instrument in His hand, which sets up a current of air, and the wheat falls in one heap, while the husks are blown farther, and lie at the edge of the floor. Mark the majestic emphasis on the Christ's ownership in the two phrases, ...
— Expositions Of Holy Scripture - Volume I: St. Luke, Chaps. I to XII • Alexander Maclaren

... room, drew up one of the blinds, and opened the window two or three inches. A fresh current of air immediately improved ...
— A Girl in Ten Thousand • L. T. Meade

... A murky wing of cloud, shaped like a hawk's, hung over the low western hills across the bay. Then the hawk became an eagle, and the eagle a gigantic phantom, that hovered over half the visible sky. Beneath it, a little scud of vapor, moved by some cross-current of air, raced rapidly against the wind, just above the horizon, like ...
— Malbone - An Oldport Romance • Thomas Wentworth Higginson

... in their turn the mariners of the ship dropped an anchor to the bottom, and drew her sails in festoons to the yards. As the vessel swung round to the tide, a heavy ensign was raised to her peak, and a current of air opening for a moment its folds, the white field and red cross, that distinguish the flag of England, were displayed to view. So much even the wary drover had loitered at a distance to behold; but when a boat was launched from either vessel, he quickened his steps, ...
— The Pilot • J. Fenimore Cooper

... was placed in barrels or cylinders, with hollow axles, which were made to revolve slowly by machinery; there were ledges on the interior which caused the sulphur to be lifted and poured over as the cylinders revolved; a light current of air was blown through each, entering the hollow axle at one end, and passing out through the axle at the other end, which led into an adjoining room; there the impalpable sulphur dust was deposited, much finer than by the usual ...
— History of the Confederate Powder Works • Geo. W. Rains

... to side on the deck of a deep-laden vessel on her way to the Antarctic Ocean. Going through the tropics this loose deck did double service. It always afforded a somewhat cool surface, as there was a fresh current of air between the two decks. The main deck, which was black with tar, would have been unbearably hot for the animals; the false deck was high, and kept fairly white during the whole voyage. We carried awnings ...
— The South Pole, Volumes 1 and 2 • Roald Amundsen

... formed, being partially filled with the liquid whose vapour was to be examined, was introduced into the path of the purified current Of air. The experimental tube being exhausted, and the cock hick cut off the supply of purified air being cautiously turned on, the air entered the flask through the tube b, and escaped by the small orifice at the lower end of into the liquid. Through this it bubbled, loading itself with vapour, ...
— Fragments of science, V. 1-2 • John Tyndall

... by the current of air and the closure of the lips, as in ap. This may be called the sound ...
— A Handbook of the English Language • Robert Gordon Latham

... first met his eyes was the obscure outline of a rude hut. For a long time he stared without consciousness upon the rafters of the ceiling, on which fish and ragged aprons were hung up to dry, and swinging to and fro in the current of air. This monotonous motion, which under other circumstances might have lulled him to sleep like the ticking of a clock, gradually awoke him to entire consciousness. The awful scene, which had just passed over him, came up to his mind in sudden contrast with that bright moment on the deck ...
— Walladmor: - And Now Freely Translated from the German into English. - In Two Volumes. Vol. I. • Thomas De Quincey

... her kitchen aprons, caught in the current of air from the opened door, blew about on its hook. He remembered her, on many a wintry day, buttoned into just such a crisp apron, radiantly busy and brisk in her kitchen, stirring and chopping, moving constantly between stove and table. With strong hands still showing traces of flour ...
— Sisters • Kathleen Norris

... day I went up in a balloon and the ropes got twisted, so that I couldn't come down again. It went way up above the clouds, so far that a current of air struck it and carried it many, many miles away. For a day and a night I traveled through the air, and on the morning of the second day I awoke and found the balloon floating over a strange and ...
— The Wonderful Wizard of Oz • L. Frank Baum

... his orbit where the line of his axis lay in the direction of his motion, and simply descend on one of his poles, at which the stationary atmosphere would not whirl the car, and where we might also profit by an ascending current of air. The attraction of the sun is so slight at the distance of Uranus, that a stone flung out of the car would have no perceptible motion, as it would only fall towards the sun a mere fraction of an inch per second, ...
— A Trip to Venus • John Munro

... then stretched his proboscis in a straight line as far as he could, a little distance above the coin, and blew with great force against the wall. The angle produced by the opposition of the wall, made the current of air act under the coin, as he evidently supposed it would, and it was curious to observe the sixpence traveling toward the animal till it came within his reach, when he ...
— McGuffey's Fourth Eclectic Reader • William Holmes McGuffey

... is, moreover, necessary to produce a movement of air and ventilation in the house drain pipes to aerate the pipe and to oxidize any putrescible products which may be in it. To do this, we must insure that a current of air shall be continually passing through the drains; both an inlet and an outlet for fresh air must be provided in the portions of the house drain which are cut off from the main sewer, for without an inlet and outlet there can be no efficient ventilation. This outlet and inlet can be obtained in the ...
— Scientific American Supplement, No. 421, January 26, 1884 • Various

... difficulties of lighting a fire were experienced. Then the local smith came to the aid of the "domestic" or serf, and hammered into shape what were termed andirons, their use making it easier to light the logs, giving a current of air under them, causing them to burn brighter. The andirons were afterwards called fire-dogs, and in course of time bars rested on hooks or ratchets, or were laid across ...
— Chats on Household Curios • Fred W. Burgess

... a current of air in the cave. It's too slight for us to feel, but the flame feels it. If we were sealed up utterly in the cave, the air would be still. Somewhere the air is coming in from the outside world and it's up to ...
— Doubloons—and the Girl • John Maxwell Forbes

... Mrs Vivian occupied, and more convenient for the reception of a visitor. On the farther side of this apartment was a door leading out to the back part of the house. It was seldom used now, and a curtain hung before it, as the weather was cold and a strong current of air came through it. In an upper panel of this door was a small glass window, now disused, for some alterations had been made in the back premises which blocked out the light. The panes of this window had been pasted over and ...
— Amos Huntingdon • T.P. Wilson

... spectacle. It remained suspended for a while exactly over the city of Paris, as if to wait till public curiosity was fully satisfied, then, having reached a height at which it encountered a more rapid current of air, it suddenly disappeared, driven by the wind towards the south. After its disappearance it was thought of no more, but fifteen days later a very singular incident ...
— The Memoirs of Napoleon Bonaparte • Bourrienne, Constant, and Stewarton

... the current of air through the calorimeter, temperature conditions may easily be such that the air entering is warmer than the outcoming air, in which case heat will be imparted to the calorimeter, or the reverse conditions may ...
— Respiration Calorimeters for Studying the Respiratory Exchange and Energy Transformations of Man • Francis Gano Benedict

... at h; and in the attic, is space enough for several comfortable lodging-rooms. A window in the roof, on the front and back, like the one on Wadsworth's Cottage, (Fig. 33,) could be placed over the front door, to light the chambers in the attic. A double roof in the attic, with a current of air between, secures cool chambers. The closets are marked o, and the fireplaces p. The stairs to the attic are at q. By this arrangement, the housekeeper has her parlor, sleeping-room, nursery, and kitchen, ...
— A Treatise on Domestic Economy - For the Use of Young Ladies at Home and at School • Catherine Esther Beecher

... of my limbs, and when I awoke from my sleep in the night it was with a odd sort of joy, I know not how to express it, as if my soul had quitted me. I take it as an omen of my death. Do not gainsay me, I beg. I am not afraid of death; I long for it. At such times a quick current of air brushes past my ear, as if some one were about to fly away from close beside me. I know what that means. Twice I have had a similar sensation, and on each occasion a current of air has struck me. I fancy this will be the last of them. I think of it with joy, and have not the slightest ...
— A Hungarian Nabob • Maurus Jokai

... windows are enormous. Not satisfied with the giant sliding doors that open on the street, revealing windows—unencumbered with sash or glass, there are sliding doors under the window sills, that roll back right and left and offer the chance to introduce a current of air directly on the lower limbs. One of the lessons of the tropics is the value of the outer air, and architecture that gives it a chance in the house. It is a precious education. The artificial light within must be produced by candles, and each stupendous ...
— The Story of the Philippines and Our New Possessions, • Murat Halstead

... the studio and went to his own quarters. He wanted to bring the book to show to his friends. Argensola accompanied him, and they returned in a few minutes with the volume, leaving the doors open behind them, so as to make a stronger current of air among the hollows of the facades ...
— The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse • Vicente Blasco Ibanez

... Bombastophone is very original and effective. Whenever he sees that the attention of his audience is flagging he introduces an interlude of "bombination," which renders lethargy impossible and exercises an indescribably stimulating effect on the tympanum. The current of air is supplied by a bellows operated by an eight-cylinder Brome engine, but Mr. Boomer works the keys himself, climbing up and down them with a rapidity which must ...
— Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 150, February 23, 1916 • Various

... going out of the light just at that moment. Was it not possible, I asked myself, that the lantern, being always hung on the same projection, was thus in the way of a current of air passing down the trunk of the tree when a gust of wind struck its lofty branches? If so, the knot would naturally conduct the current into the opening at the top of the lantern. My reflections were interrupted by my uncle, who rose, and, taking a candle, asked me to accompany him. I followed him ...
— The Master of Silence • Irving Bacheller

... a little way into chemical, instead of mechanical science. The fire prepares the water to act as a carrier of power; it must contain power, therefore; and what is it which we call fire? In placing on the grate coal or wood, and providing for the contact of a continuous current of air, we intend to bring about certain chemical actions as consequent on a disposition which we know coal and wood to possess. When we apply fire, the chemical actions commence and the usual effects follow. Now, if we for a moment ...
— Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 9, No. 55, May, 1862 • Various

... inch from the gallery or support the light is greatly increased, or by simply placing a disk on top of the chimney the light is increased ninefold; both of which effects seem to result from a diminished current of air, while at the same time there is an ample supply. Lastly, with the ordinary glass moon-globe so generally used in dwellings with the fishtail burner little difference can be perceived between the light given from the ...
— Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science, Vol. XXVI., December, 1880. • Various

... withdrew, and the men eyed each other,—Griffith dogged and pale, as before, Neville not nearly so self-assured: Griffith's bullet, in grazing him, had produced the effect of a sharp, cold current of air no wider than a knife. It was like Death's icy fore-finger laid on his head, to mark him for the next shot,—as men mark a tree, then ...
— The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 17, No. 100, February, 1866 • Various

... loaded with dust, the temperature of the atmosphere is hence raised by the heated particles. The increased temperature of the afternoon is therefore not so much due to the accumulation of caloric from the sun's rays, as to the passage of a heated current of air derived from the much hotter regions to the westward. It would be interesting to know how far this N.W. diurnal tide extends; also the rate at which it gathers moisture in its progress over the damp regions of the Sunderbunds. Its ...
— Himalayan Journals (Complete) • J. D. Hooker

... miner had his hand upon the gauze cover of the Davy-lamp there were tiny little explosions going on within, for in spite of the great current of air that was kept up through the pit, a draught which swept away the dangerous gas, there were places which its purifying influence did not reach, places such as this new gallery in the four-foot seam, where the vapour had been steadily increasing for hours and collecting ...
— Son Philip • George Manville Fenn

... cake-dish, which should not be buttered or lined. Bake at once in a moderate oven about forty minutes, testing it with a broom splint. When done let it remain in the cake-tin, turning it upside down, with the sides resting on the tops of two saucers so that a current of air will pass under ...
— The Whitehouse Cookbook (1887) - The Whole Comprising A Comprehensive Cyclopedia Of Information For - The Home • Mrs. F.L. Gillette

... sewing is to be done—such as household linen, sheets, pillow cases and underwear—it is a good plan to do all the basting and hand work first and keep the machine stitching for a rainy or a damp day, as the thread is then less apt to break. A current of air or a breeze from an open window on a dry day will often cause the thread to snap. For the same reason the machine should never stand near ...
— Textiles and Clothing • Kate Heintz Watson

... listening to the exultant song of a red bird hovering near his brooding brown mate, to the soothing murmur of the distant falls, borne in on the wings of the thievish June breeze that had rifled some far-off garden of the aroma of honeysuckle. The current of air had swung the door back, leaving only a hand's breadth of open space, and while she sang to the baby, her own voice had drowned the sound of footsteps in ...
— At the Mercy of Tiberius • August Evans Wilson

... its natural frequency, but continues hurried for a few minutes after the occurrence of each fit of difficult breathing, and is sometimes attended with a little wheezing. The slightest cause is now sufficient to bring on an attack; it may be produced by a current of air, by a sudden change of temperature, by slight pressure on the windpipe, by the act of swallowing, or by momentary excitement. The state of sleep seems particularly favourable to its occurrence, and the short fitful dozes ...
— The Mother's Manual of Children's Diseases • Charles West, M.D.

... unclean mouth not only infects and reinfects himself but scatters germs in the air whenever he sneezes or coughs. In a cold apartment where there is no appreciable current of air a person can scatter germs for a distance of more than twenty-two feet. Germs are also scattered through the air by means of salivary or mucous droplets. It is this fact that makes ...
— Civics and Health • William H. Allen

... one which passes under the chimney-holder externally to the wick. In giving the upper part of the chimney, properly so called, the form of a truncated cone whose smaller base is turned toward the internal current of air, that is to say, in directing this current toward the contracted part of the upper cone, at the point where the depression is greatest, a strong suction is brought about, which has the effect of carrying along the air between the wick and glass, ...
— Scientific American Supplement, No. 458, October 11, 1884 • Various

... on a hot summer day, the drying up of the water will cool both the ground and the air. If we place a wet cloth on the head, and hasten the evaporation of the water by fanning, we cool the head; if we wrap a wet napkin around a pitcher of water, and place it in a current of air, the water in the pitcher is made cooler, by giving up its heat to the evaporating water of the napkin; when we sprinkle water on the floor of a room, its evaporation cools the air of ...
— Draining for Profit, and Draining for Health • George E. Waring

... take up his lodging on the hard ground. The room was perfectly bare, the windows were broken, and the door would not lock. We were fain to search for a few boards, with which we closed up the windows, that the sick man might at least be sheltered from the current of air. ...
— A Visit to the Holy Land • Ida Pfeiffer

... which last, as it led nowhere, and made a draught like a blow-pipe, had been lately stopped up with a different coloured plaster from the rest of the wall. But indeed there was such a curious variety of draughts, that one was scarcely missed; every door and window in the room sent in its current of air, to search under the table, flare the candles, bear in in triumph the smell of burnt fat from the kitchen, and poke into the tender places of rheumatic patients; while, in spite of all these, the room was ...
— Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 62, Number 385. November, 1847. • Various

... of an ounce of sulphuric ether. Pour a small quantity into a saucer, put on the gloves, and wash, as if washing the hands, changing the solution until the gloves are clean. Rub them clean and as dry as possible with a clean dry cloth, and take them off and hang them where there is a good current of air to dry. This solution is also excellent for cleaning ribbons, silks, etc., and is perfectly harmless to the most delicate tints. Do not get near the fire when using, as the benzine ...
— Our Deportment - Or the Manners, Conduct and Dress of the Most Refined Society • John H. Young

... thick darkness, I had been falling about a quarter of an hour, when I observed a faint light, and soon after a clear and bright-shining heaven. I thought, in my agitation, that some counter current of air had blown me back to earth. The sun, moon and stars, appeared so much smaller here than to people on the surface, that I was at a loss with regard ...
— Niels Klim's journey under the ground • Baron Ludvig Holberg

... should be passed over the unmelted ice. The question was how much ice would be required to produce the necessary cooling? To settle this, I instituted an experiment. A block of ice was placed in an adjoining room in a current of air with such an arrangement that, as it melted, the water would trickle into a vessel below. After a certain number of minutes the melted water was measured, then a simple computation led to a knowledge of how much heat was absorbed ...
— The Reminiscences of an Astronomer • Simon Newcomb

... deg. is scarcely very troublesome, but with only a slight draught a degree of cold of for instance -35 deg. is actually dangerous for one who goes against the wind, and without the necessary precautions exposes uncovered parts of the face, the hands, or the wrists, to the cold current of air. Without one's being warned by any severe pain frostbite arises, which, if it be not in time thawed by rubbing the injured part with the hand, or with melting snow, may readily become very serious. Most of those who for the first time took part in a wintering in the high north, were, when ...
— The Voyage of the Vega round Asia and Europe, Volume I and Volume II • A.E. Nordenskieold

... and applied the ingenious method of stimulating combustion in the furnace by throwing the waste steam into the chimney after performing its office in the cylinders, thereby accelerating the ascent of the current of air, greatly increasing the draught, and consequently the temperature of the fire. This plan was adopted by him, as we have seen, as early as 1815, and it was so successful that he himself attributed to it the greater economy of the ...
— Little Masterpieces of Science: - Invention and Discovery • Various

... Benjamin's knowledge of the place, not a creature observed their quiet approach through the orchard and along a tangled garden path. This path brought them to a door, which stood wide open in this sultry weather, in order to let a free current of air pass through the house, and they inhaled more strongly still the aromatic perfumes, which were not yet strong enough entirely to overcome that other noisome odour which was one of the most fatal means of spreading infection ...
— The Sign Of The Red Cross • Evelyn Everett-Green

... characteristic of these hills of blown sand that they move across the face of the country. Under favourable conditions they may journey scores of miles from the shore. The marching of a dune is effected through the rolling up of the sand on the windward side of the elevation, when it is impelled by the current of air to the crest where it falls into the lee or shelter which the hill makes to the wind. In this way in the course of a day the centre of the dune, if the wind be blowing furiously, may advance a measurable ...
— Outlines of the Earth's History - A Popular Study in Physiography • Nathaniel Southgate Shaler

... Supposing any of us were to assert that seeing is a matter of fortune, not of eyesight, nor of the eyes that give light, as Plato says, and that hearing is a matter of fortune, and not the imbibing of a current of air through the ear and brain, it would be well for us then to be on our guard against the evidence of our senses. But indeed nature has given us sight and hearing and taste and smell, and all other parts of the body and their functions, as ministers ...
— Plutarch's Morals • Plutarch

... spaces in all quarters, from which a person cannot live more than about two hundred yards, the Boulevards encircling Paris, and the Seine running through it with its large wide quays, afford a free current of air all through the heart of the city, then there are such a number of spacious markets, of places, or, as we call them, squares, and of large gardens, which all afford ample breathing room; whereas in London that is not the case, in many parts, such as the city end of Holborn, ...
— How to Enjoy Paris in 1842 • F. Herve

... recommended, may be easily and most effectually ventilated, (and this is certainly a circumstance in favour of the proposed improvements,) yet such total ventilations will very seldom, if ever, be necessary.—As long as ANY FIRE is kept up in the room, there is so considerable a current of air up the Chimney, notwithstanding all the reduction that can be made in the size of its throat, that the continual change of air in the room which this current occasions will, generally, be found to be quite sufficient for keeping the air in the room sweet and wholesome; ...
— ESSAYS, Political, Economical and Philosophical. Volume 1. • Benjamin Rumford

... glass gauge, which is represented at G. To the upper end of the pipe, B, another pipe, H, is attached. This is required for conveying the cold air to the pyrometer proper, for the piece of apparatus above described is simply an arrangement for securing a flow or current of air ...
— Scientific American Supplement, No. 530, February 27, 1886 • Various

... slackened speed. All around us was a wide-spreading arc of yellow lights. The clearness had gone from the atmosphere. The little current of air which came in through the half-open window ...
— The Lost Ambassador - The Search For The Missing Delora • E. Phillips Oppenheim

... only a small drum. I immediately knelt down, and holding my head near the ground, in a position as near as may be prostrate, began beating my drum, and reciting my songs or incantations. The lodge commenced shaking violently, by supernatural means. I knew this by the compressed current of air above, and the noise of motion. This being regarded by me, and by all without, as a proof of the presence of the spirits I consulted, I ceased beating and singing, and lay still, waiting for questions in the ...
— Old Mackinaw - The Fortress of the Lakes and its Surroundings • W. P. Strickland

... was manufactured by a process which dispensed with the use of animal matter, the necessary nitrogen being obtained by a current of atmospheric air. Fragments of charcoal, impregnated with carbonate of potassa, were exposed to a white heat in a clay cylinder, through which a current of air was drawn by a suction pump. The process succeeded in a chemical sense, but failed on the ...
— Scientific American Supplement, No. 483, April 4, 1885 • Various

... or Austrian—who was anxious in every way to meet Lady Georgina's wishes. Did madame desire to have the window open? Oh, certainly, with pleasure; the day was so sultry. Closed a little more? Parfaitement, there was a current of air, il faut l'admettre. Madame would prefer the corner? No? Then perhaps she would like this valise for a footstool? Permettez—just thus. A cold draught runs so often along the floor in railway carriages. This is Kent ...
— Miss Cayley's Adventures • Grant Allen

... Process for Preparing a Good Drying Oil and its Practical Application — The Preparation of Varnishes for Letterpress, Lithographic and Copperplate Printing, for Oilcloth and Waterproof Fabrics; The Manufacture of Thickened Linseed Oil, Burnt Oil, Stand Oil by Fire Heat, Superheated Steam, and by a Current of Air — Behaviour of the Drying Oils and Boiled Oils towards Atmospheric Influences, Water, Acids and Alkalies — Boiled Oil Substitutes — The Manufacture of Solid and Liquid Driers from Linseed Oil and Rosin; Linolic Acid Compounds of the Driers — The Adulteration and Examination ...
— The Dyeing of Woollen Fabrics • Franklin Beech

... vapour whirling in a current of air is a conspiracy," answered Eve, laughing, "though it may ...
— Homeward Bound - or, The Chase • James Fenimore Cooper

... is to provide a narrow screen similar to that used for protection against flies, but with the screening material of muslin cloth instead of wire cloth. This muslin will break up the current of air so completely that no draft is felt by persons sitting even close to ...
— Rural Hygiene • Henry N. Ogden

... He can breathe where a candle goes out for want of oxygen. By holding his mouth close to the nozzle, he gets what little air the stream of water brings with it and sets free; and within a few inches of the floor there is nearly always a current of air. In the last emergency, there is the hose that he can follow out. The smoke always is his worst enemy. It lays ambushes for him which he can suspect, but not ward off. He tries to, by opening vents in the roof as soon as the pipemen are in ...
— Children of the Tenements • Jacob A. Riis

... must be determined by circumstances. If there are no doors but such as communicate with apartments whose air is equally impure with that in which the child is, it is preferable to keep them closed. If the windows cannot be opened without exposing the child to a current of air, it is perhaps the less of two ...
— The Young Mother - Management of Children in Regard to Health • William A. Alcott

... usual, by way of a mystification or joke. He gravely entreated her (in the interests of science) to let him take it home and burn it. "We will first heat it, Miss Rachel," says the doctor, "to such and such a degree; then we will expose it to a current of air; and, little by little—puff!—we evaporate the Diamond, and spare you a world of anxiety about the safe keeping of a valuable precious stone!" My lady, listening with rather a careworn expression on her face, seemed ...
— The Moonstone • Wilkie Collins

... weapon, rushing the curtains. There was no one secreted about them. Then, with the revolver in one hand, he switched on the lights. The room was empty. But one pair of French windows at the farther end were wide open and it was that which had caused the current of air. He ran over and found the lock had been forced. It was not even an artistic ...
— The Film Mystery • Arthur B. Reeve

... the partitions running up to a height of eight or nine feet. This method of partitioning off the rooms is almost universal. It is cheap and to some extent sanitary, since by means of windows at either end of the building a continual current of air can be maintained all over the floor. In most of the higher class hotels one floor is given up to dormitories and another to individual rooms, while the majority of lower class hotels consist entirely of dormitories. Hotels are of all ...
— The Social Work of the Salvation Army • Edwin Gifford Lamb

... changed and a steady current of air in the other direction brought it back over our own lines; then the two remaining men seized the opportunity to leave the floater in their parachutes, dropping to safety. A bevy of our planes then went after it, riddled it ...
— S.O.S. Stand to! • Reginald Grant

... and sunny, is at times precarious. In nooks sheltered by hills from the wind the heat is often oppressive, but on leaving their protection a chilling current of air is experienced. The mean winter temperature is 47 Fahr. The average number of rainy days in the year is 52, and the annual rainfall 25 inches, the same as at Nice. "The electrical condition of the climate of Cannes, as well as its equable warmth ...
— The South of France—East Half • Charles Bertram Black

... was intense—146 deg. in the sun—not an inch of shade in the middle of the day, and the river-bed being cut into the plain, and therefore lower than the surface of the remainder of the desert, the lack of a current of air made this spot quite suffocating; so much so that both camels and men were getting quite overcome by the heat, and we had to start off early in ...
— Across Coveted Lands - or a Journey from Flushing (Holland) to Calcutta Overland • Arnold Henry Savage Landor

... journey, in a fertile dip of the soil, vegetation had resumed all its vigor at some distance from Mdaburu. The wind fell with the close of the day, and the atmosphere seemed to sleep. The doctor vainly sought for a current of air at different heights, and, at last, seeing this calm of all nature, he resolved to pass the night afloat, and, for greater safety, rose to the height of one thousand feet, where the balloon remained motionless. The night was magnificent, the heavens glittering ...
— Five Weeks in a Balloon • Jules Verne

... tunnel, but here and there a greenish light wrought changeful patterns on the gloomy rocks, and ferns of sombre green with unfolding fronds of ruddy brown occupied crannies and crowned rocks favoured by drips. No sound of animal life came to my cars, but an ever-increasing current of air was perceptible as the walls closed in ...
— Tropic Days • E. J. Banfield

... principally in the action of winds in assisting the operation of gravitation, and in abrading by dust, sand, stones, and atmospheric water. These effects, unless it be in the case of a building blown down by a tempest, are imperceptible in days, or even years; yet a gentle current of air carrying the silicious sand of the desert, or the dust of a road for ages against the face of a structure, must ultimately tend to injure it, for with infinite or unlimited duration, an extremely small cause will ...
— Consolations in Travel - or, the Last Days of a Philosopher • Humphrey Davy

... necessity of offering assistance or even companionship to such a self-sufficient, resolute maiden, and so she set about enjoying her independence with a clear conscience. A moment later she had forgotten everything but the keen delight of the delicious exercise; the fresh current of air upon her cheeks; the sense of flashing through space "without any appreciable effort; the knowledge of her mastery of the art. She had not a shadow of fear. Instead, she felt a sort of wild exultation in her own daring, and set about doing difficult ...
— The Governess • Julie M. Lippmann

... remarkable phenomenon connected with the escape of a current of air under considerable pressure, must not be passed over silently. M. Clement Desormes (Ann. de Phys. et Chim., xxxvi. p. 69.) has observed, that when an opening, about an inch in diameter, is made in the side of a reservoir of compressed air, the latter rushes ...
— Notes and Queries, Number 180, April 9, 1853 • Various

... feather or a piece of absorbent cotton drawn out thin and held near the nose by some one will indicate by its movements whether or not there is a current of air going and coming with each forced ...
— Manual for Noncommissioned Officers and Privates of Infantry • War Department

... by the current of air, and the opening of the lips, as in pa. This may be called ...
— A Handbook of the English Language • Robert Gordon Latham

... their boat as quickly as possible, and set the controls for reverse flight. Then Wade fired the signal shot. In moments they saw Lieutenant Greer bucking against the current of air, continuing under ...
— The Black Star Passes • John W Campbell

... in groups. Some had ascended to the tops with a faint hope of finding more air; some were lying flat on their faces on the forecastle; others had sought those places which were under the sails where the occasional flap of the broad canvas sent down a slight current of air. ...
— Cord and Creese • James de Mille

... door behind his father sent a current of air across the room in which a bit of paper on the floor wavered and turned. Hal picked it up. It was the clipping from the "Clarion"—his newspaper—which Milly Neal had brought as her justification. One line of ...
— The Clarion • Samuel Hopkins Adams

... of fine gauze, which prevents the flame from passing through it to any explosive gas that may be floating about outside, but at the same time allows the rays of light to pass through readily. Sir Humphrey Davy, in introducing his lamp, cautioned the miners against exposing it to a rapid current of air, which would operate in such a way as to force the flame through the gauze, and also against allowing the gauze to become red-hot. In order to minimise, as far as possible, the necessity of such caution the lamp has ...
— The Story of a Piece of Coal - What It Is, Whence It Comes, and Whither It Goes • Edward A. Martin

... night, during a calm, when it was so hot that only a skeleton could keep cool (from the free current of air through its bones), after being drenched in my own perspiration, I managed to wedge myself out of my hammock; and with what little strength I had left, lowered myself gently to the deck. Let me see now, thought I, whether my ingenuity cannot ...
— White Jacket - or, the World on a Man-of-War • Herman Melville

... light in our hands through the awful ways and avenues of the catacombs. The scene grew real to me, as I mused. Alone, what should I fear? These silent hosts encamped around would but have cheered their child. But with her, every murmur becomes a portent of danger, every current of air gives me fresh tremors; as we pass casual openings into the sky, the vault of air, the glint of stars, shall seem a malignant face; I fancy to hear impossible footsteps behind us, some bone that crumbling falls from ...
— Atlantic Monthly, Volume 11, Issue 67, May, 1863 • Various

... a moment, very narrowly, and in those seconds of silence I began to realise more exactly what must have happened. The upper current of air had been blowing westwards—not eastwards as the wind blew on the surface. The good land under my feet was assuredly not Germany; almost certainly it must be part of my own blessed native island, or why this insistence on my speaking English, rather than, say, Dutch or Danish? And then the man ...
— The Man From the Clouds • J. Storer Clouston

... as an arrow shot into the world; his impulse must be stronger than the current of air that carries him ...
— Calamities and Quarrels of Authors • Isaac D'Israeli

... kindled in the tree, where the current of air was great, and dense columns of smoke issued from the end of each branch as thick as that from ...
— Peter Parley's Tales About America and Australia • Samuel Griswold Goodrich

... corridor, at the other towards a verandah which leads to a garden. In bright weather those sick persons, who are even confined to bed, can, under the direction of the doctor, be wheeled in their beds out into the gardens without leaving the level floor. The wards are warmed by a current of air made to circulate through them by the action of a steam-engine, with which every hospital is supplied, and which performs such a number of useful purposes, that the wonder is, how hospital management could go ...
— Hygeia, a City of Health • Benjamin Ward Richardson

... A current of air swept up into their faces. The soft, loose earth about the rent in the floor was covered with the prints of naked feet; the bottom of the hole was packed down in places by a multitude of tracks. Chase's bewildered eyes were the first to discover the presence of loose, scattered masonry in the ...
— The Man From Brodney's • George Barr McCutcheon

... a tranquil June night, with no moon, but clusters of sensitive stars that seemed to shiver with cold as the wind swept by them; for perhaps there was a swift current of air up there in the zenith. However, not a leaf stirred on the Common; the foliage hung black and massive, as if cut in bronze; even the gaslights appeared to be infected by the prevailing calm, burning steadily behind their glass screens and ...
— A Midnight Fantasy • Thomas Bailey Aldrich

... if possible, than fire. Having struck a spark, which he took captive by means of a piece of tinder, he placed in the centre of a very dry handful of soft grass, and whirled it rapidly round his head, thereby producing a current of air, which blew the spark into a flame; which when applied, lighted the grass and twigs; and so, in a few minutes, a blazing fire roared up among the trees—spouted volumes of sparks into the air, like a gigantic squib, which made ...
— The Young Fur Traders • R.M. Ballantyne

... nearest was soon in tow, when he proceeded in quest of the other, which was all this time floating up the lake. The eye of Deerslayer was no sooner fastened on this last boat, than it struck him that it was nearer to the shore than it would have been had it merely followed the course of the gentle current of air. He began to suspect the influence of some unseen current in the water, and he quickened his exertions, in order to regain possession of it before it could drift into a dangerous proximity to the woods. On getting nearer, he thought that the canoe ...
— The Deerslayer • James Fenimore Cooper

... faithful portraiture of his more stately and severely courteous humor. "Why did you suffer me to sleep thus exposed?" asked the Lord Keeper, waking in a fit of shivering from slumber into which his servant had allowed him to drop, as he sat to be shaved in a place where there was a sharp current of air. "Sir, I durst not disturb you," answered the punctilious valet, with a lowly obeisance. Having eyed him for a few seconds, Sir Nicholas rose and said, "By your civility I lose my life." Whereupon the Lord Keeper retired to the bed from ...
— A Book About Lawyers • John Cordy Jeaffreson

... a larder, by its position, will not admit of opposite windows, a current of air should be admitted by means of a flue ...
— Enquire Within Upon Everything - The Great Victorian Domestic Standby • Anonymous

... balloon had ascended higher another current of air was encountered, and the course changed. Away they floated over the mountain peaks and ...
— Frank Merriwell Down South • Burt L. Standish

... increased velocity of the atmosphere from front to aft as the aeroport advances. Consequently the driving wheels being placed under the center or largest diameter of the float, they must evidently revolve with greater rapidity in the current of air passing between the float and the saloon, going in opposite direction to that in which the aeroport is flying at a given speed, than they would were they placed in front or behind where the atmosphere is comparatively at rest. I take this view from the fact that steamboats ...
— Scientific American, Vol.22, No. 1, January 1, 1870 • Various

... the air from each compartment as it comes opposite the space where it can discharge its confined block of air)—will be avoided. When the outer case of a Fan is formed on the expanding or spiral principle, as above described, all these important advantages will attend its use. As the inward current of air rushes in at the circular openings on each side of the Fan-case, and would thus oppose each other if there was a free communication between them, this is effectually obviated by forming the rotating portion of the fan by a disc of iron plate, which prevents the opposite in-rushing ...
— James Nasmyth's Autobiography • James Nasmyth



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