The Sun.
London, England, 1852-10-05 00:00:00

THE COURSE OF STORMS.

The accounts of the storm that swept along the
Atlantic coast in August show some of the remark-
able features of that kind of atmospheric disturbance.
Its beginning we have traced to the Gulf of Mexico,
at a point south-east from Key West, where it raged
eleven days before. In its regular course it reached
Halifax, in Nova Scotia; how much further it went
in that direction we have no accounts. It is the kind
of storm that Mr. W. 0. Redfield, of this city, first
proved to be a groat whirlwind. This he did by
showing that, at the same instant, in different places,
the wind actually blows in a circle, of course the
circle being very large, measuring some 500 miles
in diameter, and, while whirling around, progressing
forward like other smaller whirlwinds. We here give
a number of dates which we have taken from the
public journals to mark its rates of progress.
On tne 213 t August the American barque Jasper,
bound from Havannah to New York, was caught in
the gale blowing from the south-east, and, while
" lying to," was driven on the reefs the next day, ten
miles east of Key West. Many other valuable ves-
sels and cargoes went in like manner ashore.

On the 223, at Key West, early on Sunday morn-
ing, it commencpd,to blow a hurricane, the baro-
meter rapidly falling. Its greatest violence was at
sundown, and by one o'clock on Monday morning,
23d, it had entirely ceased. The direction of the
wind was from the south-east. It was the hardest
storm there since 1846.

On the 24th, Tuesday, it began► at Pensacola; its
greatest force was on Wednesday and Thursday, the
25th and 26th. The wind was at first easterly, and
gradually shifted round southerly, and then westerly.
The rain fell in great quantities, and the storm was
the most severe that had raged there for many years.
All the bathing-houses and more than two-thirds of
the main reef were carried away.
On the 25th and 26th, also, it was violent at Mo-
bile, doing damage to the amount of half a million of
dollars. The dwelling of the light keeper at Choctaw
Point was carried away, and five persons were lost.
It extended west to Lake Pontchartrain.

On the 26th and 27th, it spread over the State of
Georgia. The Ocmulgee River, at Macon, rose to a
great height, carrying away the railroad bridge.
At Augusta, the Savannah River rose to such a
height on Friday, the 27th, as to sweep off the
railroad bridges, and stop all travel. The water rose
four feet in the streets; one or two houses were
washed away, and several lives lost. The cars on
the railways could not approach within a mile of the
city. The telegraph accounts of the damage done to
that city was 9,000,000 dollars, probably an exagge-
ration.

In South Carolina, near Columbia, several bridges
were swept away from Broad River, and in the
Congeree, as far up as that city, the freshest was
three feet higher than ever known before, and 32
feet above the ordinary level. The rain was heavy
at Charleston.

In Virginia we hear of the severity of the storm,
and of the overflowing of the James River at Rich-
mond, submerging a number of cellars and houses in
the lower part of the city. The Rappahannock rose
to an extraordinary height at Fredericksburg, carry.
ing away the Chatham-bridge and injuring the canal.
A waggon and four horses were swept down by the
current.
On the 28th, Saturday, the storm raged at Balti-
more. Its violence in wind and rain on that day was
remarkable in southern New Jersey. The same lay
it began in New York. Its first rain was about
noon ; at five o'clock the wind and rain were severe ;
at seven the storm was violent, and so continued
until noon on Sunday, though the rain ceased early
on Sunday morning. The wind was at first from the
east, then from the north-east, and ultimately it
veered around by the north to the west. The da-
mages were large in the blowing down of unfinished
houses in New York, Brooklyn, Williamsburg, and
Jersey city.
At Boston it began on Saturday evening, the 28th,
and kept on until Monday morning, the 30th. At
Newburyport the rain amounted to 3i inches during
that time.
Oa the 31st, Tuesday, the storm was 80 heavy to
the eastward of Portland, Me., that the news by the
steamer America, which arrived at Halifax at six,
P.M., could not be telegraphed.
We thus see that eleven days were required for the
storm to progress from a little beyond Key West to
Halifax. A wind blowing in a direct line along its
track with the violence of that storm would have
reached that distance in twenty-four or thirty hours
at farthest. All along its path the wind was
constantly veering. For instance, at Pensacola,
the accounts say, " the wind was at first easterly,
This shows north,
that the centre of, and then to the
and gradually shifted round southerly, then
westerly." This shows that the centre of the storm
passed west of that place. At New York it began
easterly,
west a
d turned
southwest.
Ths
the storm passed east of this city. Its track was
remarkably curved. Beginning near Havana, ac-
cording to our limited notices, it progressed towards
the north-west until about Mobile. There it turned
towards the north-east, and followed the line of the
coast, probably leaving the line of the coast more and
Thisi which way it
more to the north.
It is highly desirable that editors should state
more precisely the times of the beginning and ending
veers, ertsb, andestorms,
where how
the wind
d begins,
is necessary in order
ends.
to exhibit the proofs of the circular motion of
the wind; for, it must be remembered, that some
highly respectable scientific men do not believe in Mr.
Redfield's discovery. Governor Reid, of the Bermuda
Islands, was among the first who adopted the Redfield
theory, and he has written two or three octavo vo-
lumes, giving the course and history of several great
storms. In the East Indies, Messrs. Piddington and
Thom, in the employment of the East India
Company, have each published several volumes,
showing, from very careful data, that in the Indian
Ocean and China Sea, the storms are also circu-
lar, and that, south of the equator, they whirl around
in the opposite direction, that is, south of the
equator they move round in the same way as the
hands of a watch. Mr. Piddington very
properly
calls them cyclones, from the cycloidal course of
the wind.

Here on our own coast they oan be studied more
easily than in any other part of the world, for they
sweep'so far along the land, and over the hundreds of
vessels on our coasts, and hence many observations
Can be made. It is remarkable that, while the dis-
covery is entirely and indisputably American, the
British have investigated it the most largely, and
written on it most voluminously. Mr. Redfield's
papers were scattered about in several scientific peri-
odicals, and have never been collected in a single vo-
lume. The separate volumes of Reid, Piddington,
and Thom on cyclone storms are numerous. —New
York Courier.

ADVANCE ON WELCH IRON.—The recent improve-
ment in the demand for iron has led, as was anticipated, to
an advance in price, and the makers have succeeded in esta-
blishing a rise of 30s. per ten. The whole of the iron-works
are in full employ, and large orders are on hand, and several
of the companies are about to blow more furnaces into blast.
'lbis will give employment to a large number of men, and be
productive of great benefit to many families. The Llynfi
Iron Company purpose the erection of a new forge, which it
is intaidul to be far larger than the one at present in opera-
tion, and likewise new blast furnaces will be added to those
a(present in use. The workmen will also participate in this
improved state of affairs, as the rate of wages will be in-
creased. At the Cyfarthfa Ironworks the remuneration paid
to the mem has been raised 5 per cent.

- ---
The commercial accounts by the Overland Mail
are not unsatisfnctory. At Calcutta prices showed a ten-
dency to improvement, and at Bombay they were steadily
maintained, although there was less business than usual.