, 1864-01-23
The Laws Of Storms.


govern storms. One is the law of progress
ion, according to which every storm travels
along a certain track toward the. nearest
Pole and the other is the law Of rotation,
according to which every storm is an aerial
eddy, or whirlwind. AS a great Whirlwind
may be revolving so slowly that the wind
produced by it will vary from a gentle
breeze to a gale, the term cyclone has been
adopted for it, Some Of these cyclones are
exceedingly destructive. In July l773, one
visited France, and destroyed the crops.in
1890 parishes. All these storms that have
ever been traced in the middle latitudes of
the Northern hemisphere travel east north
ward The cyclones of the North Atlantic
ocean arise in the gulf of Mexico, about
10 degrees from the Equator, and travel at
first northward throughout the Gulf; then
re-curve, sweep along the coasts Of the Uni
ted States, and across the Atlantic ocean to-
wards Europe in nOrtheasterly direction
All the great West India hurricanes on re-
cord, and most Of the great Atlantic storms
have been carefully examined, and their
path mapped out; and all conform to the two
laws enunciated In the South Pacific
Ocean investigations have also been made
respecting the character of the storms which
prevail there, and these have also been
found to be cyclones, but moving in differ
ent direction to those in the Northern hem
isphere.
These laws were first announced by Col
Clapper, in 1901, in a work on winds and
monsoons; but the late W. @. Redfeld, of
New York, was the first person who fully
investigated the question, collected reliable
data, and published convincing proofs Of his
views in the American Journal Of Science,
in 1881 About this time Major Reid, Of
the British Army, was also investigating the
same subject while residing in the West
Indies; and Mr.. Redfeld's paper having
come to his notice, he said, 'fit was the first
publication he had met with which appeared
to convey any just opinion on the subject Of
hurricanes" Mr.. Redfed traced and
mapped a cyclone, which in October 1916,
passed through Honduras, Cuba and exten-
ded beyond Newfoundland-a distance Of
over 5000 miles. in December Of the
same year, one was traced from Arkansas,
across New jersey into the Atlantic; and
another from Wisconsin, through Lake On
]
width of these was usually limited to from
one hundred to a hundred and fifty miles );
but strange to relate, the places of the be-
ginning and ending of these storms was un-
determined. Near the center of cyclones
the aerial current sometimes move with ter
rife velocity, and they therefore are very
dangerous to vessels at sea caught in their
whirls. Their approach is indicated by a
great fall Of the mercury in the barometer I;
but an experienced navigator may be car
ried around in one as in a whirlpool, for
want of knowledge to guide his bark in the
safest course. The clipper Charles Heddle,
cited by Mr. Redfeld, sailing from Mauri-
titus to Muscat, was caught by hurricane
and carried round and round in it for III
| hours. Hurricanes occur most frequently
on the Atlantic Ocean in the months Of Au-
gust and September; but they are not con-
fined to any month of the year.
! The island of Mauritius lies directly in
the hurricane track, and being most favor
able situation for observing these the Gov
ernment Of France has done much for the
cause of science in erecting an observatory
there 1t has been asserted by Mr.. Bos-
quet, Of this observatory, that he can pre-
dict the approach Of hurricane and deter
mine the course it will take The barometer
he states, is affected by an advance aerial
wave, which causes it to stand higher than
usual and this inequality Of atmosphere
pressure causes the mercury to oscillate for
period amounting to about "A hours in ad-
vance Of the hurricane.
The gulf cyclones spend much Of their
force before they reach the Northern States;
but they are very dangerous to coasting yes
sells. Mr.. Redfeld first suggested that the
telegraph should be employed to give notice
of their occurrence, and coast line Of tele-
graph would undoubtedly be valuable to YES
sells in port, in giving them warning of ap-
preaching danger The cause Of such
storms is yet mystery. 1t has been as
serted by some persons who have expressed
opinions on this subject, that they are caused
by volcanic eruptions and electricity but
when asked for an explanation Of the mode
by which these agencies produce them, they
have been incapable of giving a satisfactory
answer. 1t is an undoubted fact that the
Gulfof Mexico is the great cauldron whence
originate most Of the storms that visit the
United States and British North America.
All our thunder storms appear to come from
it, as the result Of great solar corporation
As intense charges of electricity are devel-
oped by the escape of steam from boiler,
through proper trictional orifce, so the
moisture generated in the Gulf Of Mexico,
carried along by the prevailing westerly cur
rents, seems to generate our electrical atmos-
pheric storms, upon precisely the same prin-
cples, This is a subject, however which
is still obscure in many of its features, and
it presents boundless scope for observation
and reflection Scientific american.
A ffteen-inch shell from one of Gilmore 5
batteries, in the bombardment of Charleston,
struck the statue Of John G, Calhoun, in
front Of the courthouse Of the doomed
munciplicity, shivering it to pieces.
We must not always speak all that we
know that we're folly; but what man