The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1873-06-17
[From tho New York journal of Commercel
Philosophy of the Tornado.

tuo ANoW lOIK JOuTnhl Vi tOfnneICcl
Philosophy of the Tornado.
Some people who have never seen tor
nalo at work, or visited places it has
made dcsolate, may suspect the Iowa re-
porters Of exaggeration. But there is 10
exhibition of power incredible in full
blowing tornado. Its general movement
is hundred miles an hour, and its rotary
motion one Of unestimated rapidity. The
itself material and ponder.
able substance, is compressed in the whirl
and dashed against all objects with the
force Of a thousand batteriug rams. An
explosion of gunpowder is merely the
release Of pent-up gases, themselves of
great tcnuity, but producing the known
results by the speed of their initial motion.
Water, soft, yielding body in its quics-
cent state, is capable of lifting up stones
hundreds Of tons in weight and hurlng
them high upon the beach. In all these
cases the force Of the first impact supplies
the want Of soidity in the materials
which do the mischief; as is again illus
trated by the familiar experiment of
shooting tallow candle through board,
A priori, there is nothing in the least
surprising in the accounts received of the
Iowa whirlwind. 1t could tear up trees
and blow down the strongest houses and
bear human beings, cattle, hogs, sheep
and everything else in its path, through
the air for a quarter or half a mile or any
other distance. Some Of the most extra.
ordinary of the statements made prove
themselves, as where it is said that large
trees were driven deep into the ground
at long distance from where they were
uprooted. This is precisely what the
tornado might be expected to do with
trees. Thrown by the mighty hands Of
the wind, they would be only javelins or
arrows, of which the trunk would repre-
sent the shaft and the top the feathered
part. 1t is said that old stumps over
which the cyclone swept were, in some
instances, cut off, fresh and smooth, as by
o circular saw ; this would be in conform.
ity with a well-known law of tornadocs
which, when passing over level surfaces
do not quite touch the ground, but ex.
pend all their force within few feet oi
It, The iuconceivably rapid whirl of the
i Um tic % s,uHips, ~ .-1o.c !..e...-.. @ -" seF
when it comes to house, or forest, OIL
a hillock, or any large-sized object which
obstructs its way, then its power seems tC
bo exerted downward then it strike:
into the earth aud roots up everything
Onc of the Iowa stories speaks of scoop
ing out cellars, stones, human inmates
and all, which is not at all improbable
We lack exact information about the
width Of this tornado's path. Probably
it was very narrow, not more than twt
or three hundred feet, the intensity of tht
action being proportioned to the conceu
tration at the base. A cyclone in Con
necticut many years ago left devastat
ed path of not over two hundred feet
leveling all objects in its course, and Do
even breaking the boughs Of trees jus
outside that limit. Its swath was as wei
defined as mowers in the hay-fell j
Many years since, a tornado struck
piece of country near Kearsarge mouu
tain, New Hampshire, and p:ostrated ey
cry giant tree in belt about three hun
dred feet wide, finally passing up the sid
of Kearsarge and breaking its force o,
the summit. The path of this tornado
straight and clean cut, could be seen fo
long time on the mountains side. |
follows from these facts that if one is az
prised of the approach Of a tornado II
season and notes the direction Of the win
that precedes it, he may possibly cscap
its effects. But it generally sweeps to
suddenly upon its prey to permit this
Fortunately, in this country, such cyclone
as that of Iowa are among the rarest o
phenomena.
Two very remarkable meteorologica
occurrences foreran the Iowa event, an
it will be worth the while for scientili
persons to see if they were not condition
precedent of that grand climax. On
was the wonderful solar halo seen on Nor
day, the Goth, in this city and vicinity
and we do not know where else. Som
authorities speak of this as not uncommo
phenomenon and that is true Of som
circles which appear about the sun, bt
this particular one was very marked an
striking. The attention of the most carr
less observer was powerfully attracted
it, and its import wouderingly guessed a
Those halos have been explained on Il
theory of the presence of small ice-cry
tails moving in the upper air, and wht
coming between the spectator and the su
/, causing the apparation of the halos |
: their united refracting power. The
, passage through the air in great number
so as to produce the phenomenon Of s.
> lar halo, indicates, we may suppose
!, violent disturbance in the atmosphe
). and presage storms. The movement b
y gun in this part of the country may, pc
. haps, have terminated in the frighttul C
= clone of Iowa. The other prodigy
:, which we would speak occurred in low
. as far back as the l4th instant, or a We
, before the tornado burst forth. At d
Moines, Iowa, aud at other places in t
. State, the air was filled with electricit
= although no storm occurred For sevt
u al hours it was impossible to work t
= = telegraph wires but that was the lc'
= astonishing part of the manifestations. {
the eastern bound express train on t
: Rock Island road the track seemed ro
Z of fire under and behind the cars. I
- light was so vivid as to illuminate t
track for some distance in the rear q
- observer describes it as - trailing ba
ie ie ner of flames. This, of course, was i
= = mediately caused by the friction of
:, - car-wheels, but the atmosphere must ha
y been very highly charged with electric
~ 10 to permit its exhibition through sucl
10 " simple agency. Des Moines is only nj
- miles from the center Of the tornado tra'
- - and that city herself suffered to some ,
y tent from thunderstorm on the eve