The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1875-06-17
soTrue Inwardness'' of the Dreaded Cyclone

The Chicago Tribune thinks the weather re-
ports will not reach anything like perfection
until "Old Probs'' and his myrmidons can let
us know when the dreaded cyclone may be ex-
pected. 1t says "the instruments used cannot
yet register the exact intensity of the coming
atmospheric disturbances, so that occasionally,
instead of the wished-for rain-storm which is
to help the young shoots of corn above the sur
face of the earth, the astonished farmer has
just time to say "a blizzard, by gosh,' when a
whirling cyclone takes corn, earth, house,
farmer and family into the next county. Biz
zards-this new word is the Granger equiva-
common, on sea and land" AS contribution
to the lack of knowledge on this subject, the
same paper gives an excellent synopsis of Mr.
James Mackintosh's learned article in the
Popular Science Monthly, which we reproduce,
as follows:
"The cyclone itself is a comparatively SIM
pie phenomenon. When the air nearest the
earth becomes heated it rises through the
colder strata above But instead of sitting
gradually up, it breaks through these strata in
wedge-shaped column. This is because the
upward pressure is too great to allow any slow
movement. The column of hot air whirls up
and pours forth currents of air into the higher
atmosphere, while other currents rush in below
to take its place. If this were all, the equili-
brium would be quickly restored, and the dam
age done would be confined to an exceedingly
small area But this is not all When the
whirling column has once been formed it moves
forward, sucking up the heated air next the
earth as it goes SO producing commotion
over great surface Of country. Mr.. Mackin-
tosh likens it, in this phase, to a chimney tray
cling after moving fire.
80 oh forfb or fbot toy, of tho
column expands, and in expanding throws off
heat. So much heat is lost that the vapor of
water carried up by the air condenses and
pours back upon the earth in the shape of hail,
snow or rain.
'The tremendous energy of the cyclone
seems less explicable when we recollect that
the sun and the earth join their forces in order
to produce it. The sun is the furnace, and the
moist land and the seas of the earth are the
boiler.
"The phenomena would be the same, how
ever, whatever was the source Of heat Fol
lowing out his thought, Mr. Macintosh draws
asublime picture of the cyclone as creative
force. When the universe was simply one
vast atmosphere, the gases of the same specific
gravity naturally arranged themselves in the
same stratum, until the whole mass was diyi-
ded The force that kept the particles of mat
ter apart was heat. In order to form worlds,
much of this heat must be got rid of. This
was done by cyclone, millions of miles in
height, whirling through space. AS it rushed
up, the vapor contained in it condensed at
different elevations into granite, iron, and
nearly every other solid substance. These fell
in fierce rain upon the lower strata and
melted again. But the work had not been in
vain. A vast amount of heat had been trans
ferred from the centre of the universe to the
circumference The union of the particles
lying at the centre was now possible, and
worlds were formed.
"This is magnificent conception of the
cyclone of the past. If it fails to fully COM
fort the sufferer from the cyclone of the pres
ent, he. can at least rejoice that his lot is no
worse Mr.. Macintosh informs us that when
the primeval whirling column was at work,
all kinds of igneous rocks, mingled with mol
ten metal, chased.each other millions of miles
down through the fiery gloom The modern
cyclone does nothing as bad as this