The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1878-06-05
THE LAWS or STORMS.
aurcEN or HURRICANES, CYCLONES
AND TORNADOEs CLEARLY
EVTCIDATEB.

mir m odprn GCieniiRtS In the matt or Of EOundinF
verboaity are so extraordinarily inventive They
write books by the cargo. IN which thoir soien
life experience and disOOveriee remain shut III
forever by reason Of the apparently inevhnuatt
BILE flow of foreign sounding. tireaoma and
well-niRh Incomrrohenstblo seRpupedainr
poIysyIlables. presume that this results from
habit: for 1t can scarcely he suspeoted thai
such distinguished and remarkably learned
mon could for moment. aim 10 mystifV their
audiences or their readers by producing In
them that "wonderment" so nicely hit Off by
Goldsmith In describing the Village school
master:
Words of learned length and LAUNDERING
sound
Amazed the garlng rustioa ranged around;
And still they gRHed and still the wonder grew
That one small head should carry oil hoknew.
Oh. moi It must be habit. Nothing but habit
But whether 1t i've habit or not. it ia now in
tended TO convey dear idea Of tho origin and
entjon OF STORMS aU sesg"ppi1Jd rpba being
omitted,
In The DEMOCRAT Of May 30 and 70 wore
enumerated a few ofthe more startling effects Of
sba late tornado In tho Northwest How Mrs
Webber was carried am feet into the air; how a
live sheet was get down two miles away: about
old Hattie StOfe. who was blown u long dis
lance and whR nj leng'h set down alive, but
dangerously mad; that chickens had their
feathers torn of. and animals and men were
literally torn into Fragments. We also noted
sbe fact that the smoky looking pillar which
wrought this destruction was not watorsp0ut,
NOR anything similar. for II eoOrched the
ground over which II passed.; divided once or
twice and IA often reunited; md frequently
MOVED 10 the ground. carrying the disturbed
soil, with tho rest Of its prey. high into the air.
and scattering 1t outwards In all directions
from above.
have been Investigating these matters, and
find similar destructive storms have occurred
In most parts of tho world. Professor Loomis.
OF Yale College. gives one or two examples Of
such disturbances. He says that on February
a.. 1912, one of these tornadoes or whirlwinds
occurred in Ohio. near the centre Of an un-
usually severe storm of rain. and lifted from
their foundations many large buildings. carried
them several rods and dashed them to pieces.
Oak trees two feet In diameter were snapped off
like reeds and others wore 80 twisted as to be
reduced to a mnRs Of splInterR, none Of them
thicker than n mans finger. This tornado Rd-
-Eanced over tho earth at a velocity Of thirty
four miles per hour. The velocity of It's whirl-
Ing motion Is UNKNOWN put must have been
coed half mile. believe that II was during
this storm that au oil woman named Sarah
Pitts was dragged out Of her hous3 through the
chimney, ut tho as Of most Of k9f CLOTH Ing,
aud her life ssvek-the house being smasSS;"ti
into splinters When she presented herself at a
neighbours house. ClOao to the track Of disturb
ance. the good people n9d from r the bruised and
Hatti HAT tttHahleA out of his ChariOtl
The most violent tornadoes occur In the
tropics At Barbados, In $780, the strongest
frees were torn up by the roots, and heavy
piece Of field artillery. similar to those huge
ones that grace the professions of our city
militia was moved q distance Of i4e ynrds. |
h1ao lind that 20 multitude Of ships wore
wrecked" and over 40G0 persons perishod.
mrs, OF Roy. Soc Of Bdtaburg, vol. u
The storms which produce these dire roeulta
are variously named in different parts Of the
world. Our American scientists have made the
neople familiar with all Of those various names,
as viii appear further on, II Frequently, hap
mems, In consequence of the delight In re-
Sounding nomenclature, to which have al
what at first was called gust, the same
Hath now storm's. anon tempests name.
SO, likewise, the storing FLA ana tSlmPeIts OF
our daddiea," are now cyclones. hurricanes.
typhoons and tornadoesI
II ia more than n century since tho frat &C
counts we're published Of ships that had scud.
tied for days before O hurrican" ana y"t found
themselves back again nearly, l4 tho same
place where tho gale began. This In those
times was a most inexp icab'o circumstance.
Then more accounts came in Of ships laying
10" In tho sRme spot Mt sea during storm,
where 1t was tOu0U thhL mo Wlnu, uNIlnR lnh
disturbance gradually changed AL around from
one point OF the compass TO another, and blew
from each successfully with great violence.
Then again n case was found whore two ships
Having TO" Mt sea- within n few miles of one
another had the wind from all directions sue
ressively. as IN the, previous case, yeC vnerinE
nj one locality from east to southeast, nnd from
that to south and 40 on all around; ana at %"
other place veeriRg from south bRck to south,
east and then to eAht and so on Yoering at
one place and backing" at tho other rs the
sailors would cay. After reading NIL we hayo to
say on this subject It will be understood that the
storm centre pnsaed between those two hips.
In DR. Bafnes account Of the hurricane of
1910 ht Barbados We are told that tho wind
blew all round the compGss rtroumstanro
which di.tiugulsheR the hurricane from oil
other gales within tho tropics. Ho also says:
"The ships which put themselves before the
wind during the hntriGnne Wer ,,h not carried
expected from tho yioleno" Of it. 4 merchant
shfp with tho crew on board was driven from
her anchors at BarhadOes. all the c0mpassee
we're broken. and after tossing about for two
days and two nights the people found Thorn
selves at the mouth OF Cariislo Bay. the very
place from viii they hnd boon blown ut n
time when they thought themselves 100 leagues
of"
that early time Il'8Oi did not understand the
laws Of stOrmR. He thought because tho ship
was blown back to her starting point that she
did not travel with great velocity; however. abe
did, but In n great UrCae.
curiosity everywhere: and what enhanced this
curiosity was that no rational explanation
could then be given, Yet. though it was not
generally known at the time Capt. LangfOrd
in 1903 and Don Juan de Ulloa in 1743. had
deecriha6 these tropical hurricanes "a extensive
whirlwinds. and the latest authorities agree
that they were correct. In 1901. Col CAppNr
published book In which he announced that
ne regarded tho Hast Indian hurricanes M
whrlwinds on iHrlss scale. whose diameter
cannot be more than 1870 miles"
Tho following extract from an able article In
The North ApyiCdr RrriPtr for April. 1874. will
perfectly explain the further progress Of knOwl.
edge concerning the laws Of storms. II says;
About the @qo that the American phtloso-
Dher Re fieiA was employed in his earliest
dabOrs Of observing for hmseh and collecting
the observations Of 0there. similar inquiry
was In PROCESS In Germany On Christmas
Eve. 1921 after q tong continuance Of stormy
weather the baro meter sank 40 low in Europe
that the attention 0t mete0r0lOgists was
strongly drawn to the subject. Mr.. Brando
having obtained the registers kept Mt the time
in various places. came to the conclusion that,
during tho storm. the winds blew from all
points Of the compass toward central space,
whore the barometer was. for the moment, at
its lowest stand The conclusion was disputed
by Prof Dove. Of Berlin. who subjected the, OBJ
servatious Of Mr.. Brande. rs well RS others. to a
new examrnah n, aid made 1t appear tina