Smyrna times., 1880-06-09
Western Storms.
NEW THEORY BY PROFESSOR TICE.

Professor Tice, wellknown scientist, Of
St. Louis, has been investigating the phen-
omena connected with the remarkable
cyclone which lately drsolated Marshfeld,
Missouri. He expresses the opinion that
all this class of local turnadOes, which are
so 2isasterOus in their results, are not wind
storms at all, but electrical storms. There
was no wind with the Marshlield tornado.
1t passed over, without harming, the build.
ings which had wooden roofs, but destroyed
all that had any metal about them. Every
building in the path of the tornado which
had tin roof was swept away. mill sit
uatei over Il quarter of u mile away from
the centre of the disturbance had its iron
chimney torn out and carried long dis
tance, but was not otherwise injured. The
cupula of the public school building at
Marshfield, which had a tin roof, was
wrecked, but the building, which was rooted
with shingles, was left uninj njured. In the
forests, the bark was stripped from all sides
of the trees without respect to the direc-
tion of the wind The ends of the branches
were not only dvnudcd of leaves and bark,
but were split up into fine tbres until they
looked like broomS Effects of this sort,
Prof. Tice contends, could not be produced
by wind but are often the result of electrl.
cal action. Under its influence the sap
under the bark of trees is Instantly vapor-
lied, expanding two Thousand fold in vol
ume, and furnishing an explosive force
! which nothing can resist. The further
proof Of this theory is found in the fact that
| the dead and dry limbs and twigs were not
affected, and, though in immediate contact
with green ones, remained intact. These
storms, moreover, as Prof. Tice remarks,
| generally follow railroads or water courses.
! Their velocity is tremendous. Mr.. William
! Ferrel, of the United States coast survey,
read paper on this interesting subject at
the recent meeting OF the New York Acad-
| emy of Sciences, in which he described the
| motion of these "cloud bursts" and at.
tempted to explain their causes. The prl-
| mary cause, he assumes, Is the difference III
density of the atmosphere, arising from
fluctuations OF temperature, these suGden
changes being very competent TO generate
or direct electric force Of an intense sort.
portion Of heated air surrounded by other
air of colder temperature produces a sort ol
chimney or funnel, the heated air ascend
ing rapidly and giving gyratory motion to
its envelope Of colder air. These move
ments tend constantly toincrease in rapldlty
and violence. Upon the assumption OF a
difference of only 80 milimenters between
the heated air and that which surrounds 1t
Mr. Ferrel says there will be an ascending
, velocity Of So meters per second, even wher
due allowance is made for the retardint
friction of the earth. This is equal to {
: vclrity Of about 4N yards per second, o
| miles per minute, or 9G miles per hour
The initial velocity Of cannon balls is onl,
about 400 feet per second so that th,
whirl Of these cyclones is within tentl
e part as great as the force Of gunpowder. MI
/ Ferrell claims that the recorded facts prov
4 that his estimates are not eXtraVagant. II
: the signal service report of tornado a
: Mount Carmel, in Illinois, in 1871, there
l. the account of church steeple, gilded ba
!. and vane which were carried fifteen mile
n through the air. They must have been su
d pended in the air for twenty or thirty nil
!. utes. II 4 current Of air moving at tn
It velocity and bearing with it large volum
d of water strikes the earth at any point "
p have " cloud burst" The current is a
1t rested by the obstacle and discharges all i
r body of water at oncc.-Bah. Sun.