Morning journal and courier., 1882-02-20

| is great deal of dissatisfaction expressed
| If the movement for a new road results in
stirring up the old one to s.fuH and compre-
hensiVe use of its own great opportunities. it
will be of public benefit, whether the charter
be granted or amended, or not given at all.
Hurricanes.
tBy n. S. shaler in the March AtIantic.l
In the season of hot weather in the central
part of the Mississippi Valley, there often
come succession of days when the atInos-
phere is not stirred by the winds, but re-
mains as still as the air of cave. Despite
the steady gain in the heat, the sky stays
cloudless, or at most is. hecked by those light
clouds that lie five miles or more above the
surface of the earth. All nature seems
cowed beneath the fervent heat, yet there is
nothing of distinct portent in earth or air.
At last, towards evening, there may be seen
sudden curdling of the western sky; in a
few minutes the clouds gather, coming from
nowhere. growing at once in the lurid air
In less than half an hour the forces of the
storm are organized, and its dreadful advance
begins. If we were just beneath the gath
ering clouds we should find that the air over
aspace mile or so in diameter was spinning
around in great whirlpool, and
while the revolving mass slowly ad-
vanced the central part moved rapid
IL upwards. Beginning slowly. all the
movements of the storm, the whirling action,
the vertical streaming of the air, its onward
movement, all gain speed of motion with as
tontshing rapidity. In minute or two some
cubic miles of air are in a state of intense
gyratory movement, mounting upwards as
violently as the gas over q volcano To re-
place this strong whirIing uprush, there -
an indraught from every side towsG
centre of the whirlwind and as this
moves quickly forward the rush Off
strongest from behind towards the adyansR
ing hurricane. The rate at which the storm
goes forward is very variable, though it Is
generally as much as forty to one hundred
miles an hour; but this is not the measure of
its destructive power. The rending effect of
the storm is much greater than would be
given by a simple blast of air moving at
this speed Much of this peculiar capacity
for destruction may perhaps be due
10 the gyratory motion of the wind in the
storm centre, which on one side of the
| whirlwind adds the speed arising from
| its circular movement to the translstory We
locity of the whirlwind itself. Some of the
records tell US that houses with closed win
| dows have been known to burst apart, as if
from an explosion of gunpowder, while 9th
ers, that had their doors and windows wide
open remained essentially unharmed It
has been conjectured that this action may be
due to a sudden rarefaction of the air on the
| outside of the building; but this csuse can
not be sufficient to produce such effects aud
| If such explosions occur the cause must be
looked for elsewhere After the storm is
once developed, it seems very quickly TO sc-
! quire its maximum of destructive power and
| its speed of translation At the outset and
/ during the period of most efficient action,
| the strip Of country affected is generally
very narrow, Hot often exceeding 6 mile in
width; as the storm advances the path
| seems gradually to grow wider, and the gyra-
tory movement well as the transiatory
motion of the meteor less considerable, until
at last it fades into an ordinary thunder
| Storm or dies into calm