Evening star., 1900-12-10
universal and one" The government of
ltaiy, ne contended. should have remained
somewhere outside Of Rome
THE YOSEMITE,S TypuOoN
Description of the Storm Trba
Wrecked That Good Shin.

Wrecked That Good Shin.
From the New York Herald
II would be hard to find in nautical rec
ords November storm developing within
'he tropics more fearful intensity than that
OF the typhoon In which the cruiser Yosem-
lite perished a fortnight ago. The occur
renee of this hurricane fully a month after
the close of the season in which such cy-
clones are most frequent is most interest
ing and of the utmost practical Importance
TO naV1gators, as well as to residents OF
our tropical possessions. Bursting over an
ocean area nearly one thousand miles north
of the geographical equator this cyclone
increased in fury until its winds reached an
estimated full-hurricane velocity of 100
miles an hour at Guam, one of the Ladrone
islands. A more remarkable feature of
the tempest is that it's track lay not with
the most heated zone over which the sun
was vertical, but in a comparatively cool
area
According to the generally received theo-
rles OF the cause Of typhoons and cyclones
as iald down In our most modern meteoro-
ioSlcal WORKS, these terrific tropical cy-
clones are generated along the heat coma
tor. which migrates north and south of
the geographical equator, always following
slowly the sun as 1t changes it's declina-
ton. over the zone of the tropical ocean
intersected by the heat equator the atmOs-
phere becomes densely charged with warm
Fapor, which. by reason of its lightness
ascends to great heights, bursting through
the upper aerial strata and thus giving
rise TO a partial vacuum in the air-the So
called center, or nucleus, of the nascent cy-
clone. Upon this assumption the gigantic
I WhlrlWind of the tropic seas is q phenome-
non originated by excessive temperature
on or near the thermal equator the shift
ing line along which the suns heat for the
tlme being Is exerted upon the ocean with
It's maximum force, and hence the air is
laden with an excess of vapor. But a mo-
ments reflection will show that this cher
ished theory is delusive and cannot stand
when invoked to explain the birth of such
| typhoons as that in which the Yosemite
foundered For the typhoon of the 18th ul-
| timo occurred several hundreds of miles
north OF the heat equator and in n helt
OF ocean upon which the sun has not exert
ed Its maximum force since August. In
Iact, the heat equator was located on the
l5th ultimo south of the geographical euua-
Tor, which the sun crossed, going south on
| September Il, whereas the tropical career
OF the fosemite's typhoon was in the north
| Pacific, over every part of which the SIM
| ceased TO be vertical at the September eouj-
| noX.
| II is true that on the ocean the heat
| equator does not nearly coincide with the
Latitude over which the sun is vertical and
| the TWO lines are separated by several de-
grees OF latitude. Still. 1t seems clear from
| the circumstances in which the late tvphoon
made its terrible appearance that a radical
| revision of the current theory of scientists
| as to the causation of tropical cyclones is
| demanded. Many other instances might
| be cited to show that disastrous tronicai
storms are among the possibilities even Of
| late autumn.