SKETCH OF WILLIAM C. REBFIELD, 117 



rapidity as the center of the whirlwind approaches, but rises at a 

 corresponding rate after the center has passed by ; and, finally, 



" That the phenomena are more uniform in large than in 

 small storms, and more uniform on the ocean than on the land." 



" These laws Mr. Redfield claimed as so many facts inde- 

 pendent of all hypothesis as facts deduced from the most rigor- 

 ous induction, which will ever hold true, whatever views may be 

 entertained respecting the origin and cause of storms." 



Mr. Redfield's conclusions were reached after the collection 

 and collation of as many records as possible of observations of 

 the storms investigated, particularly of vessels which had been 

 caught in them, the independent accounts of one storm having 

 been one hundred and sixty-four in number; the charting of 

 them ; and the tabulation of the various data of them. 



The next step was the suggestion of the methods by which 

 vessels might avoid storms or escape them by sailing out of them. 



Views like those of Mr. Redfield were reached about the same 

 time by Dove, but Redfield knew nothing of his work. Colonel 

 Reid, of the Royal English Engineers, at Barbadoes, who was 

 also studying the subject, was struck with Redfield's articles, and 

 entered into correspondence with him, which was continued to 

 their mutual advantage. Mr. Redfield further speculated on the 

 causes of storms a subject which he was not able to solve, and 

 which is still in large part a mystery. 



In 1820 Mr. Redfield became interested in steamboat naviga- 

 tion, and ultimately associated with enterprises for carrying it on. 

 The public had become alarmed about boiler explosions, to the 

 detriment of the passenger traffic. To overcome their objections, 

 Mr. Redfield devised a system of " safety barges," to be towed 

 upon the Hudson by steamboats placed at such a distance that 

 the passengers should be out of reach of the danger of explosions. 

 These barges, which were in use from 1825 to 1829, attained a 

 speed of between eight and nine miles an hour, and were in favor 

 while the terror of explosions continued. But there came a lull 

 in the explosions, the size and speed of the steamboats were 

 increased, and conveyance by barges was discontinued, " to the 

 regret," Mr. Redfield observed in a paper on the subject pub- 

 lished in the American Journal of Science, " of those who love 

 quiet enjoyment and whose nerves have not been inured to com- 

 posure by frequent proximity with the moving power." In the 

 same article Mr. Redfield undertook to show that the exposure to 

 fatal accidents on board of steamboats was much less than at- 

 tended the use of the ordinary means of conveyance by either land 

 or water, and even than that from lightning. The towing system, 

 originated by Mr. Redfield, though it lost favor as a means of 

 conveying passengers, was extensively applied to the conveyance 



