A JAPANESE TYPHOON. 36; 



the fact that his house was at an altitude of two hundred feet above 

 the level of the sea. He declared that the gale was like a typhoon in 

 violence, and that in all the time during which he had lived on the 

 Tay he had never experienced a gale of equal severity. In his opinion 

 the velocity of the wind was from seventy-five to seventy-eight miles 

 per hour, and that during the lulls it would fall to something like 

 thirty. 



Charles Clark, w^ho was an amateur observer, gave evidence that 

 29"00 inches was the minimum point reached ; that he had marked the 

 storm 4 on a scale of 6 ; and that he had never yet recorded 5 or 6. 



Other witnesses testified in about the same way, all agreeing rea- 

 sonably well as to barometric depression and probable velocity. 



On comparing these statements with those already made concern- 

 ing the recent typhoon here in Japan, it Avill be seen that both in 

 barometric range and in wind-velocity the recent storm considerably 

 exceeded that which was the occasion of the Tay Bridge disaster. 

 The barometric change was not greatei', but more sudden in the 

 former than in the latter. Concerning the direct measurement of 

 the pressure of the wind in pounds per square foot, it must be said 

 that the instruments for doing this are, at present, to a great extent 

 crude and unreliable. It is generally assumed that the pressiire is pro- 

 portional to the square of the velocity. Upon a scale adopted by the 

 Smithsonian Institution and by the United States Signal Service, the 

 velocity of twenty-five miles per hour corresponds to a pressure of 

 three pounds per square foot. Assuming the correctness of this, and 

 also of the law given above, the pressure per square foot in the Tay 

 storm must have been nearly thirty pounds, and in the recent typhoon 

 here it must have been nearly fifty pounds. It was shown, in the tests 

 made upon the material of the Tay Bridge, that it might have been 

 expected to give way under a wind-pressure considerably less than 

 forty pounds. The French and many English engineers have adopted 

 fifty-five pounds per square foot as a standard, and about the same 

 number is used in America, but it seems doubtful if even that fur- 

 nishes a sufiicient "factor of safety." 



In conclusion, the affirmation may be made, supported as it is by 

 the constantly accumulating evidence of the damage done to build- 

 ings, shipping, etc., that this was one of the most violent storms expe- 

 rienced here for many years. From facts already known concern- 

 ing other points along the coast of Japan, it would seem that, had an 

 eflicient system of observations, telegrams, and signals existed, timely 

 warning might have been given of its approach, and possibly much 

 property and many lives saved. In view of this fact it appears hardly 

 necessary to repeat the suggestion, the importance of which has been 

 frequently urged in these columns, that the Government should, at the 

 earliest practicable moment, inaugurate an efficient and complete signal 

 service for the benefit of the whole country. e/f^x^?^ Weekly Mail 



