CYCLONES AND TORNADOES. 751 



the nearer it approaches to a perfect point, the greater will be the 

 accumulation : a high tension is caused, and the electricity must 

 escape by some conductor. So, in the tornado-cloud, the smaller the 

 point or stem, the greater the force exerted when it meets the earth. 



The bounding or swaying motion of the tornado can be illustrated 

 by the experiment of the " electrical puppets " : the cloud above form- 

 ing the upper plate, and the earth beneath the lower one. All light 

 objects between are drawn up, then thrown down being first at- 

 tracted, then repelled. 



While the tornado, on its course, possesses four distinct motions 

 as previously stated there seems little doubt that the central force, or 

 the one exerting the greatest power, is purely electrical, although the 

 outer surface of the vortex be composed of wind moving at a rate of 

 speed that can scarcely be comprehended. 



So many readers are already familiar with statements frequently 

 made regarding the tornado's strange freaks, that a few illustrations 

 only will be given. 



Mr. C states that, during the tornado which visited Sangamon 



County, Illinois, on May 18th of the present year, while himself and 

 family had taken refuge in the cellar, a sulphurous smell prevailed, a 

 ball of fire burst above them, and they were severely burned about the 

 face and neck, but otherwise uninjured, although the house was torn 

 from over then- heads. 



. The family of Mr. T , who had also sought shelter in a cellar 



from the same storm, were covered with a gummy substance, which 

 would not wash off ! This substance might have been formed from 

 the sap of trees and juice of leaves, combined with the moist, heated 

 atmosphere. In passing over the track of the tornado, the writer ob- 

 served two large elm-trees torn out by the roots ; one had" fallen to 

 the east, the other to the west, and the tops of both were firmly inter- 

 locked. A short distance from these, a white-oak tree, thirty inches 

 in diameter, was broken off and lay upon the ground, the top toward 

 the west ; on top of this lay another large tree, which had stood in a 

 northwest direction from the first. The rotary motion of the destruc- 

 tive force was here clearly proved. A thrifty young maple-tree, twelve 

 inches in diameter, stood apart from other trees, near the edge of the 

 storm's track. About six feet from the ground the bark was peeled 

 entirely off for a distance of two feet. No broken limb, or other mis- 

 sile, lay near the tree, and its top was uninjured ! Could this effect be 

 produced by wind ? Was it not, more likely, caused by concussion ? 



In the same tornado a whole orchard was swept away ; the large 

 trees carried one fourth of a mile, stripped of their bark and smaller 

 limbs, and completely plastered with mud. A wagon-tire was torn 

 from the wheel, straightened out, and driven into the side of a build- 

 ing. A flock of geese were plucked of their feathers, which were de- 

 posited in a hedge-fence, giving it a complete coating. 



