A CHAPTER IN METEOROLOGICAL DISCOVERY. 795 



not establish the fact that certain storms travel from the Gulf 

 along the coast ; how the observations of Franklin, confirmed by 

 the general impression that they were sagacious, can be reconciled 

 with those made by Loomis (locating the place of origin of some 

 storms in the Northwest of the United States), unless there be two 

 kinds of storms, one of which travels from southwest to northeast 

 and the other from northwest to southeast ; and whether it can be 

 correct to confound these two kinds of storms under one gen- 

 eralization i. e., storms moving from east to west." Of course, 

 these slight strictures did not seriously affect the validity of 

 Espy's conclusions, any more than they added materially to the 

 sum of Redfield's. They simply helped to bring all the facts now 

 discovered into relation, and take the emphasis off any especial 

 class, the peculiar study of individuals. They show how valuable 

 are all individual contributions to the growth of a science, and 

 how, when there is a number of observers in any one field, each 

 may be a check upon the others and supplement their defective 

 data or inferences. Redfield discovered the origin of one class 

 of storms, and laid down the laws of their movement and inter- 

 nal motions. Espy pointed out a new point of origin of storms, 

 and threw some new light on their internal winds. Hare pointed 

 to still another quarter whence these great whirlwinds arise, and 

 directed attention to the various tracks which they pursue ; and 

 the investigations which led to these results extend over a term 

 of perhaps thirty years, from the year 1821 to 1851. 



Elias Loomis. It was about this period that Prof. Loomis, of 

 Yale College, was prosecuting his studies in meteorology, and 

 especially in regard to storm-motions, which have since become a 

 valuable part of our knowledge. He was a later worker in this 

 field, and his labors were made the more valuable from the fact 

 that the country had been growing rapidly, especially toward the 

 Northwest, and he was thus enabled to command much new ma- 

 terial in the way of observations from this quarter of the country, 

 which had not been available for the others. Loomis found that 

 great storms, of like character to those reported from the south- 

 west and the Atlantic coast, also swept the northern parts of the 

 country, with identical details, in respect to winds and motions. 

 These were included in his studies, and thus the generalizations 

 in respect to our storms were greatly enlarged. Perhaps the gist 

 of Loomis's conclusions in this matter is condensed into this 

 paragraph from his Meteorology, which, by the way, was the first 

 treatise of any pretensions upon this subject published in this 

 country. He says : " The average direction of storm-paths across 

 the United States is toward a point nine degrees north of east, 

 but it varies somewhat with the season of the year, being almost 

 exactly east in summer and inclining more to the north in the 



