prevalent Disorders, Src, with Volcanic Emanations, 439 



The above particulars may be rendered serviceable to a 

 double end, and, therefore, I add another table of changes of 

 the weather recorded by Capt. Sir J. Ross, in his Narrative 

 of a Residence in the Arctic Regions, recently published. I 

 cannot but think that Mr. Espy is generally correct in his 

 views, but that, notwithstanding the general lowness, &c, of 

 the aurora, and the descent of the air in vortices, &c, the 

 derangements of the atmosphere are always on so extensive a 

 scale as to allow a reference to other countries for coincident 

 phenomena. The reader is, therefore, requested to compare 

 Mr. Espy's dates of the depression of the dew point, as indi- 

 cative of an aurora, or electrical action, with those of the fol- 

 lowing table; and if it should appear that there is a near 

 agreement, I may perhaps be considered justified in taking so 

 wide a field for my own speculations. Moreover, in the 

 doctrine of vortices formed in Mr. Espy's hypothesis, if these 

 notices be not close together and continuous ; in other words, 

 if they be not, as mathematicians would say, " at infinitely 

 small distances," I do not see how the violent gales which did 

 succeed the meteors are to be accounted for, extending over 

 many hundreds of leagues in one entire sweep ; and, if this 

 succession of vortices be granted, Mr. Espy and 1 agree in 

 our deductions, as far as hurricanes are concerned. It is 

 clear, that, on this hypothesis, the vortex of Nov. 13. 1833 

 must have been commensurate with the display of meteors* 

 and have extended over a space, in latitude, of 32°, and, in lon- 

 gitude, of 30°, a tolerably large vortex ! On referring to my 

 journal, I find that there are numerous coincidences of gales, 

 earthquakes, and auroras, in Europe, and distant places of 

 America to the south, with the very dates given by Mr. Espy 

 in 1832, 1833, and 1834; but, as his remarks are directed to 

 a question affecting places northward of his locality, I think 

 it better to confine my illustration to the northern parts of 

 America. Capt. Ross, however, supplies no information later 

 than the middle of October, 1833 ; of course, therefore, I have 

 no means of ascertaining whether the meteors of Nov. 13. 

 1833 were seen in the arctic regions, or whether any derange- 

 ment of the atmosphere occurred there at that time ; but on 

 Nov. 12, 13. 1832, there was a gale there of great violence. 

 " Whether there was or not a great rain to the north-west in 

 the United States, previously to Nov. 13. 1833," Mr. Espy 

 may be able to learn ; it is on this his hypothesis depends. 

 But, if that be necessary to produce meteors, meteors ought 

 to follow rain, and rain follows volcanic eruptions and earth- 

 quakes ; in general, however, meteors also precede rain. 



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