Redfield and Reid on Storms, 345 



wind, and that all these whirlwinds revolved constantly in the 

 same direction. In one of the numbers of the American Journal 

 of Science (for 1831), Colonel Reid found collected together by 

 Mr Redfield many records of the same storms, and a chart, on a 

 very small scale, shewing the progressof one. Strongly impressed 

 with the conviction that Mr Redfield's views were correct, he 

 determined to verify them by making charts on a large scale, 

 and laying down on them the different reports of the directions 

 of the wind at points given in the American Journal of Science ; 

 and the more exactly this was done, the nearer was the approxi- 

 mation to the tracks of a progressive whirlwind. He then ex* 

 hibited to the Section a volume containing eight charts on a 

 large scale, of which the first and second chart contained the 

 result of this part of the examination ; and he explained how 

 the arrows shewing the direction of the wind at the several sta- 

 tions were all on the right hand side of the several circles flying 

 from the south, while at the stations at the left hand, or towards 

 the east of the chart, they were all coming from the north. 

 Colonel Reid went on to explain, that as his object was not to 

 establish or support any theory, but simply to arrange and re- 

 cord facts, he had only at present to give such a sketch of what 

 had been done, as would turn the attention of abler men than 

 himself to this investigation, and to impress upon commercial 

 men the importance of carefully preserving the logs of their 

 merchant ships : the practice was, he found, to return these logs 

 to the brokers so soon as the vessel returned to her port, and 

 after his accounts were balanced, they were considered as of no 

 further value. He had published at length the details of his 

 examination of this question. He had procured the actual log- 

 books of ships, and had combined their information with what 

 he could obtain on land, thus comparing simultaneous observa- 

 tions over extended tracts. On the eighth chart he pointed out 

 eight ships in several positions in the same storm, the tracks of 

 several crossing the path of the storm, and the wind, as report- 

 ed by the ships, corroborated by the reports from the land. The 

 observations of ships possess this great advantage for meteoro- 

 logical research, that merchant-ships' log-books report the wea- 

 ther every two hours, and ships of war have hourly observations 

 always kept up. After tracing a variety of storms in north lati- 



