428 Dr. Hare on the Theory of Storms, 



27. Mr. lledfield adopts the singular determination of not 

 noticing the "insuperable difficulties" of the hypothesis which 

 he has undertaken to set aside. The advocates of the dis- 

 puted hypothesis are not aware of any such difficulties : is it 

 correct to allege their existence without mentioning the facts 

 and arguments which justify this allegation ? Without re- 

 peating here the evidence and the reasoning which I have 

 already published on this subject, I will advert to one fact 

 which is utterly irreconcilable with Mr. Redfield's " rotary 

 theory." I allude to the statement of a most respectable wit- 

 ness, that while the tornado at Providence was crossing the 

 river, the water, which had risen up as if boiling within a circle 

 of about 300 feet, subsided as often as a flash of lightning 

 took place. Now supposing the water to have risen by a de- 

 ficit of pressure resulting from the centrifugal force of a whirl, 

 how could an electrical discharge cause it to subside ? 



28. I have already, I trust, sufficiently shown that the abor- 

 tive explanation which Mr. Redfield dignifies with the title of 

 " his theory of rotary storms," amounts to no more than this: 

 that certain imaginary, nondescript, unequal and opposing 

 forces produce atmospheric gyration ; that these gyrations, by 

 their consequent centrifugal force, create about the axis of 

 motion a deficit of pressure; and hence the upward force dis- 

 played by tornadoes and hurricanes. I cannot give to this 

 alleged theory the smallest importance, while the unequal and 

 opposing forces upon which it is built remain in perfect ob- 

 scurity, the author having disclaimed both the agency of heat 

 and electricity. 



29. But admitting a whirlwind to be produced, not by a de- 

 ficit of pressure about the axis, but by unequal and opposing 

 forces acting externally in any competent way whatever, it is 

 perfectly evident that any deficit of pressure about the axis 

 consequent to the resulting centrifugal force, could only cause 

 a descending aerial current, while it could not tend in the 

 slightest degree to carry solids or liquids aloft. 



30. It must be obvious that the stratum of air on the earth's 

 surface, partaking of the circular motion, must also partake 

 of the centrifugal momentum, and of course would have a 

 disposition the very inverse of that which would cause them 

 to rush towards the axis ; while heavier bodies being sur- 

 rounded by the rarer mediums consequent to the whirl, would 

 have their gravity less counteracted than usual. I cannot 

 help thinking, that as respects the application of his " rotary 

 theory" to explain tornadoes, these arguments will amount to 

 a " reductio ad absurdum." 



31. Mr. Redfield infers that the whirlwinds, of which he as- 



