STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 419 



Off' to the northeast some little trade-wind clouds are moving this way; 

 watching them a moment, as they rise toward the zenith, some mysterious 

 force over there to the westward seems to attract them, and their paths 

 curve that way. What does it mean? you say, and looking in that direc- 

 tion you see more little patches of scud moving across from left to right, 

 and notice that a breeze is springing up from the east, while the barometer 

 is falling slightly, and the whole great mass of clouds is moving westward. 

 A hurricane has had its birth, a great cyclonic storm has started on its 

 westward march toward St. Thomas, Hatteras, Cape Race, and Norway. 

 One of our western tornadoes is to this monster as an electric light to the 

 noonday sun, and all the tornadoes in the records of the Signal Office, 

 rolled into one and added to it, would hardly add appreciably to its energy. 



" Whirling along its ocean pathway at an average velocity of nearly 

 twenty miles an hour, it sends out a long rolling swell a thousand miles in 

 advance, and is heralded by long, high feathery plumes of cirrus clouds, 

 radiating far beyond the slowly thickening cirrus vail that casts its pale 

 halo over sun and moon, and at dawn the twilight envelops heaven and 

 earth with an awful fiery glare, like the light of some great conflagration. 

 Soon the massive leaden-colored cloud bank heaves in sight above the 

 horizon, a great mountain range — Ossa piled upon Pelion — and flying scud 

 forms overhead and drifts to leeward, not with the surface wind, but at a 

 marked angle to the right, moving with the upper currents of the great 

 whirlwind. At intervals fine misty rain seems to grow out of the air, and 

 then vanishes again, and the squalls freshen. The barometer sinks lower 

 and lower, heavy clouds cover the whole horizon, and the low distant moan 

 gradually changes into the shrieks of a thousand demons wrenching at the 

 stout masts and spars, tearing the strong canvas into shreds and fluttering 

 pennants, hurling timber and masonry into heaps of shapeless ruins, driv- 

 ing wild breakers high up on land, and laughing to scorn the feeble strength 

 of man. Suddenly a pause. Silence. Calm. The warm, bright sunshine 

 of a summer day. A brief glimpse of heaven. And then another seeming 

 eternity of hell. As is often the case, a second hurricane succeeded the 

 first after a few days' interval, following approximately the same track." 

 Time did not allow the speaker to go into any detailed description of either 

 one, although each would be well worthy of a volume. 



The lecturer then spoke briefly of his visit to Cuba during September 

 and October, 1888, under orders from the Secretary of the Navy, issued at 

 his own urgent application. These two months constitute the latter half 

 of the hurricane season, and October is specially dreaded because of the 

 fact, already mentioned, that October hurricanes recurve in just the latitude 

 of the island, which they cross from south to north, retaining all the furious 

 intensity that marks their paths at sea. The very day that he sailed from 

 New York the great September hurricane had just swept across the island 

 from east to west, and was expected to recurve across the peninsula of 

 Florida and reach the Gulf Stream again off Hatteras. Diagrams were 

 given to show the remarkable deflection of this cyclone toward Vera Cruz, 

 and the track of another one that followed close after the first but recurved 

 about as usual. Various diagrams and illustrations were given in the effort 

 to convey some idea of the summer climate in the City of Havana, the 

 historic, picturesque old Spanish capital of lovely Cuba, " la Perla de las 

 Antillas," and to describe some of the leading results of the studies of Padre 

 Vines, the eminent Havana meteorologist, whose scientific ability, indefat- 

 igable energy, and unrivaled opportunities have linked his name so insep- 

 arably with all recent advances in our knowledge of these storms. Indeed, 

 the lecturer had himself suggested coining the word " Viness," to express 



