ON THE WHIRLWIND AT FELTON AND BODENHAM, 

 ON THE 7th JULY, 1872. 



Bt F. EDMUNDS, F.R.H.S., and T. CURLEY, C.E., F.G.S. 



The occurrence of a tornado or whirlwind in this county on a scale of 

 noticeable magnitude is an event so rare, and one which gives so deep an in- 

 terest to the natural history of the county, as to constitute it a proper subject 

 for record in the annals of the Woolhope Naturalists' Field Club. The sud- 

 denness, the unusual extent, and the magnitude of the damage wrought in a 

 few minutes in the present instance, mark it out as thus far unique in our 

 local history. Hitherto, at least for many years past, our Herefordshire 

 whirlvnnds have been mere babies, catching up a haycock, or clearing a hedge 

 of Unen, or absorbing in their eddying motion the straws and rubbish of the 

 road, or occasionally sucking up in their flight the contents of a pond, slime, 

 frogs, and all, and jiouring them forth upon the neighbouring road, as hap- 

 pened two years ago on Athelstan-hill, Hereford ; but these vagaries are 

 merely some of the "common things " which people never try to understand, 

 and vote the attempt "waste of time." To the student of nature there is 

 nothing trivial which shows the working of great laws, and indeed the smallness 

 of the example is a convenience, making the investigation easier and likely 

 sooner to lead to a correct jierception of principles. The whirlwind of Svmday 

 week combines both attractions, being at once of manageable compass for the 

 inquirer, and sufficiently destructive to arrest the attention of the unscientific. 



The phenomenon variously known as tornado, whirlwind, tyfoon, or hurri- 

 cane, is one of frequent occurrence taking the earth's surface as a whole. 

 Although rare in this country, it becomes more frequent as we near the equator, 

 whether the observer approach from the S. or the N. The general fact is 

 important as pointing directly to the theory of storms, which is that they are 

 caused by solar heat, setting free the electricity of the atmosphere. Our 

 knowledge of the causes of these destructive occurrences is yet too imperfect 

 to waiTant us in supposing that the science of storms is more than a highly 

 probable theory. This is not surprising when we remember that it was not 

 luitil the middle of the 17th century that scientific observations of storms 

 began ; that the study was greatly neglected for a centiu-y afterwards until 

 Dr. Franklin ajiproached it from the side of electricity ; and that it has been 

 systematically prosecuted for only sc^e fiftv or sixty years. 



