22 EIGHTH REPORT 1838. 



great hurricane of that year, which, in the sliort space of seven hours, 

 killed upwards of 1400 persons on that island alone. He Avas for two 

 years and a half daily employed as an engineer officer, amidst the 

 ruined buildings, and was thus naturally led to the consideration of the 

 phenomena of hurricanes, and earnestly sought for every species of 

 information which could give a clue to explain them. 



The first reasonable explanation met with was given in a small 

 pamphlet, extracted from the American Journal of Science, written by 

 VV. C. lledfield, of New York. 



The gradual progress made in our acquaintance with the subject of 

 storms is not uninteresting. The north-east storms on the coast of 

 America had attracted the attention of Franklin. One of these storms 

 preventing his observing an eclipse of the moon in Philadelphia, he 

 Avas much surprised to find that the eclipse had been visible at Boston, 

 which town is noitli-east of Philadelphia : this was a circumstance not 

 to be lost on such an inquiring mind as Franklin's. By examination 

 he ascertained that this north-east storm came from the south-west ; but 

 he died before he had made the next step in this investigation. 



Colonel Capper, of the East India Company's Service, after having 

 studied meteorological subjects for twenty years in the Madras terri- 

 tory, wrote a work on the winds and monsoons in 1801. He states his 

 belief that hurricanes will be found to be great whirlwinds, and that 

 the place of a ship in these whirlwinds may be ascertained ; for, the 

 nearer to the vortex, the faster will the wind veer ; and subsequent 

 inquiries prove that Colonel Capper was right in this opinion. 



Mr. lledfield, following up the observations of Franklin, probably 

 without knowing those of Colonel Capper, ascertained that whilst the 

 north-east storms were blowing on the shore of America, the wind, 

 with equal violence, was blowing a south-west storm in the Atlantic. 

 Tracking Franklin's storms from the southward, he found throughout 

 their course that the wind on opposite sides blew in opposite directions ; 

 and that, in fact, they were progressive whirlwinds, their manner of re- 

 volving being always in the same direction. By combining observations 

 on the barometer with the progressive movement of storms, Mr. Red- 

 field appears to have given the first satisfactoi-y explanation of its rise 

 and fall in stormy weather, and Colonel Reid's observations confirm his 

 views. 



The first step taken by the author, in furtherance of this inquiry, 

 was to project maps on a large scale, in order to lay down Mr. Red- 

 field's observations, and thus to be better able to form a judgment on 

 the mode of action of the atmosphere. 



These maps, which have now been engraved for publication in a 

 separate work, were laid before the Association. The M'ind is marked 

 on them by arrow's. On the right-hand side of the circles the arrows 

 will be observed to be flying from the souih ; on the left-hand, coming 

 back from the north. 



Tlie field of inquiry which this opens can be but mei'ely indicated 

 here ; to proceed in a satisfactoiy manner with the inquiry, the study 

 being a new one, requires that tlic proofs be exhibited step by step. 



