SUPPLEMENTARY REPORT ON METEOROLOGY. 111 
217. The theory of Capper, Redfield, and Reid has not been 
received without opposition. Mr. Espy*, in particular, advo- 
cates the Franklinian doctrine of the progression of wind in radial 
lines ; and he has received the powerful support of Prof. Bache, 
of Philadelphia, who has described, in great detail, a tornadot 
which occurred in New Brunswick in 1835, and from which he 
finds no proof of rotation. Mr. Milnet has traced, I think 
satisfactorily, the rotatory character of two remarkable storms 
which passed over the British Islands in November, 1838, ac- 
companied with an extraordinary depression of the barometer 
of a very local character. M. Arago is disposed to admit, that 
there may be hurricanes of both characters, and, consequently, 
observations irreconcileable with either hypothesis singly §. 
V.—C.Lovups—Rain ||. 
918. The theory of the suspension of clouds, one of the most 
interesting in the whole range of meteorology, has received no 
additions, nay, it can hardly be said to exist. That clouds con- 
sist of distinct particles is undoubted, from optical phenomena, 
and from direct observation]; the error seems to be, to con- 
sider these as so many independent molecules, whereas they are 
no doubt connected by the most definite laws of force, and con- 
stitute masses whose density has no necessary connexion with 
that of their integrant parts. No one can observe the chu- 
racter of clouds—for instance, the well-formed cauliflower- 
* Journal, Franklin Institute, October, 1836. Not having been able to pro- 
cure this journal, I cannot refer to the contents more particularly. Mr. Espy 
maintains a peculiar physical theory of storms, which, since this report was 
written, has been brought in several forms before the British public.—See also 
Silliman, xxxix. 120. Dr. Hare has published, in the American Philosophical 
Transactions, and in Silliman’s Journal (vol. xxxviii.), some papers respecting 
tornadoes, in which he appears to assign to them an electrical cause. Major 
Sabine has referred me to a clear and able analysis of the effects of the storm 
of the 20th December, 1836, by Mr. Loomis, in the first part of the 7th vol. 
of the American Transactions (which had not reached Scotland when this 
report was written), who appears to infer, in that particular case, a rotation 
round a horizontal axis like that imagined by Mitchell. The paper is highly 
worthy of consultation. 
+ Trans. American Phil. Soc., v. 407. It seems rather singular, that the 
name of tornado or whirlwind should be applied, by common consent, to a 
storm not having the rotatory character. Mr. Redfield denies Mr. Espy’s and 
Prof. Bache’s conclusions (Nautical Magazine, January, 1839, p. 6.). See also 
the Report of the Newcastle (Eighth) Meeting of the British Association, 
where Colonel Reid and Prof. Bache were present. 
{ Edinb. Trans., vol. xiv. § Comptes Rendus (Paris), vii. 707. 
| Former Report, p. 249. Mahlmann, p. 185. 
§] Since writing the former report, I have satisfied myself of the existence 
and some of the phenomena of Saussure’s (so called) vesicular vapours. 
