THE TORNADO OF 1851. 177 



trees have escaped unhurt. In other parts we notice just the reverse, every thing of low 

 growth having been apparently out of the reach of violence, and the only evidences of 

 injury being found in the broken branches on the tops of the tall forest-trees. In con- 

 nection with this point, I would also record one other observation. Standing upon the 

 top of Wellington Hill, we have a fine unbroken view of the track of the tornado through 

 West Cambridge, and a large part of Medford. Its path, wherever it had passed through 

 woods, was very distinctly marked by its brown color, strongly contrasted with the green 

 foliage around it. On reaching any of these places, it was found that the leaves were 

 crisp and withered, as if scorched by a fire, or acted upon by frost, and it appeared to 

 me that this effect was particularly marked upon the hickory-trees. The cause of this 

 phenomenon has been variously ascribed to extreme heat, extreme cold, and electricity. 

 My purpose is simply to record the fact. There was much speculation at the time, also, 

 with reference to the baked apples, or, as some preferred to call them, the frost-bitten or 

 electrified apples, which were scattered over the ground. The only observation I have to 

 record upon these is, that they were baked, frost-bitten, or electrified only upon one side, 

 and that, as they lay on the ground, this side was invariably turned towards the sun, 

 which was, moreover, at that time, shining with an intensity which all my companions 

 on the survey will well recollect. 



Abundant testimony may be obtained from eyewitnesses as to the highly electric con- 

 dition of the storm-cloud. One person describes a new lightning-rod upon his house as 

 presenting the appearance of having been put into the fire. He also saw flashes of 

 lightning from the cloud; but on this latter point, we should be cautious of judging too 

 hastily from appearances. In a dense cloud, such as this is represented to have been, a 

 mere board or shingle, or piece of slate, or paper, all of which were at different times 

 held in suspension, might easily catch and reflect the sun's rays, and, by one who was 

 looking for the evidences of electric action, such a luminous appearance would readily be 

 mistaken for the lightning's flash. The conductor alluded to above I did not see, but in 

 the same vicinity the following remarkable phenomena were observed. Several panes of 

 glass were pierced with small round holes, as if a bullet had passed through them, and 

 in one instance under the following peculiar circumstances. In a small room, with one 

 window facing towards the south, there is a sash door opposite the window, and the sash 

 was covered by a cotton curtain. The window is believed to have been open, and a 

 small hole, not as large as a five-cent piece, is found in the cotton curtain, and in the 

 pane of glass a larger one, about the size of a quarter of a dollar. The glass presents a 

 clean fracture, and the edges are not sharp, but look as if they had been melted. We 

 cannot suppose such a hole in a piece of glass to be much larger in diameter than the 



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