158 On the Causes of the Tornado, or Water Spout. 
I have been informed by my intelligent friend, Mr. Quinby, who 
resided for some time in Peru, at an elevation of fifteen thousand feet 
above the level of the ocean, that the clouds in that elevated region 
are faf more electric than in the lower country of the same latitude; 
and that, on this account, it was considered as dangerous, at times, to 
travel in the “ sierras,” or table land. Possibly thunder storms are 
more frequent in warm weather, in consequence of the greater eleva- 
tion which the clouds then attain, and their consequent approximation 
to the celestial ocean of electricity. 
Consistently with the hypothesis which I suggested in my essay on 
the gales of the United States, the enduring rains which accompany 
those gales are attributed to the contact of an upper warm and moist 
current of air, with a lower current of the same fluid at an inferior 
temperature, and moving in an opposite direction. It would follow 
that, on such occasions, the electricity of the upper region would be 
diffused among the clouds within the upper stratum, without reaching 
those existing within the lower current. But in such cases neither 
stratum would be sufficiently insulated and restricted in its extent to 
transmit the electricity in a concentrated form, or to be liable to the 
intense excitement necessary to produce a tornado or lightning. 
Facts and Observations respecting the Tornado which occurred at 
New Brunswick, N. J., in June last, abstracted from a written 
statement made by James P. Espy, M. A. P. S.; by R. Hare, 
M. D. &c. &c. 
The tornado was formed about seven and a half miles west of 
New Brunswick, and, moving at the rate of about twenty five or 
thirty miles in an hour, terminated suddenly at Amboy, about seven- 
teen and a half miles from the place of its commencement. It ap- 
peared like an inverted cone, of which the base was in the clouds, 
and the vertex upon the earth. It prostrated or carried off every 
movable body within its path ; which was from two hundred to four 
hundred yards wide. Trees which were embraced successively 
within its axis were thrown down in a direction parallel to its path; 
those on either side always pointing towards some point which had 
been under its axis. Houses were unroofed, and, in some instances, 
unfloored ; in others, their walls were thrown down outwards, as if 
burst by an explosion. There are two facts stated by Mr. Espy, 
and confirmed by Prof. Bache, which demonstrate fully the exis- 
