[ M J 



tl. Some Account of a teirille Hurricane which legan to 

 the IVivdward of the Caribbce Islands on the 3d of Sep- 

 tember 1804, and proceeded North- west ivardli/ over the 

 Virgin Islands and Bahamas oil the Ath, 5th, and-Gthf 

 vntU it reached Florida, Georgia, ctnd South Carolina, on 

 the 7th, 6th, and Qth ; and of a furious Gale from the 

 North-cast which prevailed at the same time, arid pro- 

 ceeded South- westuardly nhtil it met the former i show- 

 imr that Storms of the vwit destructive Fiolence some- 

 times arise to IVindward, diid bear down every Thing be- 

 fore them in their Passage td Leewardi 



To Mr. Tdlochi 



DEAR SIR, NewYork, Aprils, 1805. 



i. INCLOSE you a copy of my letter to baron Humboldt ort 

 the hurricane of September 1 804v It is intendcti to furnish 

 facts for a more satisfactory theory of the American winds 

 tlian \vc possess at present. My situation at Washington, 

 the seat of our national government, and the great amount 

 of ship news contained in our gazettes^; have enabled me to 

 make the collection of facts very extensive* 



Vours truly and respectfully, 



Samuel L. Mitchill. 



Mr. Volney, when he was in North America, sought 

 information concerning its atmosphere, with an intention 

 of forming a theory of the winds prevalent in the territory 

 of the United States. At that time I was not able to furnish 

 any facts worthy to be conununicated to that able observer^ 

 Since his return to Europe I have had an excellent oppor- 

 tunity to collect the facts afforded by a most violent snow 

 storm from the north-east, on ihc 21st, 22d, and 23d days' 

 of February 1802. These were published in the first Hex- 

 ade, vol. v. p. 465, of the Medical Repository. From that 

 inquiry it appeared that our most boisterous winter storms^ 

 accompanied with snow and a north-east wind, began to 

 leeward, and progressed to windward from South Carolina to 

 Maine, at the rate of about one hundred mileS in an hour* 



Since that collection of facts was printed, Mr. Volney 

 has given to the public " his Picture of the Climate and 

 Soil of the United States," in two octavo volumes, at Paris, 

 in 1803. In the ninth chapter of this w^ork he has ven- 

 tured to give " a system of the winds within the United 

 States." Herein he has treated of the winds from the 

 north, iiorth-cast, and east; from the south-east and south; 



from 



