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Notices of Tornadoes, §c. 73 
Arr. XII.—Notices of Tornadoes, §c. ; by Rosert Hare, M. D., 
Professor of Chemistry in the University of Pennsylvania. ~ 
L. Account of a Tornado, which passed over Providence, and the 
Village of Somerset, R. I., in August, 1838.* 
I propose to lay before the Society, for a place in their Trans- 
actions, an account of a tornado which occurred in the state of 
Rhode Island, towards the end of August last. 
This phetomeison was first observed near Providence, over the 
south-western suburbs of which it passed in a course generally 
from west by north, to south by east. Only a few days su 
guently I visited some of the most remarkable scenes of its rava- 
£es. 
The characteristics of this tornado, from all that I could see or 
hear, are quite similar to those of the tornado which occurred at 
New Brunswick, N. J. in June, 1835, and to which I referred in 
my paper upon the causes of peindaons and water-spouts, published 
in the sixth volume of the Society’s Transactions. 
This recent tornado was advantageously seen by J. L. Tilling- 
hast, Esq. from a window of his mansion, which is so situated, 
on the brow of a hill on the eastern side of the city of Providence, 
as to afford an unobstructed view of the country opposite. Mr. 
Tillinghast alledges that his attention was at first attracted by see- 
ing to the westward a huge inverted cone, of extremely dark va- 
por, which extended from the clouds to the earth. In the contor- 
tions and spiral movements of its lower extremity, this cone was 
Conceived to resemble the proboscis of an enormous elephant, 
moving about in search of food. Sometimes it was elongated so 
as to reach the ground; at others it skipped over the intervening 
Space without touching it; but at each contact with the terres- 
trial surface or bodies resting thereon, a cloud of dust intermin- _ 
gled with their fragments, was seen to rise within the vortex. To 
those who were sufficiently near to the meteor, a fearful explana- 
tion of these appearances was simultaneously evident. Ponds_ 
Were partially exhausted. ‘Trees uprooted or deprived of their 
leaves or branches. ~ Houses were unroofed, or uplifted and then 
ashed to pieces. Farms were robbed of their grain, potatoes, 
Ragen ne ee 
* From the Transactions of the prees: sheontienl Society. 
Vol. xxxyvim1, No. 1.—Oct.—Dec. 1839. 
