if, 
British Association Sor the Advancement of Science. 105 
commenced at S. W. and then very gradually moved round a. 
little more westward. It was by careful examination of the 
records of these two instruments that I arrived at the view I ven- 
tured to take of this storm, and the evidence I have collected 
from various parts of the country concerning it, strongly confirms ~ 
me in the opinion I have taken of it. Many violent storms fol- 
lowed in the wake of this extraordinary hurricane, but I have not 
attempted to investigate these, as the main storm would have | 
thrown the atmosphere into so disturbed a state, that it would 2 
very likely to produce minor eddies, gusts, &c. 
Prof. Stevelly observed that so long ago as 1834, at the Edin- 
burgh meeting, he read a paper in which he attempted to explain 
and account for, on well-established principles, the four leading 
meteorological phenomena,—cloud, rain, wind, and hail. He 
gave reasons for rejecting the vesicular hypothesis as to the con- 
stitution of cloud, chiefly because no causes were known to exist 
adequate to the ‘caiGuation of vesicles, and capillary attraction 
would tend to prevent it; and adopting the view of solid spheri- 
cles, he showed that snare diminution of size would be sufficient 
to account for their suspension, as even globules of platina could 
be so reduced in size and suspended in such a manner as to de- 
Scend at any given velocity, however small; adding to this the’ 
fact that electrical atmospheres to the globules, by repelling the 
air on all sides from the spherule of water, would virtually enlarge 
the bulk, without adding to the weight of the drop, and thus aid 
the suspension. Next, as to the formation of cloud; when a 
portion of cloud was once formed in air, loaded with vapor in the 
elastic state, the instant effect was a diminution of tension, and a 
fall of temperature in that spot; air would then rush in on all 
Sides, but air loaded with vapor, rushing into a void will form 
cloud; more cloud would, therefore, be formed, and the causes 
again — into operation for the formation of more, and this, (as 
he called it,) secondary formation of cloud, would go on with 
greater rapidity the more the air was loaded with vapor, and alo’ 
Whatever course the air so loaded by the growing of the cloud 
Would advance ; in the mean time, the air rushing in to fill up the 
comparative oid, would establish, when the causes were strongly 
in operation, progressive whirls, such as those described by Mr. 
Redfield and Col. Reid, on the same principle that water while 
going on along a course, if let out by a hole in the bottom, forms 
Vi 
* ee — 1.—Oct.-Dec. 1839. 14 . 
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a 
