[ 20 ] 



VI. Remarks relating to the Tornado 'which visited Nexn} 

 Bninsxoick in the State q/'Nexv Jersey, June 19, 1835, isoith 

 a Plan and Schedule of the Prostrations observed on a Sec- 

 tion of its Track. By W. C. Redfield, Esq^. 



[Illustrated by Plate II.] 



IN a paper printed in the American Journal of Science, in 

 which I referred to the support given by Prof. Bache to 

 Mr. Espy's theory of storms, at the meeting of the British 

 Association in 1838, founded upon observations made on the 

 New Brunswick tornado, I have stated, that in my own ex- 

 aminations I had observed numerous facts which appear to 

 demonstrate the isohirling character of this tornado, as well as 

 the inxQard tendency of the whirling vortex at the surface 

 of the ground ; and further, that the direction of rotation 

 was to-wards the left, as in the North Atlantic hurricanesf. 

 It was due to Prof. Bache that my observations should be 

 brought forward, a task which has been too long delayed, 

 partly from a desire that he would revise his former conclu- 

 sions. The facts now presented form part of the evidence to 

 which I then alluded. 



If the effects which I present for consideration be due to 

 *' a moving column of rarefied air without any whirling mo- 

 tion at or near the surface of the ground," as maintained by 

 Prof. Bache:]:, we might expect to find a relative uniformity 

 in these effects, on the two opposite sides or margins of the 

 track. How far this is the case, may be seen by inspecting 

 the observations which are found upon the annexed figure. 

 (Plate II.) 



The occurrence of these tornadoes appears to have been 

 noticed from the earliest antiquity ; and their violence has 

 been considered as the effect of an active whirling motion in 

 the body of the tornado ; this peculiarity of action having 

 often been supported by the testimony of eye-witnesses. 



The whirling motion, however, has not been recognized by 

 Piof. Bache, Mr. Espy §, or Prof Walter R. Johnson |{, in 

 their several accounts of the New Brunswick tornado; these 

 writers having been led toadopt or favour a theory of ascending 

 columns in the atmosphere, founded on the supposed in- 



* [Communicated by Sir John F. W. Heischel, Bart.] Tiiis |)aper was 

 intended by its author to have been read at the late meeting of the British 

 Association in Glasgow, l)ut was unfortunately detained. — J. F. W. H. 



■\ Anier. Jouin. of Science, Oct. 1838, vol. xxxv. pp. 206, 207. 



X Transactions of Amer. Phil. Society, vol. v. p. 417. New Series. 



§ Trans. Amer. Phil. Society, vol. v. New Series. 



II Journ. Academy Nat. Sciences of Philadelphia, vol. vii. Part ii. 



