Rotary Action of the Providence Tornado. 277 
In most of the foregoing remarks it has been my design to view 
the tornado as it moves onward, in full action, Of the origin or 
incipient causes of the whirl, it is not necessary here to inquire : 
although some clue to these is perhaps afforded us in the consid- 
erations above noticed. 
Recurring once more to the track of the Providence tornado, 
Ihave to state that eastward of Tift’s house the course of the 
track soon became 8. 65° E. magnetic, for more than two miles. 
It then took the course of S. 75° E., and further onward the tor- 
nado passed directly over the house of Solomon Peck, about four 
miles from Providence. This house was partly unroofed ; chim- 
ney thrown down; windows broken inward, as in many othe® 
cases; and much other damage was also done to Mr. Peck’s 
property. In passing onward towards Taunton river the tornado 
appears to. have preserved an inclination to the south of east: 
the track, though slightly sinuous, appearing, like that of the 
New Brunswick tornado, to form part of a great curve, with its 
convex side to the northward. 
On the track from the Lyon farm to Peck’s house there were 
many interesting memorials which might confirm the deductions 
already made. On some portions of the track, also, the tornado 
appeared to have risen almost entirely from the surface, its re- 
versed apex leaving but a narrow trace, and on some fields, even 
no trace at all. But in these cases, as on the tracks of other tor- 
nadoes, the compass bearing did not fail to lead the explorer to 
new ravages, where, at times, the energy of the tornado appeared 
to be greater than before.* 
Before we take leave of the traces of this tornado I would ad- 
duce another of my prepared sketches, which shows the rotative 
effects in a manner which I think should satisfy the most stren- 
uous opposer of whirlwind action. In this sketch, Fig. VI, we 
have represented a portion of the track which crossed at right 
angles a line of weak post-and-rail fence, a, a. On the right of 
the axis, this fence was prostrated eastwardly or in the direction 
of the course of the tornado, as shown by the short arrows which 
may represent the posts of the fence; the rails also having been 
scattered onward and inward, towards ¢, in the general manner rep- 
Snes i ibe SE as «ace ai ae 
* This is not ineomindl in tornadoes, and is especially noticed in the account 
of two Trombes" which are given in Pouillet, Elemens de Physique et de Mété- 
orologie, § 655. Bes game leet (é ere 
