INTRODUCTION. XXI 



It is indeed probable, (32, 33, 45,) that in all violent thunder 

 storms in which hail falls, the up-moving current is so violent as 

 to carry drops of rain to a great height, when they freeze and be- 

 come hail. It is difficult, if not impossible, to conceive any other 

 way in which hail can be formed in the summer, or in the torrid 

 zone. (45.) In those countries in which an upper current of air 

 prevails in a particular direction, the tornadoes and water-spouts 

 will generally move in the same direction, because the up-moving 

 column of air in this meteor rises far into this upper current, and 

 of course its upper part will be pressed in this direction, and as the 

 great tornado cloud moves on in the direction of the upper current, 

 the air at the surface of the earth will be pressed up into it by the 

 superior weight of the surrounding air. It is for this reason that 

 the tornado in Pennsylvania generally moves towards the east- 

 ward, (passim.) The lower current does not give direction to 

 the hurricanes of the West Indies, for in the latitude of 15, north, 



Salisbury, the storm commenced about 2, P.M., with almost an instantaneous 

 darkness, and a violent rushing* of the wind from the N. E. accompanied by 

 sheets of water and large pieces of ice. About 3, the wind ceased from the 

 N. E., and suddenly it commenced blowing from the S. W. with such torrents 

 of rain for more than half an hour, that every street was flooded, and the waier 

 ran through many of the houses. And at Gloucestershire, on the night of the 

 15th July, 1808, masses of ice from three to nine inches in circumference did 

 great damage. They appeared like fragments of a vast plate of ice, broken into 

 small masses. The storm rose in the S. W., and died away in the N. E., from 

 which quarter it was opposed by a strong breeze. A similar hail storm, with 

 rugged pieces of ice, is mentioned in the 2d vol. page 73 ; and in page 131, he 

 mentions hail stones five inches long and two inches in diameter, which fell 

 in France in the Upper Morne. And in page 127, he says, pieces of ice of pro- 

 digious size fell near Birmingham. In p. 257, the Ohio storm, with stones 

 ]3, 14 and 15 inches in circumference, some appeared like snow balls immers- 

 ed in water and then frozen. Also in page 271, mention is made of hail fall- 

 ing a foot deep, in less than 10 minutes, and becoming a solid mass of ice. 

 Page 319. M. Howard says, the hail stone, which Gilbert mentions as ex- 

 ceeding the strength of eight men to lift it, was doubtless formed of aggluti- 

 nated hail melting on the surface and freezing within. 



In the Orkney spout of the 24th July, 1618, (30,) instead of hail stones of 

 the usual shape pieces of ice," of almost all forms, were precipitated with 

 the utmost violence. Mr. Caithness attempted to wade out among the hail 

 stones in the direction of the cattle, but the loose ice, he says, slipped below 

 his feet, and sometimes reached his knees. In this way his legs were so 

 much cut by its sharp edges that he was soon obliged to desist. 



Many of these stones were not unlike thick, clumsy oyster shells. The 

 whole extent of this hail storm from S. W. toN. E. was little more than 20 miles, 

 and travelled this space at the rate of about a mile in a minute and a half, and 

 lasted, at any one place, not more than eight or nine minutes. The barometer 

 fell from 29. 68 to 27. 7(), on the passage of the spout ; or perhaps more, as the 

 minimum may not have been observed, for it did not occur to Mr. Lindsay to 

 note the barometer till the cloud was passing off ; sixty geese in one flock 

 were killed, and all the rest so hurt that they soon died ; and the milch cows 

 " were struck yeld," or gave no more milk, and indeed would not suffer the 

 people to attempt to milk them any more. 

 d 



