THEORY CONFIRMED BY PHENOMENA. 61 



it never has been known to rain five inches an hour in a 

 storm of this magnitude, and the condensation of the air is 

 supposed to take place during the whole rain. 



87. I have myself had the pleasure of seeing and point- 

 ing out to many of my friends at various times, the clouds 

 moving outwards above, and inwards below, during a sum- 

 mer's thunder gust, which could not be, if there was a con- 

 densation of air in the region of the cloud, and I may add, 

 without the fear of contradiction, that it proves the reverse. 

 Besides, I have known many instances of long continued 

 and violent rains in the south, during the prevalence of a 

 strong and long continued north wind, and of long con- 

 tinued and violent rains in the north, during the strong arid 

 long continued south wind. 



An instance of the latter occurred on the llth, 12th, 13th, 

 14th, and 15th of May, 1833. In my journal it is stated 

 that a strong south wind prevailed during this whole period 

 night and day. And by consulting the papers of the pe- 

 riod, I find the following facts : 



Harrisburg, May 16, 1833. When our paper went to 

 press, the Stisquehannah was sixteen feet above low water 

 mark, and rising a greater freshet than has taken place 

 for sixteen years the rain must have been much greater 

 up the river than in the vicinity. 



Albany, loth. The most painful accounts begin to be 

 received of the destructive effects of the freshet. The river 

 continued to rise until ten o'clock this morning, when it 

 was a foot higher than it was in the great freshet occasioned 

 by the ice in the spring. On the 17th, it had fallen only a 

 few inches. 



The Amsterdam (Mohawk Herald) of the 16th, says, 

 " every bridge and mill dam on the creek near Fort John- 

 son has been swept away." 



Hartford, 18th. The water in the Connecticut last eve- 

 ning, was 19| feet above low water mark. 



