64 PHILOSOPHY OF STORMS. 



exists, of which we have no knowledge, to generate new 

 motion in the air, which would descend from the upper re- 

 gions of the atmosphere in the middle of the whirlwind, to 

 take the place of that which had thrust itself out by its 

 centrifugal force. It may be added, that the readiness and 

 ease with which the air would descend in this whirlwind, 

 would be so great that the rarefaction of the air in the in- 

 side, caused by the centrifugal force of the air would be a 

 quantity very minute, unless we suppose the whirlwind to 

 reach to a great height, which cannot be the case, if it is 

 produced by friction on the West India Islands, and on 

 our coast, as is alleged by Mr. Redfield. 



Therefore, it will not account for the great fall which is 

 known to take place in the barometer, during these violent 

 storms, a fact which is fully explained by the theory here 

 proposed. Besides, Mr. Redfield need not be told that this 

 downward motion of the air in the centre of the whirlwind, 

 would increase its capacity for vapor, and effectually pre- 

 vent deposition, or formation of cloud. 



89. If all other proofs were wanting, our great north east 

 storms of six or eight hundred miles in diameter, from north 

 east to south west, and of unknown extent from south east 

 to north west, would afford us an undeniable proof of an up- 

 ward current. These storms always set in from near the 

 north east, and terminate near the west. So we have proof 

 positive, that the wind, near the surface of the earth, is 

 always blowing both east and west of the storm towards 

 the storm itself. I have observed these storms for many 

 years, and I have never known but two to terminate with 

 the wind from the eastern quarter, and then the anomaly 

 was soon explained in both instances, by another storm 

 coming on in less than forty-eight hours. But even in these 

 cases, after the termination of the first storm, the wind was 

 very gentle, nearly calm. 



The wind always commences from the north east, some 



