LABORS OF THE JOINT COMMITTEE. 135 



hours, and were under the general influence of the whole 

 storm, and not affected by any particular localities, they 

 speak a language which cannot be mistaken. 



The wind could not blow thus strongly inwards for many 

 hours without moving upwards in the centre of convergence, 

 whether that was the centre of the storm or not ; and as the 

 barometer continued to fall in the region of the storm during 

 the whole day, the air must have flowed outwards from the 

 region of the storm above^ even faster at first than it flowed 

 inwards below, otherwise the barometer would not have 

 fallen within the storm. 



The storm was so nearly round on the 16th and 17th, 

 that it would be an affectation of accuracy beyond our data, 

 to give any other figure in the topographical chart. It was 

 also so nearly the same size on each of those days that it is 

 impossible to say on which day it covered the largest terri- 

 tory ; the quantity of rain and snow known on the 16th was 

 small, while that on the 17th was very great. But on the 

 18th, it greatly increased its size, (if it remained round,) for on 

 that day its diameter from south west to north east, along 

 our coast, was more than six hundred miles, reaching from 

 North Carolina to Maine. Whereas on the two preceding 

 days it was only about five hundred in diameter. 



From the 16th to the 17th, the storm travelled towards 

 the east or even a little south of east ; for on the 15th, there 

 was considerable snow in the southern part of Michigan, 

 and on the night of the 16th, and on the 17th, there was very 

 little snow at Meadville, Pennsylvania, though Meadville is 

 on a lower latitude. But on the 18th, the storm manifestly 

 moved towards a point north of east, for, at half past one, 

 P. M., it began to snow in Portland, Maine, 2 further 

 north than it extended while in Pennsylvania. 



Whether this extension of the storm further north, de- 

 pended on the direction in which its centre was moving, or 

 on a general widening out of the storm, cannot be deter- 



