204 PHILOSOPHY OF STORMS. 



It is worthy also of particular remark, that the barometer 

 fell at Porto Rico to 28 inches, and rose to 29.17 in an hour 

 and a half. As this storm moved about 10 miles in an 

 hour, it would appear that the barometer was lower in the 

 middle of the storm by 1.17 inches than it was at the dis- 

 tance of fifteen miles, and if so, the velocity of the up- 

 moving column in the middle of the storm may be calcu- 

 lated according to the laws of spouting fluids, and will be 

 found to be upwards of 260 feet per second. From this 

 the quantity of vapor condensed in a second may be cal- 

 culated. 



Barbadoes Hurricane of 26th July, 1837. 



152. At Barbadoes At 2 o'clock, A. M. of 26th July, 

 light showers of rain, wind shifting from south to north 

 west, the sky dark and gloomy, with flashes of lightning 

 in the south east and south west. At 4, calm, with a 

 heavy swell rolling into the bay; lightning and thunder, 

 sky assuming a black appearance, with a red glare at the 

 verge of the horizon ; every flash of lightning with an un- 

 usual whizzing noise, like that of a red hot iron plunged in 

 water ; at 6, the barometer fell rapidly, the sympiesometer 

 much agitated and unsettled, and fell at length to 28.45. 

 At 7.30 the hurricane burst on us in all its dreadful fury : 

 at 8 it shifted from east south east to south, and blew for 

 half an hour, so that we could hardly stand on deck ; the 

 wind shifting to south west, at 9 the barometer began to 

 rise, and to our great joy we saw a change in the sky for 

 the better. As the haze cleared away, we counted twenty- 

 one sail driven on shore. 



At St. Vincent. Our paper from St. Vincent informs us 

 that the gale of the 26th July was severely felt there; the 

 wind being from the west and south with a heavy swell of 

 the sea. 



