210 PHILOSOPHY OF STORMS. 



ted to the several counties of the state, and as recent materials 

 have consequently not yet been furnished to your meteorolo- 

 gist for a report, I have thought it would be interesting and 

 useful to the cause in which we are engaged, to inves- 

 tigate the phenomena connected with the GREAT STORM which 

 visited on recast Sept. 3d, 1821. 



1 have chosen this storm in preference to others, because 

 materials for its investigation are more abundant, and also 

 because Mr. Redfield thinks " there is but one satisfactory 

 explanation of the phenomena. " The storm was exhibited 

 in the form of a great whirlwind." 



Now it is of immense importance to the mariner that he 

 should have correct views on this point and I propose to 

 demonstrate that this storm at least was not exhibited in the 

 form of a whirlwind, but was like the twelve storms which 

 have been investigated by the Joint Committee of the Ameri- 

 can Philosophical Society and the Franklin Institute ; that 

 is, the wind blew inwards at its borders. 



T/his conclusion is rendered certain by the following facts, 

 which are deductions from the particulars given below. 



1st. The storm set in every where on the extreme south 

 east border from the south east, and not from the south west, 

 and changed round to the S. S. W., or S. And on the ex- 

 treme N. W. border it set in from N. N. E., and blew hard- 

 est from the N. and N. W. Now, on the extreme S. E. 

 border it could not blow from the S. E.-at all, on the suppo- 

 sition that it was a whirlwind ; nor on the N. W. side, could 

 it blow at all from the N. W. Both facts, however, are not 

 only consistent with a centripetal motion of the air, but ab- 

 solutely prove it. 



2d. Wherever the wind set in from the E., it always 

 changed round by the S., which is consistent with the cen- 

 petal, and inconsistent with the centrifugal, theory. 



3d. There never was a lull mentioned, only where the 

 wind set in from the N. E., which has the same bear- 



