438 PHILOSOPHY OF STORMS. 



the north ; and in such cases, if my theory is true, rain 

 could seldom be formed. If the wind blows from the south, 

 then it will have parted with its moisture in crossing the 

 mountains of Abyssinia, just as the air parts with all its mois- 

 ture in crossing the Andes, before it reaches Peru. And if 

 the air blows from the east or west over Egypt, it is not 

 probable it would have much vapor in it, having passed 

 over dry sands. 



After all, if this explanation is unsatisfactory, and even 

 incorrect, it does not invalidate the truth of my theory. It 

 was some considerable time before the theory of gravitation, 

 simple and beautiful as it is, could be reconciled to the lu- 

 nar anomalies ; but now these anomalies furnish the most 

 decisive proofs of its truth. 



Again; the Professor said "he rejected my theory because 

 another explained the phenomena better." Under this head 

 an experiment was shown to prove that a whirling motion 

 in the air would explain the phenomena of storms better 

 than an inward and upward motion. A very shallow, 

 broad vessel, with water in it, was made to revolve rapidly 

 in a horizontal plain, to prove that if air so revolved, it 

 would move downwards in the middle and upwards and 

 outwards at the sides; which the Professor said explained the 

 phenomena of storms arid water-spouts better than my 

 system. 



In this experiment, it appeared to me, the Professor utterly 

 failed to show that any one of the phenomena attending the 

 water-spout could be accounted for. If, indeed, the air 

 rushed outwards below all round this metoer and down- 

 wards in the middle, then would the experiment exhibited 

 be analogous. But what did the diagram of the New Ha- 

 ven tornado, shown by the Professor, prove ? Why, most 

 certainly, that the air moved inwards on three quarters of 

 a circle at least at the two sides and in the rear. I un- 

 derstood the professor to say that the air went up on the 

 sides and down in the middle of the tornado, and that his 



