440 PHILOSOPHY OF STORMS. 



bodies, near the centre, were moved backwards first, and 

 afterwards carried forwards, and some were found west of 

 the place where they originally stood. And the Professor 

 did not attempt to deny that, in other tornadoes, many trees 

 near the centre of the path are thrown down backwards, 

 and are found lying underneath those which are thrown 

 down forwards. 



If it is contended that there is both an inward and whirl- 

 ing motion, in tornadoes, then the experiment altogether 

 fails to illustrate or confirm the assertion. But the Profes- 

 sor had a ball attached to a string, which passed through a 

 hole in the centre of a horizontal plane ; to this ball, laid 

 on the plane, a rapid motion was given, and prevented from 

 flying off the plane by holding the string below ; and when 

 the string was drawn down, the ball, in its motion round, 

 approximated the centre with increased velocity; and "so 

 it was said the air would do, if a whirling motion should 

 be given to it," by some unknown cause, or rather have a 

 whirling motion as an ultimate cause, it being impossible 

 to assign any cause for the whirl, or even conceive of one. 



But neither does this experiment prove what it was in- 

 tended to prove ; for it is manifest that the ball would 

 neither have moved in a circle, nor in a spiral inwards, if 

 it had not been attached to the string; and if the string had 

 broken, the ball would have instantly flown off in a tangent. 

 Now, the particles of air supposed to whirl in a tornado 

 had no string attached. Besides, if "it should even be 

 granted that there was a spiral motion inwards, it would 

 not account for the fall of the barometer for any considera- 

 ble length of time, for the great accumulation of air which 

 would be the result, would cause the barometer to rise 

 above the mean in the centre of the spout, unless it is 

 granted that there is a more rapid outward motion above, 

 which can only be accounted for on my theory. 



It is not a little remarkable, that the fall of the barometer 



