AND VIOLENT WINDS. 343 



were killed by lightning in one field, at Johns- 

 town, near Tuller. Some had their heads and 

 horns burnt, and some their shoulders. On the 

 lands of Mr. Lynham, at the hill of Talloght, 

 eighteen cattle, twenty-three sheep, and a goat 

 were also killed by lightning." (Bell's Weekly 

 Messenger, June 14, 1835.) 



Tornados of the United States. 



It was observed by Lord Bacon, that " all tor- 

 nados or great whirlwinds have a manifest pre- 

 cipitous motion, or darting downwards more than 

 other winds, so that they seem to fall like tor- 

 rents, and run as it were in channels." 



Such tornados are remarkably frequent in the 

 United States during hot sultry weather, and 

 are attended with the most striking displays of 

 electrical phenomena; always with rapid con- 

 densations of vapour, and often with enormous 

 quantities of ice. They generally run in narrow 

 veins from 100 yards to half a mile wide ; while 

 the equinoctial hurricanes of the Southern states, 

 like those of the tropics, sweep over a vast extent 

 of surface, and are rarely if ever accompanied 

 with hail. The tornado is sometimes attended 

 by a rapid succession of lightning ; at other 

 times it presents the appearance of an inverted 

 fiery pyramid, from which is heard a continuous 



