274 TEAR-BOOK OF FACTS. 



respecting it from every available quarter, ami really can find no 

 proof whatever of this storm being a cyclone, or of there having been 

 any whirling of the wind whatever, further than the mere eddies, 

 which all fluids in rapid motion would be liable to, when subject to 

 such obstructions as the wind generally meets with in passing along 

 the surface of the earth." 



Mr. Howell's lecture extended to nearly 50 pages, so that we can 

 do little more than call our readers' attention to this very interesting 

 record. At about a mile south of Calne, the storm is described as 

 coming upon the villages in an instant, ushered in by a most vivid 

 flash of lightning and an instantaneous clap of thunder, and attended 

 by abundant rain and large hailstones. 



" Indeed, so appalling was the whole scene, and in consequence men's senses 

 seem to have been so paralysed with terror, that (strange to say), alone the 

 whole line of storm, where hundreds of trees werethrown down, scarcely a single 

 individual saw or heard a tree fall, and nobody realized what was occurring till 

 the hurricane had gone by. But in three minutes the storm had passed on, and 

 then, when the frightened villagers emerged from their cottages, what a sight 

 met the eye on all sides ! the largest trees torn up by the root*, uphea^ ing tons 

 of earth attached to them to a height of fourteen feet above the ground ; Large 

 branches snapped oiF and carried on many yards to where they fell; barns in 

 ruins or prostrate on the ground ; ricks demolished, and the sheaves carried away; 

 their own lwmses Unroofed, and their gardens filled with straw, fallen chimneys, 

 and tiles ; and all this havoc effected in three minutes of time!" 



We cannot quote further details, except to point to Mr. Roweli's 

 account of a waggon and hay being carried over a hedge during the 

 storm, which must have been tossed nearly upright, and then car- 

 ried onward by the direct force of the storm. (See page 33 of the 

 Lecture.) Mr. Rowell attributes this phenomenon to " the sudden 

 expansion of the air beneath the waggon, as the storm-cloud 

 passed ;" and he then shows how this may have occurred. 



Another violent effect was the storm seizing the heavy, substantial 

 roof of a cattle-shed (53 feet by 16) and lifting U off the walls which 

 supported it in a solid viass, although the thatch of the roof was 

 scarcely, if at all, damaged. Mr. Rowell concludes: — 



" I beg to observe that I have controverted the opinion that the Ftorm in Wilt- 

 shire was a whirlwind, from B linn conviction that its phenomena mUSl be other- 

 Wise accounted lor. ami with the hope of directing attention to phenomena ju 

 storms that are too often overlooked ; but 1 believe thai a whirlwind may often 



result from oansea similar to those to which I attribute this storm, as the rare- 

 fiction within a cloud, at a moderate elevation, may often pro.lm-e a whirling of 



the air rushing onward and upward into the partial vacuum. 1 have Controverted 



Mr. Kspy's opinions on f e points, but I believe the phenomena of the storm 



fully accords w it h his conclusions, ' t hat there is an inward motion of the air 

 toward- the centre of storms from all sides :' I only diller from that gentleman 

 as to how Such an effect i- produced. Tin- like remark will apply to mv observa- 

 tion- on Mr. Hopkins's views, a- I believe he ha-, in his various papers on this 

 ; . almost proevd that the fall of rain is the principal cause of wind, although 



l have totally different views as to the reason whj it is so."* 



* Mr. Bowell is also the author i rmlDitlributionqffk* 



Sen*e ofJ'aui , and of a very ingenious .Sway o* tih i * and Us allied 



ISM; t»f both trad-, second editions have been pi inti d. In the Latter 



the ingenuity with winch all th.- known phenomena ot rain mid storms 



are mad.- to bear tribute tOtha author's llicoi \ rksble, Both works 



arc sold by the Author, > 0, B, Alfred-street, St. Qfli - I, Oxford. 



