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290 Miscella7ieo2is Ivtelligence. 



V, MISCELLAIS-EOUS SCIEIS^TIFIC mTELLIGENCE. 



1. The Schuyler Tornado^ Oneida Count?/, JVew York, (From tlie 

 Utica Morning Herald of June l7th, signed W.). — On Saturday, the 

 15th inst.j at about 4 f. m., we -witnessed in our own neighborhood one of 

 those terrific manifestations of power, a tornado. That it was an unmis- 

 taxable tornado or whirlwind, — water spout, as it would have been had 

 it occurred upon the surface of the water instead of the land, — there can 

 be no doubt. 



Many noticed about 4 p. m. of that day a peculiarity in the appearance 

 of the clouds, which for the naost part lay to the northward of us. At 

 Whitestown, where it did not rain at all ; in Marcy some eight miles 

 west of the scene of the disaster, and in Utica, a peculiarity in the clouds 

 to the east was noticed by different observers. One observer in Deerfield 

 described the appearance as a huge cone like a hogshead in the clouds, 

 and terminating far below in a point the size of a stov';e pipe, which passed 

 along towards the east, two observers say as long as ten minutes, one 

 says swaying to and fro as it passed. It was black like the cloud itself, 

 and when it touched the ground its course Avas attended with a dense 

 dust like a fog, so that no object could be seen near its apex, upon the 

 ground. Observers w ho were within a few feet of it, as it passed along, 



describe its rate of speed as at least twice as fast as any railroad tram 

 say sixty miles an hour ; others who saw it from behind and could not 

 judge so well, suppose that it moved much slower. 



At Schuyler Corners the phenomenon was very intelligently and care- 

 fully observed by Dr. Mower, He as well as others saw it first nearly 

 north of the Corners but a little west, then presenting the appearance of 

 a huge cone, apex down, suspended by its base from the cloud, its lower 

 point apparently twenty or thirty rods above the earth, and not more 

 than forty rods from their position to a point directly under it. It passed 

 on to the east lengthening as it went. Having passed out of sight from 

 an intervening house, he changed his position for a moment to gam a 

 new view, and when he again saw it, it had touched the earth. Its course 

 was now attended with a huge cloud of dust, and he could no more see 

 the apex of it. At one time, it swelled out in the middle, forming as it 

 were two cones base to base, the apices above and below, and a smaller 

 and similar cone separated from it towards the south; this second phe- 

 nomenon was traced by its progress upon the earth as noticed further on. 

 He says he saw it ten minutes, and it seemed to pass slowly along. 



It first struck the ground just back of the little hamlet of Schuyler 

 Corners, and commenced its progress of destruction by demolishing fences, ^ 



marking a very sharply defined path by leaving a length of fence undis- ^ 



turbed even to the top rail, while the next length were scattered; trees oj 

 various kinds were uprooted, and at length a barn upon the first road 

 leading north from the turnpike east of Schuyler Corners, was struck, un- 

 roofed, and its boarding removed, leaving the frame apparently undisturbed. 



Here the branch whirlwind appears to have diverged from the m^i^'^ 

 tornado and marked its course by demolishing the well-house and four 

 apple trees directly through the centre of an orchard leaving all the rest 

 untouched. The well-honse and all the trees were thrown towards the 

 north, thus demonstrating the gyratory character of this smaller storm. 



