Memoir of William C. Redjield. 363 



tion, being at the minimum, hitherto ohservedy as low as four 

 miles, and at the maximum fortj4hree miles, but more com- 

 monly about thirty miles per hour, while the motion of rotation 

 may be not less than from one hundred to three hundred miles 

 per hour. 



That in storms of a particular region, as the gales of the At- 

 lantic, or the typhoons of the China seas, great itniformity exists 

 in regard to the path pursued^ those of the Atlantic, for example, 

 usually issuing from the equatorial regions eastward of the West 

 India islands, pursuing, at first, a course towards the northwest 

 as far as the latitude of S0°, and then gradually wheeling to the 

 northeast and following a path nearly parallel to the American 

 coast, to the east of Newfoundland, until they are lost in mid- 

 ocean, the entire path when delineated resembling a parabolic 

 curve whose apex is near the latitude of 30°. 



That their dimensions are sometimes very great, being not less 

 than 1000 miles in diameter, while their path over the ocean can 

 sometimes be traced for 3000 miles. 



That the harometer^ at any given place, falls with increasing 

 rapidity as the center of the whirlwind approaches, but rises at 

 a corresponding rate after the center has passed by j and finally, 



That the phenomena are more uniform in large than in small 

 storms, and more uniform on the ocean than on the land. 



These laws Mr. Redfield claims as so m^x\y facts independently 

 of all hypothesis ; as facts deduced from the most rigorous in- 

 duction, which will ever hold true, whatever views may be en- 

 tertained respecting the origin or causes of storms. 



The method adopted by the author of this theory, in all his 

 hiquiries, — the method which first led him to the discovery of 

 the whirlwind character of storms, and afterwards fully con- 

 firmed the doctrine, — was first to collect and then to collate as 

 many records as possible of vessels that had been caught in the 

 storm, in various parts of the ocean. The most laborious and 

 profound investigation of this nature of which he has left us aa 

 example, is in the case of the Cuba hurricane of October, 1844. 

 First, he examined all accessible marine reports of vessels that 

 had arrived in port after encountering the storm; secondly, he 

 inspected the log-books of all such vessels, as far as was practi- 

 cable, and carefSly transcribed their records; and, thirdly, by 

 ^n extended correspondence, he obtained a great number of writ- 

 ten statements from shipmasters, who of all men would be the 

 niost accurate and vigilant ol)servers, Tlie different independent 

 accounts obtained from these various sources amounted to no 

 less than one hundred and sixty-four, all of which were reduced 

 to the form of tables, containing the latitude and longitude of 

 each vessel or place at the time of observation ; the exact date 

 and duration of the gale ; the successive directions of the storm- 



