368 Memoir of William C. Redfield. 



winds and the monsoons, and in its violent commotions, as in 

 hurricanes and tornadoeSj jet I am compelled to think that but 

 little progress has yet been made in determining its modus ope- 

 randt^ or in tracing the connection between changes of tempera- 

 ture and the actual phenomena of winds and storms : — why, for 

 example, the Atlantic gales originate where they do, in the trop- 

 ical regions— why they first pursue a path to the northwest as 

 far as the latitude of 30°, and then gracefully wheel in parabolic 

 curves towards the northeast, and pursue this course for the re- 

 mainder of their way — why they revolve on their axes and 

 always in one direction — whence they acquire so tremendous a 

 force, especially towards the central parts — why the barometer 

 is so low in the center and so high in the margin of the storm. 

 These and various other points connected with the whirlwind 

 character of storms, seem to me to have met hitherto with but a 

 partial and doubtful solution. The laws constitute the true the- 

 ory of storms : the rest is yet hypothesis. 



Various writers have severally disphiyed great ingenuity and 

 profound knowledge of atmospheric phenomena, in their endeav- 

 ors to solve these problems, but with respect to the causes which 

 lie back of the laws of storms, we still remain to a great degree 

 m Ignorance. Each of the combatants appears to me to be more 

 successful in showing the insufficiency of the other's views than 

 in establishing his own. With respect to him who is more par- 

 ticularly the subject of my remarks, whose logical powers I have 

 always admired, I have almost regretted that he did not adhere 

 to the ground he originally took, namely, tliat he had not under- 

 taken to explain the reason ivhy the winds blow, but only to 

 show liow they blow. So far was matter of fact : all beyond 

 was hypothesis. His facts are impregnable: his hypothesis 

 doubtful. The conclusions derived legitimately from these facts 

 constitute the laws of storms ; and being, as we believe, like the 

 other laws of nature immutable, the name indissolubly associated 

 with their discovery, acquires a fame alike imperishable. -Red- 

 field might therefore have safely stopped where Newton stopped. 

 " Newton (says one of his biographers) stopped short at the last 

 fact which he could discover in the solar system— that all bodies 

 were deflected to all other bodies, according to certain regula- 

 tions of distance and quantity of matter. When told that he had 

 done nothing in philosophy ; that he had discovered no cause ; 

 and that, to merit any praise, he must show how this deflection 

 was produced ; he said, he knew no more than he had told them ; 

 that he saw nothing causing this deflection ; and was contented 

 with having described it so exactly, that a good mathematician 

 could now make tables of the planetary motions, as accurate as 

 he pleased, and hoped in a few years to have every purpose oJ 

 navigation and philosophical curiosity completely answered. 



