146 Bibliography. 



" About the time that the American philosopher, Redfield, was em* 

 ployed in his earlier labors of observing and collecting the observations 

 of others, a similar inquiry was in progress in Germany. On Christ- 

 mas eve, 1821, after a long continuance of stormy weather, the barom- 

 eter sank so low in Europe, that the attention of meteorologists was 

 strongly drawn to the circumstance. M. Brande, having obtained the 

 registers kept at this time in various places, came to the conclusion, 

 that, during this storm, the winds blew from all points of the compass 

 towards a central space, where the barometer was, for the moment, at 

 its lowest stand. This conclusion was disputed by Professor Dove, of 

 Berlin, who subjected the observations in the possession of Brande, as 

 well as others, to a new examination, and made it appear, that an ex- 

 planation of all the phenomena was afforded by the assumption of one 

 or more great rotary currents, or whirlwinds, advancing from the south- 

 west to the northeast.* Before this discussion was known in the United 

 States, Mr. Redfield, by an independent course of investigation, had 

 arrived at the result we have already announced, and his opinion is for- 

 tified by facts and cases so numerous and well authenticated, as fully to 

 justify the distinction which Sir David Brewster has accorded to him in 

 the following language, — l The theory of rotary storms was first sug- 

 gested by Colonel Capper, but we must claim for Mr. Redfield the 

 greater honor of having fully investigated the subject, and apparently 

 established the theory upon an impregnable basis.' "t 



M Mr. Redfield was followed in 1838 by Lieut. Col. Reid of the 

 Royal Engineers, who published the valuable and well known work 

 usually called • Reid on the Law of Storms,' in which he not only fully 

 confirmed Mr. Redfieid's views, but added most extensively to the 

 proofs of them, by investigations of the West Indian Hurricanes, and 

 those of the Southern Indian Ocean, and moreover by proving farther 

 what Redfield had already announced theoretically, that in the South- 

 ern Hemisphere the storms revolve in a contrary direction to those in 

 the Northern one. 1 ' 



* London and Edinburgh Journal of Science, Nos. 67, 68 

 I Philosophical Magazine, vol. xviii, 3d series, p. 515. 



I 



The work of Lieut. Col. Reid is a thick octavo volume, (436 pp.,) 

 published in England, after an extended investigation of the Atlantic 

 Storms, and a study also of those of ihe Southern hemisphere. The # 



volume brought out the practical character of the principles, and con- 

 tained rules for the direction of a ship when a storm is encountered. 

 The researches of Mr. Redfield are detailed at length, and were the 

 basis of the work. 



In 1845, Dr. A. Thorn, of H. M. 86th Regt., published a valuable J 



work on the science generally, but more particularly relating to the 

 Storms of the Mauritius and Southern India, presenting facts support- 

 ing the same theory as regards the rotary character of storms. 



Mr. Piddington is not a mere collator of others' labors. On the con- 

 trary, his own investigations have been extensive, forming " a consider- 

 able portion, as to bulk at least, of the evidence new and corroborative | 

 upon which this science rests." More than this, they have brought to [ 

 light much that was new as regards general truths. His memoirs, four- 









