is not more tru2 with us that the Gulf Stream turns to 
the eastward, tte Polar Stream to the westward, and the 
equatorial currents to the northward, than that every air- 
current, in obedience to the same law, should turn to the 
right of the line along which from any cause it is called 
tomove. The metcorist has therefore only to ascertain 
by observation where the barometer is lowest, to know at 
once the direction of the winds from the circumjacent 
126 i NATURE 
districts, far and near, or at least to test the mathematical 
law by a grand experiment, , 
The tangential and centripetal forces, acting at the 
same time on any particle of air in the storm, may be 
equal or very unequal, and the cyclonic character of the 
gale may be well marked or partly concealed. In the 
tornado, with a diameter of only a few hundred feet, the 
tangential force may not be appreciable to an observer, 
y _ 
sti 
fic. 1.—Cirrus aad Cirronus Clouds. 
but it is present, and intensely assists in communicating 
vorticose motion to the storm, whose roar is heard with 
awe by the stoutest heart, as it crashes through the forest 
and even ploughs up the soil of the earth. If the cyclonic 
or spiral feature should fail to manifest itself in any storm, 
we ought to look for such failure in the tornado. It is 
*Nht) ny 
: a ny Wes 
Fic. 2.—The Dust Whirlwind. 
true that no barometric readings have ever been taken in 
the narrow heart of a tornado, but abundant evidence 
exists of the fearful rarefaction in the centre. While the 
meteor, once set in motion, may move forward with great 
velocity and destructiveness, the danger is clearly due to 
the intro-rushing and gyratory winds. There is not an 
instance, it is believed, recorded in which a tornado 
moved as much as 100 miles an hour ; probably one-half 
that velocity would be too high an estimate for its usual 
and ordinary motion, But the wind, moving Straightfor- 
ward at the rate of 60 or 80 miles an hour, never worked 
anything like the disaster of a tornado. In the West- 
Indian hurricane, blowing at the rate of 100 miles an 
hour, houses have been blown down, ships innumerable 
stranded ; but this is all mere child’s-play compared to. 
the suction and whirl of the tornado. The conclusion 
forced upon us is, that the ravages of the latter are due, 
not to the weight of the atmosphere, moving as a river- 
torrent in a straight line, nor to the rush of air behind the 
travelling vacuum, but to the torsive, racking motion— 
imparted to every object in its path—due to its gyration, 
To prove that this gyration is a/ways from right to left, 
or against the hands of a watch, is, of course, practically 
impossible ; but such a direction has often been observed 
in tornadoes, 
It may, therefore, be safely concluded that, for all pro- 
cesses of meteorologic calculation, the disturbance, if not 
such at first, will soon become cyclonic, All daily 
weather-charts demonstrate this, not by a laboratory or 
lecture-room experiment, but on an infinitely wider and 
grander scale, and in a manner far more conclusive than 
any merely manual experiment could possibly make to 
appear. As Mr. Laughton has happily said, “ Nature 
makes no distinction between small and great ; the drop 
of mist that lights gently down on a delicate flower, and 
the avalanche that sweeps away a village, fall in obedience 
to one universal law.” 
(Zo be continued.) 
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