oe REPORT—1862. 
the outer limits of the earth’s atmosphere between the tropics is very nearly equal to 
that which falls on the remaining portions of the earth’s surface. If we reflect that, 
according to Principal Forbes’s researches, the amount of heat extinguished by the 
atmosphere before a given solar ray reaches the earth is more than one-half for in- 
clinations less than 25°, and that for inclinations of 5° only the twentieth part of 
the heat reaches the ground, we immediately see that the torrid zone of the earth 
must be far more effective than all the rest of the earth’s surface as a recipient of 
solar heat. It follows, therefore, that the distribution of the absorbing and radiating 
surfaces within the torrid zone must, upon the whole, exercise a predominating in- 
fluence in modifying general terrestrial climate. 
On the Hurricane near Newark of May 7th, 1862, showing the force of the 
Hailstones and the violence of the Gale. By KE. J. Lown, F.R.AS. §e. 
The hurricane about to be described was accompanied by a thunder-storm, which 
was more or less spread over the centre of England. On the previous evening there 
were violent thunder-storms, accompanied in various places with large hailstones 
and with rose-coloured lightning. The hurricane of the 7th of May was remarkable 
for its violence near Newark, and for the violence of the thunder-storm which oc- 
curred at the same time ; it will long be remembered in the neighbourhood on account 
of the devastation that was caused, for the particularly striking night-like darkness, 
for the great size and curious forms of the hailstones, and on account of the mag= 
nificence of the colour of the lightning. At Highfield House the morning was 
sultry, with thunder about noon, and again continuously in 8. and 8.E. at three 
o'clock. At half-past two the temperature in shade had risen to 73°°6 with a west 
wind, but the clouds whirling round in all directions, a low current carried broken 
nimbi rapidly from west, whilst the storm-cloud was approaching in a 8.S.E. cur- 
rent, At half-past four o’clock the temperature had fallen to 60° (a descent of 13°-6 
in two hours), whilst the wind had risen to half a gale. The thunder, though distant, 
was frequent. The sky gradually became blacker and blacker, until at five o’clock 
it was darker than I had ever before seen it except during a total eclipse of the sun. 
A book with bold type could scarcely be read at a window, nor away from it could 
the hands of a watch be seen. This storm put on very much the appearance of a 
total eclipse; near objects had a yellow glare cast upon them, and the landscape 
was closed in on all sides at the distance of half a mile by a storm-cloud wall. Rain 
fell in torrents, but not in an ordinary manner; it was swept along the ground in 
clouds like smoke. Flashes of lightning also came in impulses, four or five following 
each other in rapid succession, succeeded by a brief pause, and then four or five 
more. The colour of the lightning was lovely beyond description, being an intense 
bluish red—almost rose, The wind now veered to the 8.S.E., taking the storm’s di- 
rection. The temperature had descended to 51° (a fall of more than 223°), and the 
anemometer showed 9 lbs. pressure on the square foot. Severe as this storm was at 
Highfield House, it dwindled into insignificance when compared with its violence 
near Newark. It is scarcely possible to imagine any destruction more complete 
than that effected by this fearful storm. Fortunately its ravages were confined 
within narrow limits, being restricted to three miles in length and 150 yards in 
width, commencing at the village of Barnby; after proceeding a mile its violence 
considerably increased ; before reaching Coddington it tore up the hedges that sur- 
rounded the fields and unroofed the farm buildings. At Balderton Lane it threw 
down farm buildings and uprooted enormous oak-trees ; a quarter of a mile further 
it unroofed the house of Mr. James Thorp’s head keeper, the hailstones breaking 
nearly all the windows, having in many instances been driven through the glass, 
cutting out smooth holes. The spout of this house, too heavy for one man to lift, 
was carried 100 yards, and a perfectly sound elm-tree, about 60 feet in height and 
5 feet 10 inches in circumference (where broken off), was snapped asunder four 
feet from the ground, and the tree carried twenty-nine yards through the air. The 
wood of this tree was twisted to the very heart. Here a man was lifted off the 
ground and then carried twenty yards, being unable to save himself, finally lodging 
inahedge. Thirty or forty yards from Mr. Thorp’s house at Beaconfield the hur- 
ricane divided, leaving the house itself intact, and also the trees in its immediate 
