04 WImlwmds excited by Fires. 



had been cut over, for some months previous. A still day, which 

 proved very warm, was selected, in order to avoid the danger of 

 extending the fire to the neighboring woodlands by means of 

 the wind ; and as the materials were in fine combustible order, I 

 invited several friends to witness the burning. The combusti- 

 bles were collected in piles and ridges, and fire was set to the 

 outward portions of the field, on all sides, as fast as was conven- 

 iently practicable. The smoke and flames were now concentra- 

 ted in a large whirling column, over the center of the field, rising 

 in the form of a cone, and ascending to a great height. It was 

 attended with a heavy roar, which was heard at a great distance. 

 Although on a perfectly calm day, the action of this whirlwind 

 was so violent as to remove from the ground large pieces of brush- 

 wood, even from places not touched by the fire, carrying them 

 high in the air, from whence they afterwards fell without the lim- 

 its of the burning field." 



I learned also from Dr. Cutler, of Amherst, that his attention had 

 likewise been drawn to this phenomenon, which he beheld from 

 near his own house, at a distance of a mile and a half from the 

 fire. He informed me, that it exhibited to his view, an elevated 

 pillar of black smoke, attended by a " roaring noise, like that occa- 

 sioned by the violent burning of a chimney." 



These statements were received from the above gentlemen, 

 and separately and carefully noted down on the spot. 



An intelligent farmer, a resident of Delaware county, N. Y., 

 whom I met on the 9th of May, 1832, informed me that he had 

 on several occasions seen whirlwinds formed in burning over 

 newly cleared lands ; and had known them so violent as to take 

 up heavy limbs or branches into the air. He had recently seen 

 one in that county, which moved up the side of a hill, on a still 

 day, and prostrated trees in its course. 



In the burning of a wooden building, I have myself seen a mo- 

 mentary effect which seemed analogous to the foregoing ; and a 

 temporary impulse of this sort, I believe, is not uncommon in 

 large fires.* I have, however, seen no distinct account of phe- 



* In the month of August last, (1833,) a similar phenomenon was observed in 

 the burning of one of the large wood yards and wood houses, belonging to Yale 

 College. The yard was a rectangular area, with the wood arranged chiefly on the 

 outer boundaries, and the same ascending column of flame and smoke was dis- 

 tinctly observed by many, but more particularly by Mr. B. L. Hamlen, the printer 

 of this Journal. — Eds. 



