140 Objections to Mr. Redfield^s Theory of Storms. 



Should these specimens bo considered of sufficient interest by 

 scientific gentlemen, it would afford me great pleasure, on being 

 informed of the fact, to exchange casts of them as soon as prac- 

 ticable, for other fossil remains or casts, and to learn their opin- 

 ions upon the subjects of this communication. 



Newburyport, Mass., June 2, 1841. 



P. iS*. addressed to the Editors, Sept. 8, 1841. — Since my com- 

 munication was sent to Dr. Jackson, I have discovered among 

 the fragments of bone in my possession, the body of a dentate 

 vertebra, and what appears to be part of a clavicle, which, from 

 their strong external resemblance in color and texture, would 

 seem to have belonged to the same animal with the humerus. 



Art. XVII. — Objections to Mr. Redjield^s 'Theory of Storms, 

 with some strictures upon his reasoning ; by Robert Hare, 

 M, D., Prof, of Chem. in the Univ. of Pennsylvania. 



1. Mr. Redeield's idea, that tornadoes and hurricanes are all 

 whirlwinds, involves some improbabilities. It requires that, du- 

 ring every hurricane, there should be blasts of a like degree of 

 strength coinciding with every tangent which can be applied to 

 a circle. Thirty two ships equidistant from the axis of gyration, 

 and from each other, should each have the wind from a different 

 point of the compass with nearly equal force. The only modifi- 

 cation of which this view of the case admits, is that resulting 

 from the progressive motion which tends to accelerate the wind 

 on the side on which this motion concurs with that of the whirl, 

 and to retard it upon the other side. Moreover, as respects any 

 one station, the chances would be extremely unfavorable that the 

 same hurricane should twice proceed from the same quarter! 

 Yet in the course of time it would be felt, at any station, to pro- 

 ceed from many different directions, if not from every point of 

 the compass. 



2. The fact that during the same storm different vessels various- 

 ly situated are found to have the wind in as many different direc- 

 tions, may be explained by the afflux of winds from all quarters 

 to a common focal area, as well as by supposing them to be in- 

 volved in a great whirlwind. Mr. Redfield has alleged that he 

 observed proofs of gyration in the effects of the New Brunswick 



