304 Mr. Redfield's Reply to Dr. Hare. 



tive force in winds or tempests ; as the last clause of the paragraph 

 quoted by him should read. There is little probability that my 

 meaning has been misunderstood by general readers ; and it ap- 

 pears afterwards to have been divined by Dr. Hare himself 



After a short comment on the functions of gravitation, Dr. H. 

 inquires — " But if neither gravity, nor calorific expansion, nor 

 electricity, be the cause of winds, by what are they produced ?" 

 I answer, 1. According to my apprehension, the gravity which 

 induces a nearly equal " distribution of the atmosphere over the 

 surface of the globe," may and does, in its modified influences, 

 constitute the main basis of winds and storms. 2. That calorific 

 expansion is a " cause of winds" is universally admitted ; but, 

 that it is the chief cause I cannot perceive. 3. If "electricity" 

 be the cause of winds, it seems incumbent on Dr. H, to show it. 



For my own part, having never attempted to write out or es- 

 tablish a theory of the winds, in the common acceptation of the 

 term, nor yet, of the origin or first cause of storms, I have no 

 occasion to go into these inquiries any further than relates to my 

 present purpose. It is true that I entertain some definite views 

 on these points, which have resulted from observation and in- 

 quiry ; but the choice of time and occasion for their more full 

 development, and also of the evidence on which they rest, belongs 

 to myself rather than to another. I do not intend being diverted 

 from my ordinary business, or from the results of direct observa- 

 tions in storms, by engaging in a controversial discussion of those 

 general views of the alleged cause of winds, and of the physico- 

 mechanics of the atmosphere, which now prevail ,• and which are 

 held by men of the highest attainments in physical science. And 

 in relation to storms, I have long held the proper inquiry to be, 

 What are storms 1 and not, Hoii; are storms pj'oduced 1 as has 

 been well expressed by another. It is only when the former of 

 these inquiries is solved, that we can enter advantageously upon 

 the latter. 



I have stated, incidentally, that all fluid matter has a tendency 

 to run into whirls or circuits, when subject to the influence of 

 unequal or opposing forces, &c. Dr. Hare says that, " if this were 

 true, evidently whirlpools or vortices of some kind, ought to be 

 as frequent in the ocean, as agreeably to my observation, they are 

 found to be in the atmosphere." That " the aqueous Gulf Stream, 

 resulting from the impetus of the trade winds, ought to produce 



