31.6 Mr. RedjieWs Reply to Dr. Hare. 



of wind, squall, tornado, or other storm, ever constitutes an essen- 

 tial feature of the same : but, the part so performed, appears to me 

 to be only incidental and subordinate to the action and main ef- 

 fects of the storm. Electricity is not wind, nor water, nor vapor ; 

 but an imponderable matter or effect, which is not known to ex- 

 ert any constant mechanical force or action upon the effective 

 currents of the atmosphere. " Thunder and lightning and con- 

 vective discharge," are but momentary or transient exhibitions of 

 electricity, producing no visible effects upon these currents ; what- 

 ever may be their agency in restoring the disturbed equilibriimi 

 of the different atmospheric elements. The electricity developed 

 by a steam boiler is not considered as producing the steam or its 

 jet, or the condensation of the latter; but is itself produced by 

 these. Even were it shown that a stream of electricity was con- 

 stantly developed between the rarefied column of a moving tor- 

 nado and the surface beneath, I cannot see how this could be as- 

 sumed as the cause rather than the effect of the local rarefaction. 

 If the part which electricity performs in a storm be essential, or 

 controlling, its functions ought to be distinctly pointed out. 



I would humbly suggest that the old practice of forming or in- 

 venting theories or schemes of action for the powers of nature, 

 ought to be mainly abandoned. The Wernerian and Huttonian 

 theories are well remembered ; and how small would have been 

 the progress of the science to which they relate, had its cuhiva- 

 tors continued to exhibit only the spirit and philosophy of the 

 early advocates of these theories ; and how much less, if guided 

 by a philosophy so speculative and untenable as that of the afflu- 

 ent and up-moving hypotheses of winds and storms ? More strict 

 and extended observations and inquiry, with greater caution in 

 the adoption of hypotheses, whether old or new, would in my 

 opinion, tend greatly to the advance of meteorological science. 



Observation, rather than "lucubration," has been my employ- 

 ment when exempted from other duties : and if the results of ob- 

 servation do not accord with the " lucubrations" of Mr. Espy and 

 Dr. Hare, I conceive that I am in no degree responsible for the 

 difficulties of their position. 



New York, January 13, 1842. 



