172 Miscellanies. 



No. 30. Observation of A.. Holcomb, at his Observatory, South- 

 wick, Mass., with a seven feet Herschelian of his own construction, 

 power 225, with red screen glass. South wick is in latitude 42° 0' 

 41" north; longitude 4A. 51m. 12s., by Mr. Holcomb's triangulation 

 with Springfield Court House, one of the points determined by Mr. 

 Paine. Mr. S. C. Walker finds, from Mr. Holcomb's observation of 

 the solar eclipse of 1836, for this longitude 4/i. 51m. 13.2s. Mean 

 value 4A. 51m. 12.6s. W. 



h. m. s. 

 Beginning, 3 20 19 Mean time. Observation satisfactory. 

 End, 5 50 27 do. Doubtful one second. Sun's limb 



Duration, 2 30 8 tremulous, and near horizon. 



No. 31. Observation of Prof. Albert Hopkins, at the Observatory 

 of Wilhamstown College, Mass. Latitude, 42° 42' 44" N., longitude 

 4Ji. 52/71. 52s. W. Astronomical clock regulated by a four feet transit 



instrument. 



h. m. s. 

 Beginning, 3 17 19.9 Mean time. Good observation. 

 End, (not observed) Sun too near the horizon. 



The Committee on Dr. Hare's paper on the Tornado which passed 

 over a suburb of Providence, R. I., in August last, reported in favor 

 of publication, and the report was adopted. 



The phenomena and facts, stated in this paper, are quite consistent 

 with those mentioned upon the authority of Prof. Bache, Mr. Espy, 

 and other observers, relative to the tornado which took place in New 

 Jersey, at or near New Brunswick, in June, 1835, and of which an 

 account will be found in the last volume of the Transactions of the 

 Society. This paper embraced a letter from Zachariah Allen, Esq., 

 a highly respectable gentleman of Providence, who was an eye-wit- 

 ness of the tornado, having been quite as near to it as was consistent 

 with safety. One of the facts noticed by Mr. Allen, Dr. Hare con- 

 siders as tending to justify his opinion, that the exciting cause of these 

 meteors is electrical attraction. Mr. Allen alledged that, as soon as 

 the tornado came into contact with the surface of the river, the 

 water rose in a foam ; that, under these circumstances, two flashes 

 of lightning passed between the water and the overhanging clouds ; 

 and that, after each flash, there was a perceptible subsidence of the 

 foam. This result is precisely what Dr. Hare conceives would en- 

 sue, if the foam arose from an attraction between the water and the 

 stratum of air above, caused by opposite states of electrical excite- 

 ment. In such case, the passage of sparks always necessarily tends 

 to restore the equilibrium between the electrified masses, and conse- 

 quently to lessen their reciprocal attraction. 



