332 Proceedings of the B)itish Association. 



The facts too stated by Mr. Espy were opposed to those observed 

 by others. In the case of hurricanes or tornadoes the convergence 

 of the aerial currents in the one theory and their rotatory motion 

 in the other were not observed^ but inferred from a number of 

 facts ; but as Mr. Espy regarded water-spouts as formed in the 

 same manner as tornadoes, and as Col. Reid had distinctly stated, 

 (in his letter quoted before,) that he had actually seen, from the 

 government house at Bermuda, by means of a telescope, the wa- 

 tei'-spout revolving like the hands on a dial-plate of a watch, there 

 could be no doubt that we were at variance about facts. This ex- 

 plicit and distinct observation of a rotatory motion, by so able and 

 accurate an observer as Col. Reid, was worth a thousand infer- 

 ences. Prof. Phillips said that he thought the statements of facts 

 connected with tornadoes as stated in the American Journals, were 

 more consistent with Mr. Espy's than with Mr. Redfield's theory ; 

 and Col. Reid's thinking he saw rotation in a water-spout could 

 not invalidate the abiding evidence from uprooted forests. Mr. 

 Espy in his reply seemed to think he had been misunderstood, 

 and answered Prof. Forbes's objections at considerable length. 



A letter dated New York, July 28, 1840, from Mr. Wm. C. 

 Redfield to Sir J. Herschel, was communicated to the meeting. 

 With this letter Mr. R. had sent, by the steamship British Queen, 

 a map showing the direction of the wind in the great storm of 

 December 15, 1839, at noon, with a schedule of the observa- 

 tions : also, a sketch of the various directions of prostrated trees, 

 &c. found in a section of the track of the New Jersey tornado of 

 June 19, 1835, with a statement of the observations, — furnishing 

 some of the evidences of rotation found in the tract of the tor- 

 nado. Unfortunately neither of these communications had reach- 

 ed Sir J. Herschel, and there was reason to apprehend they were 

 lost. 



Mr. C. J. Kennedy read an elaborate paper on the theory of 

 electricity. — A communication was read by Dr. Forbes, on the 

 mean apsidal angle of the moon's orbit. — Mr. Fox read his re- 

 port on subterranean temperature. Early in 1815, Mr. Joel Lean 

 stated to him his conviction that the high temperature observed 

 in our mines existed in the earth itself, increasing with the 

 depth ; and shortly afterwards his brother Thos. Lean, at their 

 request, made many experiments in Huel Abraham copper mine, 

 of which he was the manager, in order to test the correctness of 



