Additional Objections to RedfieWs Theory of Storms. 129 



dently irreconcilable with that of a withdrawal of air from the 

 centre, agreeably to one of the contradictory allegations above 

 cited. 



57. Nor are the following observations more consistent. " Du- 

 ring the passage of these eddies or stor?ns over the place of obser- 

 vation the barometer sinks while under their first or more advan- 

 ced portio?is and rises as they pass over or recede.^' (This Journal, 

 Vol. XXV, p. 129.) " The barometer, whether in higher or lower 

 latitudes, always sinks while wider the first portion or moiety 

 on every part of its track excepting perhaps its extreme northern 

 margin.'''' " The mercury in the barom,eter alioays rises agai?i 

 during the last portion of the gale and commonly attains the 

 'maximum of its elevation on the entire departure of the storm,.^'' 



58. But if "a higher state of the barotneter be created around 

 the exterior border of a lohirlwind than at the centre,''^ and if of 

 necessity the exterior border be first encountered, how does it 

 happen that precisely about this space, agreeably to the statement 

 last quoted, the barometrical column should sink ? And if, agree- 

 ably to the statement quoted previously, the air be rarefied about 

 the centre and accumulated towards the border, in passing from 

 the one border to the other through the centre, would not the 

 mercury in the barometer first rise, then sink, and afterwards rise 

 again, instead of falling during its exposure to one moiety of the 

 storm, and rising during exposure to the other ? 



59. It may be presumed, that respecting the state of the ba- 

 rometer and the movement of the air, within the sphere of his 

 whirlwinds, Mrldedfield's views are not in accordance with any 

 settled notions. His theory leads to the idea of a centrifugal force, 

 rarefying and removing the air from the centre, while his obser- 

 vation of the ascending current in tornadoes has tended to create 

 an opposite impression. 



60. Considering the inconsistencies of Mr. Redfield's " reliable 

 facts and observations," I hope 1 may be allowed to show what 

 ought to ensue according to his own premises. Evidently in a 

 whirlwind, constituted as are those to which v/e have reference, 

 the centrifugal force will cause an accumulation of air towards 

 the exterior until the otherwise uncounteracted pressure of the 

 accumulation, tending to restore the level, is in equilibrio with 

 the centrifugal force. Moreover, the reaction of the fluid lying 

 in the same plane beyond the v/hirl, will cause the fluid to be 



Vol. xLiii. No. 1.— April-Jujie, 1842. 17 



