252 Mr. RedfieWs Second Reply to Dr. Hare. 



I should assume, therefore, the correction and refutation of all the 

 several allegations and errors contained in his second attack, will 

 hardly be expected. Perhaps the following comments may suffice. 



Humble as are the claims on which my " meteorological repu- 

 tation" rests, I do not perceive that it depends so much on the 

 particular " course" which my opponent has taken, as he seems 

 to imagine, (par. 41); nor that it is likely to be materially affect- 

 ed by his writings on meteorology. But should the fact prove 

 otherwise, I will endeavor to bear it with becoming philosophy. 



Referring to the approval of my views by men of science, 

 he says : " It strikes me, however, that a fault now prevails 

 which is the opposite of that which Bacon has been applauded 

 for correcting. Instead of the extreme of entertaining plausible 

 theories having no adequate foundation in observation or experi- 

 ment, some men of science of the present time are prone to lend 

 a favorable ear to any hypothesis, hoVever in itself absurd, pro- 

 vided it be associated with observations." Now, as before stated, 

 it is " observations" and their results which I have mainly en- 

 deavored 10 promulgate : and in relation to storms, if it has been 

 attempted to associate "hypothesis," whether "absurd" or oth- 

 erwise, " with observations," it would appear to have been by my 

 opponents ; and yet the seeming dislike to " observations" may be 

 somewhat unfavorable to this construction. — That my " Reply" 

 was properly " so called," may be inferred from the evasive 

 "course," as well as title of his rejoinder; and it appears likewise 

 from the tone and character of the succeeding paragraphs as well 

 as from the closing sentences of that under notice, where " relia- 

 ble facts and observations," — " established character of storms" — 

 and " the whole modern meteorological school" are quoted in a 

 form of words and connexion which I did not use. 



It appears to be difficult for Dr. Hare to give accurate quota- 

 tions, unless in the cases in which he ventures to give a refer- 

 ence. Thus, in par. 43, he succeeds in adducing more correctly 

 than in his previous quotations, my remark that " the grand error 

 into which the whole school of meteorologists appear to have 

 fallen, consists in ascribing to heat and rarefaction the origin and 

 support of the great atmospheric currents," &c. This is a question 

 of atmospheric dynamics which 1 believe has not been sufficiently 

 examined by any writer. The remark quoted was made inci- 

 dentally, on the occasion of Mr. Espy's first attempt to discredit 



