262 Mr. Redjield's Second Reply to Dr. Hare. 



risen, I see not how it could give strength to Dr. Hare's electrical 

 hypothesis ; there being a known upward mechanical force in 

 the wind, at the center of a tornado. 



The allegation that the injurious " effects upon the leaves of 

 trees," [83] , . . "cannot be explained without supposing them 

 to have been the medium of an electric discharge," appears quite 

 gratuitous: the mechanical violence of the wind which is wit- 

 nessed in the severest storms, bruising and tearing off the leaves 

 by thousands, seems an obvious and adequate cause of the injury 

 which the remaining leaves sustain. 



If a " convective discharge takes place between a stratum of 

 air in proximity to the earth and a stratum in the region of 

 clouds," [84] it must, as before suggested, be through a recipro- 

 cating or vibratory medium, the downivard motions of which 

 should every where be nearly equal to the upward ; and there 

 would be no occasion for the horizontal motion which consti- 

 tutes the main force of hurricanes, tornadoes, and other storms. 

 Such vertical motions could hardly take place ; and if occurring, 

 could not escape detection. 



The reasoning adduced by our author against Mr. Espy's the- 

 ory, [85] seems conclusive : but it appears not to strengthen the 

 electrical hypothesis. 



The alleged electrical relations of the earth's atmosphere, 

 [88-90] if correctly stated, must always exist ; and cannot serve 

 to explain the action of storms, which, conforming to the usual 

 course of the great winds, pursue regular geographic routes, un- 

 changed by the electrical qualities of the surface over which 

 they pass. 



Neither violent winds nor rains are commensurate with, nor 

 always incident to " a local diminution of atmospheric pres- 

 sure." Instead of alleging the latter as "demonstrably a cause 

 of wind and rain," would it not be more philosophical and cor- 

 rect to consider diminutions of pressure as the effect of certain 

 mechanical movements in the atmosphere ? which often occa- 

 sion rain as well as winds. [91.] 



Have " those enormous discharges of electricity which take 

 place during hurricanes," as alleged, [92] been proved to occur 

 either uniformly or generally? And could these discharges 

 cause or constitute the hurricane ? If so, let the modus operandi 

 be shown. 



