June 15, 1917] 



SCIENCE 



613 



Georges Van Biesbeeck, of the Royal Ob- 

 servatory of Belgium, has been appointed as- 

 sistant professor of practical astronomy at the 

 University of Chicago. 



Professor H. L. "White, formerly connected 

 with the North Dakota Agricultural College, 

 who is spending the present year in graduate 

 work at the University of Wisconsin, has been 

 elected professor of biological chemistry in the 

 ^ college of physicians and surgeons, medical de- 

 partment of the University of Southern Cali- 

 fornia at Los Angeles. 



AssooMTE Professor Willum Draper Har- 

 KiNS has been promoted to an assistant pro- 

 fessorship of chemistry in the University of 

 Chicago. 



In the department of anatomy of the college 

 of physicians and surgeons, Columbia Univer- 

 sity, Dr. Oliver S. Strong and Dr. Vera 

 Danchakoff, have been appointed to be assist- 

 ant professors. 



Dr. Harry Clark, instructor in physics at 

 Harvard University, has been appointed pro- 

 fessor of physics at Victoria College, "Welling- 

 ton, New Zealand. 



DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE 



THE CENTRAL ILLINOIS TORNADO OF 

 MAY 26, 1917 



A TORNADO crossed Central Illinois from 

 Pike County on the western side of the state 

 almost directly east into Vigo County, 

 Indiana, then bent southeastward into Mon- 

 roe County, Indiana, on the afternoon of 

 May 26, 1917. The tornado was responsible 

 for the deaths of over 100 people, a large 

 quantity of live stock, and the destruction of 

 farm buildings and other improvements, rail- 

 road cars, and portions of a number of towns. 



The greatest destruction was wrought in 

 Coles County, Illinois, where it struck the 

 residential districts of the workmen of the 

 cities of Mattoon and Charleston — the former 

 a city of 15,000, and the latter a city of 6,000. 

 The tornado passed through this county be- 

 tween three and four p.m., i. e., that part of 

 the day in which tornadoes are generally most 



effective. Sixty people were killed, 500 homes 

 demolished, and others seriously damaged in 

 Mattoon at 3:30 p.m. Travelling at about 45 

 miles per hour the storm struck Charleston, 

 11 miles east of Mattoon at 3:45. Here, 34 

 were killed, over 400^ homes more or less de- 

 molished, 15 industrial establishments par- 

 tially or wholly destroyed, and two railway 

 stations wiped out. 



The track of the storm is about 225 miles 

 long, but the length of the path in which 

 almost complete devastation was wrought is 

 about 40 miles. The width of the storm track 

 varies from one fourth to one half mile, with 

 an average of about one third of a mile. In 

 numerous places minor damages resulted over 

 an area about three fourths of a mile wide to 

 the south of the track. The storm's path 

 indicates that the tornado swerved slightly in 

 some places and in others raised to the extent 

 that serious, effects did not result. 



Destruction was most complete, in fact en- 

 tirely complete in a zone from 500 to 700 

 feet wide to the right of the storm center's 

 track. The parts of the two cities that were 

 in this part of the storm track, with the ex- 

 ception of the heavier industrial buildings of 

 Charleston, were more completely demolished 

 than if a gigantic roller had passed over 

 them, for the buildings were broken into 

 short sticks, split into narrow pieces, and some , 

 parts carried rods and even miles eastward. 

 Inspection shows three zones of variable de- 

 struction : First, the one of complete devasta- 

 tion; second, a zone from 300 to 500 feet wide 

 to the left of the storm center's track and a 

 similar one of similar width to the right of 

 the devastated zone, where buildings are de- 

 molished beyond repair but not razed; and 

 third, a zone still further to the right of the 

 center where damages decrease outward from 

 buildings moved to lifted roofs, fallen chim- 

 neys, and broken windows. Objects to the 

 right of the center were moved forward and 

 in, while objects to the left of the center were 

 moved backward and in. Trees which were 

 probably near the center were felled either 

 north or south. 



The reason for the location of the area of 



