TORNADOES. 911 
be practically termed such for the time, becomes solidified in proportion to its 
speed—the greater the speed the more solidity. Then the greater the solidity the 
more it becomes a thing of life and acts like a living thing. If then in its course 
it meets with any stationary object it is more or less twisted and turned by that 
contact, which will readily account for those gyratory motions that belong to this 
degree of storm and are so often characteristic of it. 
How account for the water that so often forms a part of it? may be asked 
by some. ‘The response to this is, that being wet or dry is merely accidental. 
But I will pass on to the Cyclone, and take up this point again further on when 
I come to speak of the late Tornado (of April 18th) in Missouri. 
The Cyclone as defined by Webster as being ‘‘a rotatory storm or whirlwind 
of extended circuit” is nothing more nor less than the center of the area of low- 
barometer. The size of the circle makes no particular difference—the lower the 
barometric pressure the more severe the storm will be, and as the winds meet at 
a common and moving center, from equatorial and polar regions or directions, a 
rotary or circular motion will be imparted to the winds at this point, and their 
twirling or twisting power will be in proportion to the power of dow. 
The Hurricane seemsto be recognized as something peculiar to hot countries. 
It occurs from the same cause—concentrated heat—and the greater the heat the 
more powerful the generated force. That it should be accompanied with thunder 
and lightning is not at all remarkable; indeed it would be more remarkable if it 
were not thus accompanied. 
Wherever there is heat and moisture there will be hghtning and thunder. I 
place lightning first for this is the order in which it should come, the reverse order 
is the universal practice in using these words simply for euphony, but if we speak 
of them in the order in which they take place, the “ghtnimg must take the prece- 
dence over the ¢hunder. Wherever there is sufficient heat and moisture to form 
clouds, lightning will be sure to follow, for it is nothing more nor less than a sub- 
tile form of heat. This will readily account for the fact that lightning is more the 
product of warm countries than of temperate ones, and that we in temperate cli- 
mates have it, with some exceptions only in the warmer months of the year and 
when it occurs in the winter it is only when we have a remarkably warm spell of 
weather for the season. So it is not surprising that the Hurricanes of the East and 
West Indies should be accompanied with thunder and lightning, but rather it would 
_ be more surprising if such were not the case. 
The Simoon is simply what may be termed a dry-storm. It occurs in dry 
countries where there is little water to generate clouds, and by the way, rain is 
purely accidental. On all satellite bodies, such as our moon, all the storms that 
occur there must be after the order of Simoons. If large bodies of water, in the 
form of lakes and streams, together with extensive woods, could be interspersed 
throughout Arabia and Sahara there would be no more Simoons there, but they 
_ would have just such storms as occur in countries that are well watered. 
It is said that the approach of the Simoon is indicated by aredness in the air. 
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Iv—14 
