256 



tendency of the outer currents, and the spiral motion of the 

 clouds in the lower stratum, near the centre of the tornado. 



Dr. Hare made some remarks on the same atmospheric phe- 

 nomenon, and especially on the bearing of the different facts 

 upon his electrical theory of tornadoes. 



Dr. Hare stated that he had not had his attention drawn to the me- 

 teor, until it had passed the zenith. But subsequently, seeing it dis- 

 tinctly from the top of his house, he had distinguished two clouds, 

 one much above the other, between which there appeared to be an 

 electrical reaction, tending to keep them at a distance, while the lower 

 seemed to move from the south-west, and the upper one from the 

 south-east. These features, together with the tremendous accompa- 

 nying or preceding electrical discharges, as indicated by thunder and 

 lightning, could not but demonstrate, in Dr. Hare's opinion, that elec- 

 tricity was the principal agent in the production of such phenomena. 

 The fact mentioned in the public prints, that the iron chimney of a 

 steamboat had been carried aloft, proved that a vertical force had 

 been exerted; and the concentration of that force about a tall metal- 

 lic cylinder was, Dr. Hare maintained, quite consistent with the idea, 

 that the vertical force was the consequence of an electrical current, 

 which would naturally concentrate the action about a prominent per- 

 fect conductor. 



Dr. Hare could not reconcile the relative situation of the clouds, or 

 their evident reaction and diversity of movement, with the theory of 

 Mr. Espy. 



The following gentlemen were duly elected members of the 

 Society : — 



Robert Were Fox, of Falmouth, England. 



John Sanderson, of Philadelphia. 



Francisco Martinez de la Rosa, of Madrid. 



Major James D. Graham, U. S. Topographical Engineers. 



J. B. B. Eyries, of Paris. 



