^^^^•] occurred at Dacca on April 7tli, 1888. 187 



ly defined. The effects of tornadoes are in fact almost incredible, and 

 they are due to both lateral and ascensional force. Masonry buildings are 

 almost ground to powder by the lateral force ; and, with reference To the 

 uphftmg power of tornadoes, it is on record that on June 4th 1877 * 

 a tornado passed over Mount Carmel (Illinois) and swept ofP the spire 

 vane and gilded ball of a church and carried them bodily 15 miles in 

 a north-easterly direction. 



Previous Tornadoes in BENGAL.--Tornadoes seem to have been 

 rather more frequent in Bengal than appears to be commonly supposed 

 though, when compared with other regions, such as the United States 

 their occurrence may be considered very exceptional. In the United 

 States, however, sometimes 10 or 12 tornadoes are known to occur in 

 different districts in a single day, and in the year 1884 no less than 

 180 tornadoes were recorded by the Meteorological Department in dif- 

 ferent parts of that country. In Bengal, previous to the year 1870 

 there appear to be only two or three well authenticated cases of tornadoes 

 on record.t One occurred on the 8th April in the year 1838 in the 

 District of the 24-Pergunnas, and it passed close to Calcutta and was 

 attended with great damage. This storm, which is described by Messrs. 

 Floyd and Patton,+ was a very violent one and destroyed several villao-es 

 Its track is rather difficult to trace, but it appears to have passed near 

 Dum-Dum, through Baliaghata a short distance to the east of Calcutta 

 and through Sonarpur S. E. of Calcutta on che South-Eastern Sta4 

 Railway. Its course was said to be southerly, a very unusual circum- 

 stance. Its track was roughly 16 miles long by J to J a mile broad, and 

 It lasted for 4 hours. The number of persons killed was 215, and the 

 wounded, which were numerous, were sent to the Alipur Hospital An 

 observer at Dum-Dum says, one of the hail-stones which fell at that 

 place during this storm weighed three and a half pounds. In passing 

 It may be mentioned that appended to the description of this storm 

 there IS a statement of a mass of ice, apparently a conglomeration of 

 hailstones, and measuring 19 feet 10 inches, having fallen in the year 

 looo at JNowloor near Dharwar. 



Another tornado occurred at Pundooah (Hooghly District) on May 

 1st, I860, and is described by Babu Chandra Sekar Chatterjee in the 

 Proceedings of the Asiatic Society of Bengal.§ The diameter of its 

 vortex appears to have been about 200 feet, and its rate of advance 

 in a north-easterly direction about 10 miles an hour. It occurred at 



* Buchan and Balfour Stewart's article on Meteorology in Ericycl Bri 19th Ed 

 Mecum^'''^^ ""^ ^^""'^ '*'°'''^' ""''^ described in Blanford's Indian Meteorologist's Vade 

 X J. A. S. B., 1838, p. 422. § P. a. S. B., for 18Gd, p. 124 



