128 



ON THE STORM EXPERIENCED THROUGHOUT THE UNITED STATES 



The following are the additional stations from which meteorological registers 

 have been received. 



Baton Rouge, 



Augusta, Illinois, . . . , 

 St. Louis, Missouri, . 

 St. Augustine, Florida, . 

 Charleston, South Carolina, 



Latitude. 



30° 28' N. 



40 15 



38 37 



29 48 



32 46 



Longitude. 



91° 



28' 



W. 



91 



6 





90 



21 





81 



S5 





79 



57 





Authority. 



Surgeon of Penitentiary. 

 Samuel B. Mead, M. D, 

 George Engelmann, M. D. 

 Surgeon of Military Hospital. 

 Prof. C. U. Shepard. 



I have also collected a great variety of observations from stations beyond the 

 probable limits of the storm, to which reference will be made in the sequel. I 

 think it unnecessary to transcribe all the above mentioned observations at large, 

 because they would occupy a great space, and the substance of them will pre- 

 sently be presented in a condensed form. 



In discussing these observations, four distinct subjects of inquiry present 

 themselves. 



I. A remarkable oscillation of the barometer. 



II. A sudden depression of the thermometer. 



III. Rain — amount — with time of beginning and end. 



IV. Wind — its duration and velocity. 



I. The oscillation of the barometer. 



A bare inspection of the meteorological registers is sufficient to show that^ 

 during the period in question there was every where throughout the United 

 States a sudden depression of the barometer, immediately succeeded by an 

 equally sudden rise; that the barometric minimum occurred first in the western 

 states, and later in the eastern, passing like a wave over the entire country, 

 from west to east. In order to present this fact in the most striking light, I have 

 projected on Plate I., Fig. 1, curves representing this oscillation of the barometer 

 at each station. The abscissas represent the times of observation, and the ordi- 

 nates the barometric heights on a scale reduced one-third; that is, a difference 

 of two-thirds of an inch in the ordinates of a curve is intended to show an 

 absolute oscillation of the barometer to the amount of an inch. It will be 

 observed that at most of the stations there is a striking resemblance in the 

 curve described, so that we need not hesitate to call it the same wave; 

 just as an elevation or depression of the surface of the ocean which arrives 



