JOU RNAL 



ASIATIC SOCIETY 



An Eighth Memoir on the Law of Storms in India, being re- 

 searches relative to the^Storm in the Bay of Bengal, at Madras, and 

 in the Arabian Sea, of22d to 31st October, 1842, with two charts. 

 By Henry Piddtngton. 



On the 24th October 1842, a severe hurricane was experienced at 

 Madras and other ports on the Coromandel Coast, in which several 

 ships were wrecked or foundered at sea, and much other damage 

 was done. It is the object of the present memoir to trace out the 

 track of this storm, which, there is no doubt, crossed the Peninsula, 

 and is traceable from the Andaman Islands to latitude 14° N., lon- 

 gitude 60° E., or within 6 degrees of the Island of Socotra, an extent 

 far exceeding that to which any Indian Storm has yet been tracked. 



The principal sources of information which I have, are from the 

 documents forwarded to me by Captain Biden, the Master Attendant 

 of Madras, who has been most indefatigable in profiting by the advan- 

 tages which his official position afforded him. It is, therefore, to his zeal 

 in the cause of science, that we mainly owe this memoir; for what I 

 could collect in Calcutta, was so meagre, that it would have been but 

 of little avail in tracing the storm as we have now done. 



From the Peninsula, I have reports from Captain Campbell, Revenue 

 Surveyor South of India, Captain Newbold, M. N. I. Assist. Comr. 

 Kurnool, Mr. Crozier, Collector at Malabar, M. Bourgoin, Governor of 

 Karical, and Mr. Buist in charge of the Observatory at Bombay. These 

 gentlemen have been most indefatigable in their endeavours to procure 



No. 137- New Series, No. 53. 2 y 



