390 On the Dust-sto?'ms of India. [No. 5. 



On the Dust-storms of India. By P. Baddeley, Esq,. 

 B. M. S., Surgeon Arty. Lahore. 



(From the Philosophical Magazine and Journal of August, 1850.^ 



The Editor reprints this paper with great pleasure ; not only as another of those 

 triumphs of Indian research which have so often adorned the pages of the Journal, 

 and so well demonstrated to the scientific world what the energy of English minds 

 alone can perform, under all the discouragements and difficulties which the experi- 

 mental sciences, particularly, must meet with at every step in a state of Society so 

 peculiar as that of India, but moreover as a solution of a great meteorological 

 problem which opens a new page of the Book of Nature in that vast and yet un- 

 wrought mine of science. We trust that Dr. Baddeley will continue his valuable 

 researches in the great field which be has before him. — Ed. Jour. 



Lahore, April 18, 1850. 

 Gentlemen, 



I have only an hour or two to spare before the Indian mail leaves 

 this, to give you a few notes regarding dust-storms, which are 

 very prevalent in this part of India during the dry months of April, 

 May and June, that is, before the setting in of the rainy season. 



My observations on this subject have extended as far back as the 

 hot weather of 1847, when I first came to Lahore, and the result is 

 as follows : — Dust-storms are caused by spiral columns of the electric 

 fluid passing from the atmosphere to the earth ; they have an onward 

 motion — a revolving motion, like revolving storms at sea — and a 

 peculiar spiral motion from above downwards, like a corkscrew. It 

 seems probable that in an extensive dust-storm there are many of 

 these columns moving on together in the same direction ; and during 

 the continuance of the storm, many sudden gusts take place at in- 

 tervals, during which time the electric tension is at its maximum. 

 These storms hereabouts mostly commence from the north-west or 

 west and in the course of an hour, more or less, they have nearly 

 completed the circle, and have passed onwards. 



Precisely the same phsenomena, in kind, are observable in all cases 

 of dust-storms : from the one of a few inches in diameter to those 

 that extend for fifty miles and upwards, the phsenomena are identical. 

 It is a curious fact that some of the smaller dust-storms occasion- 

 ally seen in extensive and arid plains, both in the country and in 

 Affghanistan above the Bolan Pass, called in familiar language " Devils," 

 are either stationary for a long time, that is, upwards of an hour, 



