rT 
94 
done, but there is no noticeable disturbance in 
the gentle winds. The track of marked disturb- 
ance averages only half a mile, and the path 
of great destruction is often only a few hun- 
dred feet wide. 
The whirling at the centre is evident enough, 
in many cases, from the rotary motion of the 
funnel-cloud : it is, in all reported cases, from 
right to left, like the cyclones of this hemi- 
sphere. Ata little distance from the centre, 
the wind is probably nearly radial, as is shown 
fully enough by the direction in which fences 
or trees are blown over, or 
houses and other loose 
objects carried. On the 
right side of the track the 
winds are more violent, 
and their destructive effect 
consequently reaches far- 
ther from the whirl than 
on the left. .This is evi- 
dently because, on the 
right, the motion of the 
wind and the advance of 
the storm are combined, as has been explained 
under cyclones. Here are several examples 
from the Kansas tornadoes of May, 1879, as 
described in Finley’s report, showing the op- 
posed currents of air. 
Fig. 24 shows the fence on the right blown 
to the east ; the fences on the left, to the west 
and south ; and the hay from a stack, scattered 
in a curved line. *When fences are not blown 
over, rubbish often collects on their windward 
side. 
Fig. 25 illustrates, by arrows, the direction of 
the wind, by which several buildings were more 
or less injured ; but most peculiar is the track 
of a man, who, on coming out of the east 
side of a barn, was caught up by the winds 
and carried half way around the building, and 
there set down very dizzy, but unhurt. At the 
same time, two horses near by were killed, their 
harness stripped off and torn to pieces. A 
SCIENCE. 
Hire. 23.1 
[Vor. IIL, No. 51. 
scantling four inches square and ten feet long — 
was found driven three feet and a half into the — 
ground, only forty-five feet from its starting-— 
point. A large board sixteen feet long was 
found two miles to the north-east, where it was 
identified by the color of its paint. A 
Fig. 26 shows a more disastrous case. The 
house was swept away, and its fragments filled 
the creek to the south-east. The trees west 
of the house were not hurt; but those in the 
grove on the track were blown over to the 
north-east, their bark and leaves stripped off, 
and their south - western’ 
side blackened as if burnt. 
In such position, branches 
have. been found twisted 
from right to left about 
the trunks. As the storm 
came on, the family occu- 
pying the house ran out, 
turning to the north and. — 
west. One by one they ~ 
were blown away, — first — 
a little girl, who was © 
found dead ; then a girl and boy, not seriously — 
hurt; next the mother was thrown against a — 
tree and killed; and last, the father, carrying — 
the baby, and becoming confused in the rush- — 
ing wind, turned back from his safe flight to 
the west, was caught up and thrown over one 
hundred yards to the north-east, and killed. 
The accounts of tornadoes only too often give 
a record like this. In six hundred and odd 
tornadoes, forty are recorded as fatal to the — 
people on their track. In these forty, four © 
hundred and sixty-six lives were lost, and six — 
hundred and eighty-seven persons were injured. 
In addition to the violence of the whirling 
winds, an explosive effect is often noted in 
buildings where the windows and doors. are 
closed. Doubtless this is one reason why 
roofs are so generally carried away. Doors 
1 Figs. 23, 24, 25, and 26 are from Finley’ 8 Report | on torna- 
does of May 29 and 30, 1879. i 
