OP NOVEMBER 9tH, 1886. 
11 
the barometer fell to 28-285), 16th May 1841, and 25th 
November 1846." To these Madras storms we may add the 
storm of 3rd June 1S42, the centre of which passed over 
Calcutta, and which was recorded as the most severe gale 
ever felt there, when the barometer fell to 2 8" 278 ; the storm 
of 5th October 1864, when the centre passed over Contai and 
the pressure fell to 28"083 ; and the cyclone of September 
22nd, 1885, when the barometer at False Point, over which 
the central calm passed, fell to 27'135 (reduced) — probably 
the lowest well authenticated reading ever taken. 
Another point of considerable importance is its having 
crossed the Peninsula without breaking up. The majority 
of the storms of the south-west monsoon pass over the Orissa 
hills into the Central Provinces, and a small proportion 
advance across the head of the peninsula into the northern 
districts of the Bombay Presidency, but it is otherwise later 
in the year. In fact, Eliot says : " storms march across the 
peninsula during the intermediate period, and when both 
monsoon currents are fiJly established, i.e., in July, August, 
and the early portion of September." ^ Eliot further ac- 
counts for this difference by showing that as a rule storms 
of the transition period are of low elevation, while those of 
the intermediate period are of high elevation, so that they 
are less affected by coming in contact with hills. The 
cyclone under discussion must then have been one of greater 
elevation than usual, but its course was probably also facili- 
tated by the path which it was following. 
It is now pretty generally accepted that the old rule for 
finding the direction of the centre of a cyclone from the 
direction of the wind is very far from the truth, but it may 
still be of interest to point out that in this particular case 
3 Loc. cit., p. 437. 
