1879.] 
Tornado at Wisconsin 
297 
to them their beloved yellow gaslights, and, through no 
fault of its own, the Jablochkoff candle know the sons and 
daughters of King Belinus no more. 
VI. THE TORNADO AT WISCONSIN IN 1878. 
EARLY five years ago* we gave as full a description 
as could be obtained of a tornado which occurred in 
Iowa and Illinois on May 22nd, 1873. Singularly 
enough a storm, accompanied by a tornado extending nearly 
across Wisconsin, which for extent and violence surpassed 
any storm previously recorded in the history of the State, 
swept over Iowa, Northern Illinois, and Southern Wisconsin 
only one day later of the same month in 1878. We are 
indebted to Prof. W. W. Daniells, of the University of Wis- 
consin, for a complete account of the tornado of May 23rd, 
1878, and we regret that the space allotted to a single article 
in the “ Monthly Journal of Science ” will only permit of a 
very brief abstract of his description of its character and 
With regard to the origin of the storm it has been impos- 
sible to obtain data leading to any definite conclusion. At 
about six o’clock of the same day a tornado from a south- 
westerly direction struck the earth near Barrington, in the 
north line of Cook county, 111 ., passing over Highland Park 
half an hour later. The same evening at half-past six a 
tornado occurred north-east of Quincy, 111 ., in Adams and 
Brown counties. The occurrence of these several tornadoes, 
together with the fa< 5 t that heavy rains fell throughout 
eastern Iowa, northern Illinois, and southern Wisconsin on 
that afternoon, shows that the Wisconsin tornado was not 
entirely the result of local conditions, but that some cause 
producing unusual atmospheric disturbance was widespread. 
The weather chart accompanying the Monthly Weather 
U.S. Signal Service indicates an aria of low barometer for 
May 23 extending over the entire Lake region. 
The evidence obtained by Prof. Daniells seems to prove 
conclusively that the tornado was a whirlwind of unusual 
extent. 
*See Quarterly Journal of Science, vol» v. (n.s.) p. 339. 
