HURRICANES.--Account of the Circular storm of December last in the United States, by Mr. W. C. Redfield, of New York.

We have received from Mr. Redfield, the following account of a storm which took place in the United States, on the 15th of December last, adding another to the many proofs already given of the truth of that gentleman's theory. There is a peculiar value belonging to this, derived from the fact of the locality of the various places of observation being strictly known, and therefore to be implicitly relied on; whereas those of ships at sea, not only have the differences in their compasses, but, also a certain extent of vagueness in the position of the vessels themselves to distract the reasonings on the different directions of the wind. Mr. Redfield says, "these facts, if considered geographically, and with strict reference to one point of time, are within the comprehension of every reader; and form, therefore, a valid and useful test for the theory or hypothesis of an inward or centripetal course of the wind in a storm, which is advocated by Mr. Espy.

"To avoid all complexity, we will confine our enquiries, on this occasion, to the afternoon of Sunday the 15th, at or shortly before sunset. The evidence within our reach on this point is as follows: —

"1. At Nantucket, the excellent meteorogical journal published at that place, states the wind at 7 A.M., and at noon of the 15th at eas', with rain; at 9 P.M. S.W. fair. Compared with the next accounts, the change to S.W. would appear to have been in the afternoon, previous to sunset. The changes here being always found to make progress north-easterly.

"2. At Barnstable, on the southern extremity of Cape Cod Bay, 66 miles from Boston, in a nearly S.E. direction, it blew hard from 9 A.M. to noon; after which, while the gale was most severe at Boston, the wind lulled to a moderate breeze, and shifted to S. and S.W.; continuing through the afternoon and night. Another account states that the wind was south at sunset, rather mild, and stars visible in the evening.

"3. At New Bedford, Massachussetts as appears by the meterological journal of Mr.Joseph Congdon, the wind also changed, about 3 P.M., from E.N.E. to S.,-at 9 P.M. wind S. moderate and cloudy.

"The above three places would appear, at sunset, on the 15th, to have been within the central lull of the storm, which reached Boston about 7 P.M., and around which the wide spread annulus of wind, which forms the true gale, appears to have been blowing with its full power. The lighter winds within the central lull, in many cases, conform more or less to the course of the storm; which would cause the wind to be south-westerly. In what follows, therefore, no stress will be laid upon the direction of these lighter winds in the centre of the storm.

"4. At Provincetown, near the north extremity of Cape Cod the gale was most severe from 11 to 4 P.M. on Sunday; its direction by collating the accounts, would appear to have been from E.S.E. During the night following, the wind is stated to have been moderate and all round the compass. This was the central lull, as the storm was renewed on the following morning, as well as at the above mentioned places.

"5. Captain Slemmer of the brig Columbus, in his detailed and seaman-like account, states that on Sunday at 2 P.M. he made Sandwich, on the west side of Barnstable or Cape Cod Bay; the wind blowing a hurricane from E.S.E. The weather lighting up afterwards, he ran into Plymouth. The direction of the wind at sunset, after the lull, is not given us.

"7. A published letter from Gloucester, north-eastern extremity of Massachussets Bay, dated on Sunday night says-We have experienced a most disastrous gale of wind here to-day from E.S.E.,-the rain continues to pour in torrents, and the gale has not abated any.

"7. At Salem, 15 miles from Boston, according to the Salem Register, during the day at intervals, the wind blew with tremendous force from the eastward, and the rain fell in torrents.

"8. At Newburyport, 30 miles N.N.E. from Boston, according to the Newburyport Herald, the storm commenced on Sunday morning, and from 10 to 12 o'clock on Sunday night, the wind which had shifted a point or two more to the N.E., blew a perfect hurricane.

"9. At Portsmouth, New Hampshire, some 60 miles N.N.E. of Boston, in the Meteorological Journal published at that place, we find the wind recorded, during the day at east, with snow and rain. In a Portsmouth paper this storm is styled a heavy N.E. gale.

"10. At Portland, as appears from a valuable sketch just published by the keeper of the observatory, the wind at 11 A.M. on the 15th was east, with heavy rain; P.M. E. by S. gale still continued; in the evening wind shifted to N.E,. &c.

"11. At Nashua, New Hampshire, on the Merimac, as we are informed by the Nashua Telegraph, the storm of the 15th was from N.E. All our information leads to the conclusion that this comprises the close of that day.

"12. At Boston, the Atlas says-On Sunday at 2 P.M. it commenced raining with a tremendous gale, from the N.E. which lasted till 7 P.M. The Mercantile Journal says-The wind blew with great fury from the eastward, and in the evening for several hours it increased to a hurricane. The Daily Times says-It commenced raining about 2 P.M. with a violent gale from the E.N.E., which lasted till 7 P.M. Another Boston account says-In the afternoon the wind became strong from ENLARGED SERIES.-NO. 6.-VOL. FOR 1840.

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the eastward. The Boston Watchman says-The wind was strong from the eastward, accompanied by moist snow and sleet, which gradually changed to a driving rain, and continued during the day. In view of all this, we may safely infer, that the direction of the wind at Boston immediately before sunset, differed not greatly from E.N.E.

"13. At Providence, according to the observations of Professor Caswell, of Brown University, the wind on the 15th was brisk at N.E. which continued till 2 P.M. The barometer continued to fall till 4 P.M. and remained stationary till near 7 P.M., and the wind still at N.E. and cloudy. The professor adds, I am not particular to mark the exact point of compass, nor, indeed, have I any means of doing so. It appears probable that this locality was in or near the border of the central lull, after 2 P.M.

"14. At Middletown, Connecticut, as I am informed by Professor Smith of the Wesleyan University, the gale set in at N.N.E. and continued to snow and blow very hard during the 15th; the wind rather veered round to N., in which quarter the wind was very strong at the close of the day.

"15. At Hartford, Connecticut, according to the Daily Courant, this storm, during its continuance, was accompanied by a strong wind from the north and north-west. The latter was probably the driving wind of Sunday night and Monday.

"16. At Northampton, Massachussets, as I am informed by the editor of the Northampton Courier, the wind during the storm of the 15th was from N.E. Mr. Espy, I perceive, states it to have been north at this place, but on what authority he does not inform us. We will, however, take N.N.E. the mean of the two statements.

"17. At Amherst, Massachussets, according to the observations of Professor Snell, the wind in the latter part of the 15th was N. by W. -severe storm of wind and snow. His place of observation is on low ground a little S.W. from the college, which stands on a hill. Perhaps this may have slightly effected its local direction.

"18. At Hanover, on the western border of New Hampshire, as I am informed by Professor Hubbard, of Dartmouth College, the wind veered on the 15th from N.E. to N. The facts here are furnished from the meteorological journal of Professor Young; and as the winds in this journal appear to be all referred to the eight principal points of the compass, as is common, there is room to infer that in the latter part of the day the wind was somewhat eastward of the true north: but this need not be insisted on.

"19. At Albany and Troy, which places I visited the 17th, the wind late on Sunday afternoon, according to my best information, was somewhat eastward of north.

"20. At Athens, Hudson, and Catskill, from information on which I can place implicit reliance, the wind at this time was at north.

"21. At Litchfield, Connecticut, according to the Litchfield Enquirer, the wind during the storm from Saturday night till Sunday night, was high from the north-east and north.

"22. Near New Haven, Connecticut, off the light house, Captain Woolsey, of the steam boat Providence, informs me that on Sunday afternoon till near sunset the wind was strong at N.N.W.; but at 9 P.M. it had veered to north-west, and was very heavy.

"23. At New York, as appears from my own observations, carefully taken, the wind during the 15th, and before sunset, had veered from N. by W., strong;-to N.W. by W., a hard gale;—which continued in the evening.

"24. At Cape May, New Jersey, as appears by the marine reports, the wind at this time was blowing a gale at north-west.

"The storm of wind and snow was severe throughout New England, and its limits on the 15th, extended greatly beyond the Hudson.

"25. The ship Morrison, on the 15th, at sunset, 125 miles south of Rhode Island, latitude 39° 35', longitude 71° 38', had the gale violent from W.N.W.

"The erroneous statement, that the steamer Providence had the gale at S.W. near New Haven on the 15th, which Mr. Espy has used in at least one of the New York papers in support of his theory, he has since found occasion to correct: But I do not perceive that the correction has been given to the New York public.

"I have brought together below, the chief of the foregoing observations, on a small map; in order that it may now be seen, at a glance, whether the wind blew in this gale inward from all sides towards the centre of the storm, according to the favorite hypothesis of Mr. Espy; or whether on the contrary, it was actually blowing in a great circuit around its central portion, in the direction which is contrary to the hands of a watch which lies with its face upward: as is found to be the case in all gales which I have examined; not excepting even those upon which Mr. Espy is accustomed to rely, in his attempts to sustain his centripetal theory.

"The circular lines on the map are drawn from a center located on the southern border of Cape Cod Bay; and, whether or not, this is to be considered as the exact place of the axis, about sunset on the 15th, and the arrows near the several places as representing the exact course of the wind, is unimportant. These will at least serve as approximations; and the general result could not be materially affected by greater accuracy of delineation, were the latter attainable. To me it clearly appears that the wind was not blowing at any time on the 15th towards

a space or region of country south-west from Boston and north-east of New Haven, as was suggested by Mr. Espy in the Courier and Enquirer, and the New York Gazette; nor, indeed, towards any other central space in the gale. The general course or manner in which this gale did blow about sunset on the 15th, when its center was perhaps nearest, appears I think sufficiently obvious, from the foregoing statement.

"The limited object of the present inquiry restrains me from examining the consecutive changes and relaxations of this storm, at the various localities; and much information, for which I am indebted to my correspondents, must for the present be passed over. It should be borne in mind, that our map comprises but a portion of the area which was covered at one time by this gale; which was greatly extended on all sides, but mostly on the east and south. It should be noticed, also, that the point of time to which all the observations are referred approximates as already intimated, to the time of the greatest fall of the barometer in this storm, in the states of Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts.

"The whole series of the gales which have occurred, weekly, since the 24th of November, are well worthy of the attention of meteorologists; and the rotative character of each, has appeared to be developed as clearly as in the case now before us."

New York, Jan. 6, 1840.

W. C. REDFIeld.