highest in the middle of the storm_. The change is fatal to
his theory. The two are diametrically opposite in character and effect. In
one, the superior strata would be brought down in the center by the
_lateral pressure outward_; in the other, they would be elevated by the
_involution_, which "affords a measure of the air and vapor which finds
its way to a higher elevation," etc. It is perfectly obvious Mr. Redfield
has refuted his own hypothesis.

In doing this, he is met by the other difficulty alluded to, which he does
not attempt to explain. This gathering of the air inward, spirally, by a
centripetal force, if it took place, not only would not depress, but _must
elevate the barometer in the center, above that of the adjoining
atmosphere_.

When he first attributed the depression of the barometer to a lateral
movement and centrifugal force, he supposed the superior strata descended
into the depression, and their frigidity occasioned the condensation, and
cloud, and rain. How he now proposes to account for the formation of cloud
and rain during storms, while the warm air of the inferior stratum finds
its way to a higher elevation in the center of the storm, he does not
inform us, and we must wait his time.

"I have," he says, "long held the proper inquiry to be, _what are
storms_? and not, _how are storms produced_? as has been well
expressed by another. It is only when the former of these inquiries
has been solved that we can enter advantageously upon the latter."

The former does not seem to be yet solved, or the solution of the latter
commenced. Mr. Redfield tells us (page 259, and onward), that there is an
extended stratum of stratus-cloud, which overlies the storm, and that it
does not differ greatly from one mile in height. We are not told how the
air, which finds its way to a higher elevation during several days
continuance of such a storm, _gets through the stratum_. If he is right it
_must_ do so, and it would not answer to _suppose_ a very small opening or
gentle current through it, to carry off all the air which works inward in
a hurricane, during several days continuance. But he does not seem to
recognize either the necessity or existence of any _vent_ at all; nor is
there any; and this fact is open to the observation of every school-boy in
the country; and it is equally open to his observation that _when and
where the barometer is most depressed, the stratus storm-cloud is nearest