THE FORCE OF HURRICANES.
[To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."] Sia,—In your article of the 2nd, on "Gales and Hurricanes," you say that the destructive force of a tropical hurricane appears to be greater than the velocity of the wind will account for, when compared with the velocity of one of our gales. I think this is quite satisfactorily explained by the law that the pressure, and consequently the destructive force, of any current, whether of air or of water, is proportional not to the velocity, but to the square of the velocity ; so that if the velocity is doubled, the destructive force is increased fourfold. You ask, with the enormous destructive force of a tropical hurricane, why does so much survive P Probably, for a reason that you have yourself suggested,—that the greatest force of the hurricane
exists over but a narrow area. This is known to be true in some North-American storms.—I am, Sir, &c.,
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