Singular Effects of a Tornado.
By John O’Connell
JOHN O’CONNELL writes from E. St. Louis, Mo., to the Scientific American, as follows: MESSRS. EDITORS:—The terrible tornado which swept through this place on March 8, the general account of which appeared in the papers, would, I think, puzzle scientific men attempting to explain some of its strange freaks. How can it be accounted for, that one house in a row (and the row in a line with the course of the tornado) is utterly demolished; and the others not touched? I have have seen two such instances. Will wind alone drive the little iron rods, used to expand umbrellas, through a seven-eighth inch, well-seasoned poplar board? I have seen that; and the rods were not even bent. Or, will the wind drive sixpenny nails through a similar board? Or will it drive small stones through glass without making cracks? Will it lift a thirty-ton locomotive up, and pitch it entirely off the track? or drive a small piece of shingle through a thick rubber belt? Is it possible for wind to demolish a building just as if it were full of steam boilers, and they had all exploded at once? The well-built system of derricks, at the east abutment pier of the great bridge was shivered to atoms. The splendid freight house (new, and second largest in the state), of the St. Louis and Vandalia Railroad, was knocked down. Three round houses and several freight depots belonging to other railroads were destroyed. I have also seen a piece of glass driven into a board edgeways, about an inch, and there it remained in powder. Do scientific men know all the elements that are in the atmosphere?