The Storm: or, a Collection of the most Remarkable Casualties and Disasters which Happen'd in the Late Dreadful Tempest, both by Sea and LandDefoe, Daniel
History
The Storm: or, a Collection of the most Remarkable Casualties and Disasters which Happen'd in the Late Dreadful Tempest, both by Sea and Land
Defoe, Daniel
Storms -- Early works to 1800
If I may be allow'd to give this Philosophical Account of it, I hope it
may not be absurd; that the Indraft of the Arches underneath the Houses
giving Vent to the Air, it past there with a more than common Current;
and consequently relieved the Buildings, by diverting the Force of the
Storm: I ask Pardon of the ingenious Reader for this Opinion, if it be
not regular, and only present it to the World for Want of a better; if
those better furnished _that Way_ will supply us with a truer Account, I
shall withdraw mine, and submit to theirs. The Fact however is certain,
that the Houses on the _Bridge_ did not suffer in Proportion to the
other Places; though all must allow, they do not seem to be stronger
built, than other Streets of the same sort.
Another Observation I cannot but make; to which, as I have Hundreds of
Instances, so I have many more Witnesses to the Truth of Fact, and the
uncommon Experiment has made it the more observ'd.
The Wind blew, during the whole Storm, between the Points of S.W. and
N.W., not that I mean it blew at all these Points, but I take a
Latitude of Eight Points to avoid Exceptions, and to confirm my
Argument; since what I am insisting upon, could not be a natural Cause
from the Winds blowing in any of those particular Points.
If a Building stood North and South, it must be a Consequence that the
East-side Slope of the Roof must be the Lee-side, lie out of the Wind,
be weather'd by the Ridge, and consequently receive no Damage in a
direct Line.
But against this rational way of arguing, we are convinced by
Demonstration and Experiment, after which Argument must be silent. It
was not in one Place or Two, but in many Places; that where a Building
stood ranging North and South, the Sides or Slopes of the Roof to the
East and the West, the East-side of the Roof would be stript and untiled
by the Violence of the Wind; and the West Side, which lay open to the
Wind, be sound and untouch'd.
This, I conceive, must happen either where the Building had some open
Part, as Windows or Doors to receive the Wind in the Inside, which being
pusht forward by the succeeding Particles of the Air, must force its Way
forward, and so lift off the Tiling on the Leeward side of the Building;
or it must happen from the Position of such Building near some other
higher Place or Building, where the Wind being repuls'd, must be forc'd
back again in Eddies; and consequently taking the Tiles from the lower
Side of the Roof, rip them up with the more Ease.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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