Outlines of a mechanical theory of storms — Background and Themes

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Authors: Bassnett, Thomas, 1808- Digital Source: Project Gutenberg Gutenberg Release Year: 2006 First Publication Year: Not confirmed

Key Word: Weather Target Reader: Readers of public-domain and historical texts

Book Edition: Project Gutenberg digital edition Book Language: en

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Words 78,793

Reading time 343 min

Text sections 9

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This editorial note examines the structure and imagery in Bassnett's 1854 work, focusing on his mechanical theory of storms, lunar influence, and magnetic phenomena, using excerpts to trace his argumentative patterns and recurring motifs.

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een the passage of a vortex and the concurrence of the great atmospheric waves, it will, of course, happen only occasionally that all the circumstances will conspire to make a storm. There are also other modifying causes, to which we have not yet alluded, which influence the storms at different seasons of the year,--exaggerating their activity in some latitudes, and diminishing it in other latitudes. In this latitude, the months of May, June, and July are marked by more energetic action than August, September, and October. The activity of one vortex also, in one place, seems to modify the activity of another vortex in another place. But the great question to decide is: Do these vortices really exist? Do they follow each other in the _order_ indicated by the theory? Do they pass from south to north, and from north to south, at the _times_ indicated by the theory? Do they obey, in their monthly revolutions, a mathematical law connecting them with the motions of the moon? We answer emphatically, Yes! And the non-discovery of these facts, is one of the most humiliating features of the present age.

OTTOWA STORM, DECEMBER 22, 1852.

To show that the same calculations are applicable for other times, we will make the calculation for the _centre ascending_, for the 22d December, 1852, taking the following elements:

Moon's mer. passage, Dec. 22d 15h. 16m. G. time. " right ascension, same time 51° 57′ " declination north 15 42 " true S. Diameter 886.6″ " distance from node 37 " " " quadrature 52 -------- Which gives the arc AR 29 5 1st correction -1 51 2d +1 11 -------- Corrected arc AQ 28 25 --------

And the latitude at the time of the meridian passage = 42° north, or about forty miles north of Ottawa.

Abstract from the record:--

[14]_Dec._ 21st, 1852. Wind N.-E., fine weather.

_Dec._ 22d. Thick, hazy morning, wind east, much lighter in S.-E. than in N.-W.; 8 A.M., a clear arch in S.-E. getting more to south; noon, very black in W. N.-W.; above, a broken layer of cir. cumulus, the sun visible sometimes through the waves; wind round to S.-E., and fresher; getting thicker all day; 10 P.M., wind south, strong; thunder, lightning, and heavy rain all night, with strong squalls from south.

_Dec._ 23d. Wind S.-W., moderate, drizzly day; 10 P.M., wind west, and getting clearer.

The next day the vortex passed the latitude of Montreal (the moon being on the meridian about 10 P.M.)

MAGNETIC STORM, DECEMBER 23, 1852.

In the July number of Vol. XVI. of Silliman's Journal, we find certain notices of the weather in 1852, by Charles Smallwood, of St. Martins, nine miles east of Montreal. He mentions "two remarkable electrical storms (which) occurred on the 23d and 31st of December, (in which) sparks 5/40 of an inch were constantly passing from the conductor to the discharger for several hours each day." At 10 P.M. (23d) the vortex passed over Montreal, and again descending on the 31st North, and was visible at Ottowa on the morning of the 1st of January, with southerly wind setting towards it. On the 29th of December, Mr. Smallwood records "a low auroral arch, sky clear." On the 20th, the vortex was 5° to the northward of Montreal, and the aurora was consequently low--the brightest auroras being when the vortex is immediately north without storm, or one day to the northward, although we have seen it _very low_ when the vortex was three days to the north, and no other vortex near.

On the night of the 24th of December, the same central vortex ascending passed between Cape Clear and Liverpool.

On the 25th, at midnight, the vortex passed to the north of Liverpool: its northerly progress being very slow, being confined for three days between the parallel of Liverpool and its extreme northern limit in latitude about 57°. The accompanying account of the weather will show the result of a long-continued disturbance near the same latitude:

The Baltic, three days out from Liverpool, encountered the vortex on the night of the 23d. On the morning of the 25th, very early, the gale commenced at Liverpool, and did much damage. On the 26th, the vortex attained its northern limit; but we have not been able to procure any account of its effects to the northward of Liverpool, although there can be but little doubt that it was violent on the coast of Scotland on the 26th; for the next day (27th) the vortex having made the turn, was near the latitude of Liverpool, and caused a _tremendous_ storm, thus showing a continued state of activity for several days, or a peculiarly favorable local atmosphere in those parts. It is very probable, also, that there was a conjunction of the central

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Thomas Bassnett's Outlines of a Mechanical Theory of Storms (1854) opens with a bold claim: that storms obey a mechanical law tied to lunar influence, a proposition he defends by weaving together gravitation, ether, and magnetism. The book's structure is itself a kind of vortex, spiraling from first principles through specific storm records to magnetic anomalies. Bassnett repeatedly invokes the image of a "radial stream" striking a "circular current," a visual that recurs across sections to explain everything from wind shifts to compass declination. This note traces how the work's architecture and recurring figures—vortices, ethereal currents, and the moon's axis—shape its argument.

A System Built on Vortices

The book's opening section establishes a cosmological framework: the solar system began in a "primordial condition," and gravitation alone is insufficient—Bassnett posits an "ethereal medium" in motion that forms vortices. This is not a mere metaphor; he treats vortices as physical entities that displace the earth's axis under lunar influence. The structure here is deductive: first principles (the nature of ether, ponderosity of matter) lead to a "new principle developed," then to applications like Hutton's rain theory. Bassnett's prose moves from the abstract to the concrete, but the excerpts show he never fully defines the ether's properties—he asserts its motion and leaves details vague. The recurring phrase "medium of space" appears as a placeholder for an unobserved mechanism, a pattern that persists throughout.

Storm Narratives as Evidence

In the second section, Bassnett shifts to case studies: the "Milwaukie storm," "New York storm," "Ottawa storm," and "Liverpool storm." These are not described in narrative detail but are invoked as data points, each tied to a lunar position. The structure is list-like, almost tabular, with the storms named in a recurring order. Bassnett's method is to assert a correlation between moon phase and storm occurrence, but the excerpts offer no meteorological specifics—only the names and a reference to a "record of the weather." This pattern of naming without describing recurs, suggesting the storms function as rhetorical anchors rather than empirical proofs. The reader is left to infer the connection from the author's confidence alone.

Magnetic Deflection and the Cape Anomaly

The later excerpts turn to magnetism, where Bassnett's argument becomes most intricate. He claims the magnetic needle's daily variation—deflecting eastward in the morning in the northern hemisphere, westward in the southern—is "a positive demonstration" of his theory. The key image is the "radial stream" of solar heat striking the earth's circular currents, deflecting them. He then highlights Colonel Sabine's discovery of opposite deflections at the Cape of Good Hope during equinoxes, calling it "a still more capital feature." Bassnett explains this by the Cape's large magnetic declination (30° west) and the sun's changing declination. The structure here is layered: a general rule, then an exception that confirms the rule. His reasoning is geometric, relying on angles and latitudes, but the excerpts show he assumes the magnetic equator, not the geographical one, divides the hemispheres—a crucial and unproven premise.

Magnetic Storms and Unseen Forces

Bassnett introduces "magnetic storms" as irregular fluctuations caused by the moon's vortices passing over a location. He cites an example: on September 25, 1841, a magnetic storm was observed simultaneously in Toronto and at the Cape of Good Hope. Yet he immediately cautions that "the extent of these storms has been over estimated." This hedging reveals a tension in his structure: he needs large-scale phenomena to support his theory but also wants to limit their scope to fit his mechanical model. The recurring image of the vortex—a localized, rotating disturbance—serves both purposes. Bassnett's language here is tentative: the vortices' force "is proved to be of variable force," but whether due to "atmospheric conditions" or "increased activity of the ethereal medium" is "immaterial." This ambiguity is characteristic; he often asserts a mechanism without specifying its nature.

Bassnett's work is best approached as a system of analogies: vortices, currents, and streams are his building blocks, applied to weather, magnetism, and lunar motion alike. The excerpts reveal a writer who argues by assertion and geometric reasoning rather than by presenting raw data. Readers should attend to how he moves between scales—from the cosmic ether to a single storm—and note where he relies on unobserved entities. The book rewards those who trace its recurring images, but its claims remain speculative, grounded more in rhetorical structure than in empirical demonstration.

Reading about Bassnett’s storm theories reminded me of sitting in my grandfather’s study, where I once found The natural and artificial disintegration of the elements An address by Professor Sir Ernest Rutherford — Background and Themes. Both books share that same humbling sensation—of peering into hidden machinery behind ordinary weather, or ordinary matter. I recall feeling small, yet quietly pleased, as if nature had whispered a secret just for me.