1 1 1 R E M A R K S o n t h e
A T M O SPHERE,
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fpout was difeovered behind this laft. A cloud o f fleam formed
below, and moved upwards in a Ipiral, in a lhape gradually decreaf-
ing towards the fummit. Another cloud o f a long flender form,
tapering towards its lower extremity, feemed to defeend towards
the riling fpout, and both ends united and became cylindrical and
ereCt; but in time moving to the South-Eaft, it aflumed an oblique
and curved form; and at laft, when it broke, we obferved in its
neighbourhood, a flalh o f lightning, but heard no explofion. Th e
fpout next us had difappeared a Ihort time before. I t was then juft
five o’clock, and the thermometer was at 54,. We' had feveral
Ihowers during the time o f the appearance o f the water-fpouts, and
bad hauled up the courfes, and clued up the top-fails.
After the hard gale, which had blown the fame year, from the
22d o f Oftober, at noon, till we were off Cape Pallifer on the 29th,
the gale ftill continuing ftrong, and the fea turbulent, I was told
by the officers o f our Ihip, that in the morning-watch feveral water
fpouts had been feen. A t eight o’clock we had a flight Ihower
o f rain, and immediately after the wind changed, the thermometer
being at 511°.
i From thefle faCts, I beg leave to draw the following corollaries.
Firjl, Water-fpouts feem to be formed b y eddies o f winds, which,
in their conflict, caufe a circular motion o f the air, contributing
towards {he railing of the flea-water in fleam ; and the vacuum,
cauled
caufed by the rarefied air in the midft o f the column, fleeins to at- a t m o -
traCt the clouds, arid to give them a conic lhape, whole point Hands S HERE'
downwards.
:Secondly, From the flafh of lightning, it Ihould feem, that the
clouds were then eleCtric ; and that therefore the coalition of the twd
tubes from the fea and the clouds, may be owing to eleCtric attraction
* .
Thirdly, Water-fpouts are commonly formed near lands having
projecting promontories, within narrow leas, ftraits, and other
places where the winds form currents and eddies, and coming in
conflict with other winds,; take a contrary direction from the pofi-
t io n . o f Ibme promontory or ftrait. Thofe water-fpouts, which
Thevenot has defcribpd, were obferved in the Perfian Gulph, between
the ifles ö f Guefomo, Lareca, and Ormus. A friend o f
mine faw feveraj in the inundated rice-fields along Canton river in
China. Dr. Shaw obferved feme in the Mediterranean, near the
Capes
* ' In the P h ib f. Syaei/kitlorls, vol. jtlvli. n. Sot p. 4 7 8V it is'.laidthat a tvarer-fpout in
ïiincolnlhire ended in a fiery Itrcam. The fpout, which made, fo great a havock at Rome,
June. 11 tli, 1749, obierved by Father Boftowich, was continually".emitting Hallies' o f llghft
ning pn all fides. The fpout alfo- deferibed by Dam p ie r , v o l., iii: p. 182, came out o f
a black cloud, that yielded great Sore o f rain, thunder, and lightning. See Dr. F r a n k -
Tiin’sfEAfcrhiihiir and Obfervatlons on Elcflriafy, 5th edit. London, 4to. 1774. p. 229 and
280. Mr. Adtmfon iikewife obferved a water-fpout preceded by a thunder-liorm, and found
the fpour extremely hot, which' may be chiefly owing to the inflamed air, conveyed in this
fpout -by an Ealtefly wind from the inland parts of Africa, A'dakson’s V yage to Senegal,