WATER SPOUTS. 103 
* Upon which there feemed to fall a very heavy rain in 
“that neighbourhood. ‘There was but little wind, and 
“ the fky elfewhere was pretty ferene——” 
In other accounts contained in the Philofophical Tranf- 
actions, thefe phenomena are defcribed as having the ap- 
pearance of a {word pointing downwards, fometimes per- 
pendicularly fometimes obliquely towards a column of wa= 
ter or froth, which feems to rife out of the fea to meet it, 
attended with a violent ebullition or perturbation at the fur- 
face. Again in others the appearance is compared to {moke 
afcending vifibly asthroughthe funnel of a chimney, either 
direétly, or with a fpiral motion, which according to the 
fancies of fome refembles the afcent of water in the fcrew 
of Archimedes ; by fuppofing fomething fimilar to which 
in the atmofphere, they have endeavoured to account for 
the rife of the water from the fea in a water-fpout. To 
which I would add, that, from the relations of fome per= 
fons who ufe the fea, with whom I have converfed upon 
the fubject, I find that it is no uncommon thing, during 
a calm below, and a ferene fky above, to obferve at the 
diftance of two or three leagues a {mall cloud hovering in 
the air, from whence the commencing fpout feems to dart 
downward to the fea, upon which the ufual phenomena 
take place in their order. I have alfo been informed (and 
to information I muft truft, having never been at fea) that 
it is common during thefe appearances for fhips to fail, 
even within hail of each other, with different winds; and 
within the limits of the fame vifible horizon, with contrary 
winds: And laftly, that the rife and progrefs of this pheno-- 
menon is fometimes fo rapid, that, even in a ferene fky, a 
few minutes will be fufficient to generate a cloud from one 
of thefe fpouts, and to difcharge from thence a heavy fhow= 
er of rain. 
Before I proceed to attempt a philofophical folution of 
thefe curious productions of nature, in which the two 
principal fluids of our globe, air and water, are largely 
concerned; 
