W At Re SB Oy GT’ §: 11g 
*¢ notwithftanding (as he conceives) that the pipes do moft 
“ certainly touch the furface of the fea before any confider- 
«< able motion be made init, and that they are then rendered 
* opaque and vifible when they begin to fill with water ;” 
might he not with equal reafon have fuppofed that thofe 
aerial pipes which he obferved over the land were alfo con- 
tinued from the clouds down to the furface of the earth, as 
from their effects below, one would naturally conclude 
they were, and that they were pellucid and invifible fo 
long as they contained nothing but air; but that “ every 
«* now and then,” when they met with any fubftances 
which might perchance pafs within the compafs of their 
gyration, or which they could eafily carry up; fuch as 
detached parts of the broken clouds; water from ftagnant 
ponds, brooks and rivers, hay, ftubble, thatch, duft, &c. 
they then become opaque and vifible, and that they ap- 
peared to dart downwards by a kind of optical deception ? 
For upon the foregoing principles thefe pipes of air muft 
neceflarily be broadeft above, as we have already feen, and 
terminate in a narrow {tem below, the broadeft part being, 
at a diftance, firft vifible, and the fhank feemingly taper- 
ing downwards toa point. It is however certain from the 
efteats of the above mentioned fpouts, that, whatever the 
appearances were aloft, they were all occafioned by the 
rufhing of the air upwards through a narrow paflage, that 
was contracted below, by the concourfe and preflure of the 
oppofite currents of that fluid, and dilated above from the 
diminution of that preffure. 
I have referved for this place an account of a curious 
fpout which made its appearance anno 1694, not at fea, 
but in the harbour of Top/ham*, and at low water ; which 
pafled with a flow progreffive motion over both land and 
water; acting as acomplete water {pout over the latter, and 
as a whirlwind upon the former: For when it pafled over 
the channel of the river, it threw up the water in a denfe 
Py 2 ftream, 
* Lowthorp’s Abridgm, Phil. Tranf. vol. II. page 104, 
