60 Px'ofessor Q£rsted un IFater-SpoiUs. 



Sihiations and Circumstances in which Water-Spouts occur. 

 — Water-spouts do not occur with equal frequency in all situa- 

 tions. They are more abundant on the sea than on the land ; 

 more frequent on coasts than far out at sea, or at a distance 

 in the interior of the dry land ; and they have been more often 

 noticed in warm regions than in cold ones. They seem to 

 occur more especially at places where calms frequently alter- 

 nate with storms. 



Water-spouts take place for the most part in still weather, 

 and during unsteady winds. In the greater number of in- 

 stances, storm-clouds have been remarked in the sky before 

 their appearance. Most frequently several occur, either at 

 the same time, or immediately after one another ; and often 

 there is observed a new one forming where another disap- 

 peared a short time previously. 



We seldom read accounts of water-spouts without finding 

 also that electrical phenomena were noticed at the same time. 

 Lightning is almost never awanting ; thunder is likewise often 

 connected with them, and it has been remarked that the 

 loud noise which follows water-spouts easily prevents feeble 

 peals of thunder from being heard. Now and then, a more 

 widely dispersed light has been seen ; so that people imagined 

 that the corn in the fields was on fire, but afterwards to their 

 joyful astonishment found it iminjured. It has been reported 

 of one water-spout that fire-balls proceeded from it, of which 

 one was accompanied by a report like that of a musket. 

 Probably, however, in this instance, electric sparks caused a 

 deception. Frequently, great storms follow the occurrence of 

 water- spouts ; sometimes they precede them. 



Water-spouts are often accompanied by hail ; also by rain in 

 large drops, either during the period of their occurrence, or 

 shortly afterwards. The pressm-e of the atmosphere has been 

 very rarely recorded by those who have described this pheno- 

 menon. In my notes I find only one instance of the height of 

 tlie quicksilver in the barometer being mentioned, and this is 

 in the observation of a water-spout which, on the 16th of June 

 1 775, traversed the neighbourhood of the town of Eu. Tiie 

 1. eight of the barometer for three days had been 28 In. 5 L. 

 (= 30.28 English), but fell at 7 o'clock in the morning 2\ L. 



