Appeanncts cf IFater-SpoiiV. 579 



•who, after a long and tedious voyage, firft difcovers the land. I followed him to the win- 

 doiv, and beheld an immcnfe water-fpout paffing majeilically before Nice, as reprefented 

 in fig. 2. The clouds had akeady occupied not only the upper and foutherii part of the at- 

 mofphere, but they had proceeded towards the weft, fo as to cover the whole extent with- 

 in my view ; with this circumflance neverthelefs, that they had left uncovered beneath 

 and towards the fouth a part in the form of a fegment of a circle, through which, at an 

 extreme diftance, fome clouds were difcerned, upon which the fun threw the colours of the 

 morfiing. 



The foot of this water-fpout, which was in every refpefl infinitely fuperior to that 

 which Meflrs. P.ipacin, Renaud, and myfelf, obferved in 1780, was fo ample, that a 

 man of war of ico guns, with all its fails, might have been enveloped and even concealed 

 in it. For we are, from daily practice, fufficiently accuftomed to judge of the fize of ob- 

 jects at different diftances by that of the image formed upon the retina, affifted by our ha- 

 bitual reafoning. And hence, from the circular form of the foot of this water-fpout, fome 

 judgment may be made of the volume of vapour it afforded. 



Inftead of the tranquillity it e.xhibited at its firll appearance, this lower part afTumed the 

 refemblance of the crater of a volcano, with this exception, that it threw out nothing but 

 large ftreams of cloud and fpouts of fea-water. But it threw thefe in parabolic dreams 

 from the centre to the circumference, and all around, with fuch impetuofity and violence 

 as to rendeir it very evident to us, that an inexpreifible effervefcence mufl have prevailed 

 in the interior bafon, though the great diftance and the opacity of the furrounding vapour 

 prevented us from feeing the phenomena as diftindly as we faw the ebullition of the wa- 

 ter-fpout of 1780*. 



The diameter of the water-fpout^ and that of its expanded upper part, were large in pro- 

 portion. Its colour was a very deep indigo, the feme as that of the clouds, which extended 

 from eaft to wefl:. It was impoffible for us to obferve theafcent of the vapours of frefli 

 water ; but the obfervation of 1780, in which tbis was clearly feen, fupplies this defe£l. 

 It will alfo be (hewn that the afcenfion was again fcen in a mod complete manner. 



While We were looking at this extraordinary appearance, which my fons beheld for the 

 firft time, and which feemed to have concentrated all their fenfes in one, on a fudden an 

 impetuous fliowcr of hail difchargcd itfelf agiiinfl the windows in grains of the fize of pif- 

 tol and mufket balls. We immediately fufpended our obfcrvations, in order to clofe the 

 fliadeS of bodi ftories of the houfe, in which the whole family affifted, for feir of having 

 the windows abfolutcly broken to pieces, as happened a few years before. But I foon per- 

 ceived that this precaution was abfoluiely ufclefs, or at leafl unneccflary. For the hail 

 though in a few minutes it covered the grouiid to the height of four inches, did not in the 

 lead damage the trees in the garden behind our houfe. It confided merely of large flakes 

 cX fnow rounde<l by the wind in their fall, and poflelting neither tlie weight nor the hard- 

 nefs of hail. Upon opening fome of the jjicces I found them to confift of a thin comr)a<fl 

 fhcll, nearly empty within, excepting a fcW rays from the centre to the circumference. 



« See the Journal dc Phyfique, X3tX. Part F. i$4. for Ohfiii vniion fur unc Trotnbe At Mer, ftli« 1 Nice 

 Ac I'rovence en 1780, et addrefKe s M, Fauj,is dt Si. Kond, p.ir M. Miiliaud. The faitt are l«f» minutely 

 §r''Aj but near!', ^grcc wiih the prefcnt memoir, N. 



4E2 The 



