580 Ob/tfvatiiHS on the Formatlcn and 



The degree of congelation in thefe balls was fo flight that they began to melt the momenf 

 they touched the ground, and accelerated the fufion of the fnow which Iiad fallen before. 



This frozen fnow, which during its fall had obfcured the air fulHcicntly to prevent our 

 feeing tlie water-fpout through the blinds, having ceafed, we rcfumcd our obfervation* 

 with all polTible diligence, and beheld another watcr-fpout fomewhat inferior in magni- 

 tude to the former which had difappeared. It followed nearly the fame courfe as the 

 other. By the account of time employed by each in its fucceffive paflagc, I eftimatcd that 

 the one before us mud have been the third ; ncverthelefs, by confining my narration to what 

 I really faw, it muft be confidercd as the fecond only. This water-fpout having continued 

 its courfe towards Antibes, we obferved that it began to conlradl in all its dimenfions, fomc 

 time before it arrived at the fliore, and that the foot was reduced to nothing when it 

 touched the ground. ItcontraQed infenfibly upwards, the expanded conical part became 

 broader and more rare, and the whole joined the mafs of clouds in the fame manner as 

 one mill incorporates with another. There muft confequently be fome error in the account 

 of the obfervation of i/So, where I fay that the fpout withdrew upwards as quick as light- 

 ning. This expreflion gives too precipitate an idea of the dlflblution of the water-fpout. 

 Having thus kept fight of it until its total extinftion, I returned towards the place where 

 I had difcovered the firft water-fpout, and was greatly furprifcd at difcovering a new foot 

 ready formed, without any defcending fpout a, fig. 3, Plate XXV. My aftonifliment was 

 founded on thefe three circumftances: 



1. The exiftence of the foot of the water-fpout without its ftem or body. For before 

 this obfervation, and from the fa£ls in 1780, I confidered it as indubitable that the enve- 

 loping matter of the foot or recipient was a production of the body of the water-fpout it- 

 felf, or an expanfion of its proper fubftance. Now I faw clearly enough in this phenome- 

 non the identity of the fubftance which compofes clouds and mifts, and that it was not fup- 

 plied by the watcr-fpout. TJie embryo of the fpout which I had fecn at ten o'clock, ap- 

 peared to {how that it was probably produced by the fea. 



1. I was furprifed to fee tliat this foot was ftationary at the place of its formation, where- 

 as thofe which I had before feen were carried fwiftly along by the wind. Vox though it 

 was not irapoffible but that this foot might be carried by a motion along the line of fight, 

 and confequently notjperceptible by me ; it was at leaft certain that it gained nothing from 

 eaft to weft, that is to fay, from my left to my right, the direction in which the fea, the 

 clouds, and the other water-fpouts which had travelled fo far in fo flwrt a fpace of time, 

 were carried. 



3. I was aftonifhed, that the body of the water-fpcmt being wanting, which, according 

 to my notions, might increafe the intenfity of the power by which this appearance is pro- 

 duced, it was ncverthelefs pofPible that this envelope fliould be capable of remaining up- 

 light and ftationary. In this uncertainty I fufpended my reflexions to obfcrve the refult. 

 I remarked a kind of teat or protuberance, b, fig- 3, projedling obliquely from the lower 

 part of the clouds which arrived from the eaft. The foot continued motionlefs, and the 

 protuberance prefervcd its oblique diredion, till the moment when by the adtion of the 

 wind it arrived at the foot; at which inftant we all three obferved the protuberance dircft. 

 jtfelf perpendicularly towards the foot, and like an imnienfc fack of gauze unroll itfelf 



6 from 



