ijg. Oi/erwiui/is on the Foiiiiatbn and 



Jt is certain that ilic cold wcallier which fuddenly came on with the new moon of tlic 27th 

 of December, recurred again exactly at each new phalis. I cannot be lieceived in this re- 

 I'l'tcl, bccaufe thc.clumncy of my apartment fmokcj each time, and did not fmoke but 

 during tl»is accidental cold. Two days afterwards, when the weather became milder, this 

 chimney aded as ufual, and did not fmoke again until tlic following change. I could urge 

 many otlicr circumftances in favour of the opinion of Mr. Toaldo ; but 1 forbear, bccaufc 

 tliey arc foreign to my prelent fubjcdt. 



Laftlv, on the 19th of March the wind, which had begun the preceding evening, blew 

 with a degree of impctuofity lefs than that of the 6th of January. The clouds were accu- 

 mulated from the call towari'.s the weft, but they were much lefs condenfed than at that 

 time. At forty minutes after eleven in the nAorning, we obferved two water-fpouts, a, b, 

 Plate XXV.'fig. 4, wJiich moved at the fame time, the one after the other. The mofl rc- 

 inarkable circumftances in thefe water-fpouts were : 1. The prodigious enlargement of 

 the protuberance d, fig. 4, from the extremity of which hung the eflecflive fpout b, whicli 

 was incomparably thinner ; but the wonder difappears, when we refleft that the following 

 fpout, which maintained itfelf in the fame ftate as thofe we had before obferved, robbed 

 the preceding one in fome meafure of its fupport ; fo that this enlargement was, as it were, 

 a commencement of difl'olution, and the thinnefs of b was a proof of the little inteufity of 

 electric power then acting ; a conclufion %vh!ch is alfo confirmed by the following circum- 

 ftances. 2. The incapacity in the feet of thefe two water-fpouts to elevate their fur- 

 rounding plumes. It is feen, a b, fig. 4, that they were reverfed by a force which pre- 

 vented tlieir rifing in a perpendicular direction, like thofe of the preceding water-fpouts. 

 At the extremities of the plumes here defcribed, as well as at the centre of the circle near 

 the furface of the fea, there was formed a fmall atmofphere : but as it was not extenfive, 

 the vapours were fo few that we had very little fjiow, which continued for about half an 

 hour ; when the weather cleared up. During the tranfition of thefe water-fpouts very dif- 

 tant thunder was heard five or fix times. 



In the interval between the obfervations of the 6th of January and the 19th of March, 

 other water-fpouts muft have been formed on the coafts of Provence. It is certain, at Icaft, 

 that I faw the appendices projecting from the clouds, and that the product- of frozen fnow 

 reached our firft hills on this fide of the Var ; but as my profpcct, being limited by the 

 mountains of Provence, did not allow me to fee thefe water-fpouts in fuch a manner as to 

 make any drawing or defcription, I (hail here conclude my obfervations, and ai.tcnd to the 

 refults. 



I don't know whether I am miQed by partiality for my own obfervations, when I cx- 

 prefs my opinion that the fa£ls noted by me on the 12th of April 1780 are of great value 

 in natural philofophy, as well becaufe of the vicinity of the water-fpout wl.ich appeared 

 that day, as of the tranfparency of the furrounding vapours of the foot, which exhibited the 

 interior ebullition with fcarcely any obfcurity. Whence it follows, 



J . That there is a real ebullition in the fea, at the place circumfcribed by tlie foot of the 

 water-fpout. 



,••.. That the vapours of the water wliich muft arife, are the product of an cvof oration 



which 



