215 On the Theory of Water-Spouts. 
ready collected, amongst whom several old sailors whose testi- 
mony put its identity beyond all doubt. : 
_. It came up the Firth with such rapidity, propelled by its own 
electric velocity, outstripping the light breeze of easterly wind 
then blowing, so that a solitary fisherman seated in the stem of 
his boat, with his face all the while towards the phenomenon, 
had only time, after perceiving its rapid approach, to draw up 
his anchor-stone and pull out of its course. He, after landing, 
‘described the appearance of the surface, all round the proboscis, 
“ just like a boiling caldron.” The hissing noise of the water 
separating itself from the salt, was most distinctly heard by those 
.on shore, which noise made them suppose the water was falling 
from the cloud, and prognosticated a deluge and destruction of * 
the west end of the town. But as it neared the shore and lacked 
water, the proboscis lessened in density and thickness, and at 
last detached itself entirely from the water and ascended in beau- 
tiful spirals into the cloud, and passed over the town with only 
a few heavy drops of rain. 7 his 1 consider: most conclusive of 
the rise of the water from the sea to the cloud in this class of 
-water-spouts. 
While the water was rising from the sea and ascending to the 
cloud, and went off without injury at the negative, all the effects 
of a descending water-spout, from the lengthened course and 
the surcharge of water in the shape of torrential rain, was felt 
within the range of the posiéive end, in such quantity and with 
‘such rapidity and force, as nearly to prove fatal to some Buck- 
hhaven fishermen who had put to sea that morning. To save 
their lives, they had to give up their oars, and with their hats 
bail out the water that fell from above, to keep their boats from 
sinking. The cloud took a direction up the country towards 
Cupar, doing material damage, and created torrents where water 
never ran before, and converted some new-made ditches into 
deep and broad ravines, now the beds of small streams and purl- 
ing rills. Give me leave now to state the theory I had formed 
before narrating the account of the descending water-spout. 
I am perfectly satisfied, that the whole phenomenon of the wa~ 
ter-spout, whether ascending or descending,which as already men- 
tioned are but twin children of the same parent, is entirely depen- 
dent on and governed by the laws of electricity. Whether the cloud 
that becomes the parent of the water-spout, be positively or ne- 
gatively electric, a collection of facts can best determine.. My 
opinion is that it must be negatively so, at its first formation, 
and that in the escape of the equilibriating electricity from the 
ocean, the surface becomes violently agitated, or rises into a co- 
lumn elevated above the general level, which I would account 
for by supposing a perpendicular prodoscés to descend from the 
gathering” 
