Causes of Water Spouts. 47 
I have to remark that this well is situated on elevated ground, and 
that the hard pan, common in the United States, is eomposed of clay 
and gravel, cemented with iron, and is so firm that it cannot be bro- 
ken up without a pick-axe and crow-bar, which are the implements 
commonly used by laborers in digging wells and cellars. It is to be 
ebserved, also, that the hard pan is free from fissures and seams, 
and equally impervious to air or water as the sandstone of the coun- 
try. This reptile, beyond all doubt, was excluded from air and the 
means of acquiring food; below the effects of the warmth of the 
sun in summer, and iyalove; also, that of the rain water that sinks 
into the earth, whereby it is warmed. 
It appears to me that this instance furnishes a case, that is directly 
opposed to the inferences drawn by Prof. Buckland. In Te 
of any direct evidence on the subject, he raises a presumption against 
the long continued vitality of toads; whereas, in all the accounts fur- 
nished in Europe and America, the evidence goes to prove, that the 
presumption he has made is opposed by well authenticated facts. 
* 
Art. V.—Experiments for illustrating the causes of Wi ater Spouts ; 
by Count Xavier DeMaistre.—Bib. Univer. Nov. 1832. 
Translated by J. Griscom. 
Amonc the explanations that have been given of water spouts, two 
only deserve attention ; one which ascribes these phenomena to elec- 
tricity, and another ‘ition: by imputing them to a circular motion of 
the air, considers them as dependent on causes purely mechanical. 
The celebrated Franklin adopted the latter theory ; the former was 
supported by Brisson and Berthollon who sustained it by all the evi- 
dences of which it appears susceptible. 
This system however does not explain the principal circumstances 
of the phenomenon. Electricity may furnish a pretty good account - 
of descending spouts ; we may conceive that clouds, strongly electric, 
may be attracted by the sea and descend to its surface, since they 
would offer no sensible resistance to the attractive force; but it is 
not so easy to explain how the clouds can attract and raise the water 
of the sea, and to determine the force which sustains in the air, a 
tall column of ascending fluid. Besides, water spouts have been 
observed when there were no apparent evidences of electricity. 
