THEORY CONFIRMED BY PHENOMENA. 57 



land, on the 3d of June, 1718. " It was stationary for a 

 length of time not mentioned, and discharged an immense 

 quantity of water, without thunder. It fell on a space 

 about sixty feet over, and tore up the ground there seven 

 feet deep to the rock, and made a deep gulf for about half a 

 mile from that place, raising a stream below, so as to render 

 it impassable." All this must have occurred in a few min- 

 utes, as, immediately on the appearance of the spout, some 

 persons attempted to run home, but they found the brook 

 already impassable. 



By having deferred the publication of these essays so 

 long, I am now enabled to refer to a highly interesting ac- 

 count of some water spouts, seen by Lieut. H. W. Ogden, 

 and communicated in the January number of Silliman's 

 Journal. 1 



It was in May, 1820, in the edge of the Gnlf stream, the 

 weather being very warm, and the atmosphere close and op- 

 pressive, when seven were seen in the course of half an 

 hour, varying, in their distance from the ship, from two 

 hundred yards to two miles. Lieut. Ogden says : " The 

 atmosphere was filled with low, ashy-colored clouds, some 

 of which were darker underneath than others, and from 

 these the water spouts were generally formed, each one 

 from a separate cloud. In some instances, they were per- 

 fectly formed before we observed them, but, in others, we 

 could see a small portion of the cloud, at first extend down- 

 wards, in the shape of an inverted cone, and then continue 

 to descend, not very rapidly, until it reached the water. In 

 other instances, however, we observed that this conical ap- 

 pearance of a portion of the cloud did not always result in 

 the perfect formation of a water spout. Several times we 

 saw the cone project, continue for a short time stationary, 

 then rise again slowly, and disappear in the clouds. This 

 would, in some cases, occur two or three times to the same 



1 See also Naval Magazine, No. 1, vol. 1. 



8 



