EXTRACTS FROM M. PELTIER. 369 



own weight, or by the pressure of the neighboring clouds, 

 or of the air. 



3. The circular movements of the descending mass, and 

 the whirlwind felt at the earth, and the appearance of the 

 clouds at its origin, during its increase and decrease, all 

 demonstrate that it is a whirlwind which is the mechanical 

 cause of it. 



4. The same whirlwind which provokes the descent of 

 the cloud, provokes the ascent of bodies placed on the sur- 

 face of the soil. 



5. If the whirlwind takes place above the water, the as- 

 cending column is formed of vapors, of foam, or of water. 



6. When the phenomenon terminates, the light bodies fall 

 and the cloud ascends. 



7. When the lower light bodies are of water, it is proba- 

 ble that the ascending vapor unites itself to the spout, con- 

 denses the clouds, which form it, at this point, and the 

 water falls as if through a syphon. 



8. If the descending cloud is electrical, it may send a dis- 

 charge on the conductor which is presented to it ; and still 

 more, it pours down on its route that which it had taken 

 up before, at first, and it is this which produces these strange 

 phenomena of a rain of fishes and frogs, &c., &c. 



9. It appears certain that the action of the air on the 

 clouds, pressing on the mouth of the whirlwind as on a fun- 

 nel, augments the condensation to such a degree that the 

 fall of water belongs to the prodigy, (p. 341.) 



How far electricity is concerned as a cause in the produc- 

 tion of some of the phenomena detailed above, I am not 

 prepared to say. As an effect of the sudden condensation of 

 large quantities of aqueous vapor in the air, it is pretty 

 well understood. [See Pouillet's Elements de Physique, 

 Art. 270.] But as all effects in nature become themselves 

 causes, and as the utility of atmospheric electricity has not 

 yet been discovered, we must be careful not to attribute on 



47 



