WATER-SPOUTS AND WHIRLWINDS. 



tstion between the sphere and the plate. Such are the gyratory motions which 

 M. Peltier conceives to arise from electrical radiation. 



The consequences which he deduces from these and similar facts are as 

 follows : 



1. All the immediate phenomena observed in water-spouts are due to elec- 

 tricity : they are the results of secondary phenomena, which almost always 

 accompany them. The latter vary with the locality and the state of the atmo- 

 sphere. 



2. Their general effects are due either to statical or dynamical electricity: 

 most generally they proceed from both. 



3. The statical effects are phenomena of attraction and repulsion. 



4. The attraction of an electrical cloud is accompanied by a rush of air tow- 

 ard this cloud, whence result currents directed from the exterior to the inte- 

 rior, and proceeding from all surrounding points. It is manifested also by the 

 projection of the vapor of water, of liquid water itself, and of bodies that it 

 raises or tears, according to the force with which it acts. 



5. The progress of its attractive power is plainly marked both on sea and 

 land. On sea it appears by the boiling of the waters, and the smoky appear- 

 ance which is raised from them, as represented in figures 1 and 2. On land 

 its course is rendered manifest by its effects upon the air, the ground, and all 

 loose bodies which it encounters. 



6. The attraction of the clouds is also manifest by the greatly increased 

 evaporation of the waters, and the consequent fall of their temperature. The 

 repulsion is manifested by currents of the air which issue from the electric 

 cloud, and only exist in its neighborhood. At a little distance from it a dead 

 calm prevails. These double currents undergo various modifications, produced 

 by the localities and various qualities of the ground. 



7. The repulsion is also manifested by the cone which is formed in the sea, 

 in the very centre of the smoky vapors, an effect which can be easily repro- 

 duced experimentally. 



8. If an inductive action take place between two clouds charged with oppo- 

 site electricities, placed at a certain distance asunder, a portion of their vapor 

 will resume the state of common vapor ; this will lower the temperature of the 

 neighboring parts, which may descend even below the freezing point ; then 

 the vapor of water crystallizes in snowy flakes, which act immediately after 

 their formation, like other light bodies. The portion thus transformed into 

 snow, and which is charged with the electricity of the inferior cloud, is at- 

 tracted by the superior cloud, then there is a neutralization of electricity, a fall 

 of temperature, and so on. 



9. Finally, the electrical tension of the superior cloud facilitates the evapo- 

 ration of the liquid which moistens the snowy globule, or which already covers 

 the ice. 



The electrified clouds, acting by induction upon the ground, are attracted to 

 it. The clouds thus approach the earth in a greater or less quantity, depend- 

 ing on the energy of the attraction, and their specific gravity. 



When the tension of the clouds and their density differ little from those of 

 the inferior strata of air, or when superior clouds, having the same electricity, 

 act upon the inferior by repulsion, the latter may approach the earth suflicit;.t!y 

 to be discharged without explosion by the intervention of other clouds which 

 touch it. 



It happens, often, that all the bodies placed upon the surface of the earth un- 

 der these clouds, which have the form of an inverted cone, serve as conductors 

 in various degrees, according to their constituent matter, their form, their ex- 

 tent, and the magnitude of their contact with the ground. Light and small 



