576 V/ATER-SPQUTS AND WHIRLWINDS. 



they escape. Trees, plants, and vegetables, conducting the electric fluid im- 

 perfectly by means of tLeir sap, are dried up by this temperature ; and when 

 the elevation takes place suddenly, the vapor into which the sap is converted 

 splits the wood. 



Such is a general outline of the theory of M. Peltier, by which the phenom- 

 ena attending water-spouts and whirlwinds are explained. 





