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 composed 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 

 observed, 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 below, 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 the absence 

 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 Water Spouts; 

 by Count Xavier DeMaistre. — Bib. Univer. Nov. 1832. 



Translated by J. Griscom. 



Among the explanations that have been given of water spouts, two 

 only deserve attention ; one which ascribes these phenomena to elec- 

 tricity, and another which, 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. 



