1S60.] Notes upon some remarkable Waterspouts. 3G7 



was accompanied with hail, which often does accompany the 

 dispersion of waterspouts ; no one drew any water or other substances 

 upwards, as is the case when waterspouts are formed at sea. The 

 general length of the waterspouts seen, were a thousand feet, one 

 however was iOO feet and another 1500, in length. 



It will be remarked that those waterspouts seen near Calcutta took 

 place during the later months of the wet or south-west monsoon, 

 August, September, and October. 



That electricity is the grand mover of these bodies I think is 

 evidenced by waterspouts being more general in dead calms than in 

 windy weather ; the suddenness of their formation ; their instanta- 

 neous dispersion when once the condensation of their vapour com- 

 mences, their violent and rapid gyratory motion ; their great power 

 of destructiveness although no wind may accompany them, their 

 peculiarity of tearing trees into dry shreds in a precisely similar 

 manner, as a tree struck by lightning is torn and dried by the eva- 

 porisation of all particles of sap from excessive heat ; the violent 

 electrical discharges, balls of fire and hail tbat oftentimes accom- 

 pany tbem ; and the fact that their presence in no way affects the 

 barometrical readings of the moment. 



The favourite theory regarding the formation of these phenomena is 

 simply, that when the electrical tension of the clouds is very intense, 

 the powerful action that arises from this state of tension causes the 

 cloud to lower itself towards the earth, for the purpose of discharg- 

 ing its electricity ; this sudden rush of the cloud and its contained 

 electricity towards the earth together, compose the waterspout : 

 during their descent, from some unknown cause, a violent gyratory 

 motion takes place, light substances are attracted upwards, and those 

 whose weight prevents their leaving the earth, such as trees, houses, 

 haystacks, &c, are torn and shreded to pieces ; should the waterspout 

 meet with water, it is immediately entangled in the gyratory motion 

 and drawn upwards, as was the case some years ago at Cuttack, 

 where numbers of small frogs and fish, drawn up with the water from 

 a tank, were precipitated from the clouds and were collected alive from 

 the roofs of the houses in the station. 



Man has learnt, in a great measure, to disarm the lightning of its 

 dangerous power ; he has learnt how to avoid and not only to avoid, 



