142 H. C. RUSSELL. 



the sea would be one ton ; in a water-spout tube the confining 

 power is the wind which, at the greatest velocity we know, has 

 only power to lift or press upon anything half-a-pound to the 

 square inch, so that it is evident that the wind cannot confine 

 and carry up such a column of water. Again, a vortex in water 

 forms an empty tube round which the water rotates in its descent, 

 and if we look at a sand spiral we see it whirling round with an 

 empty centre, and the small tornado and the larger cyclone have 

 their dead centres round which all revolve. What does happen 

 is that the wind breaks the water up into spray, with the particles 

 or drops small enough to be carried by the wind blowing at the 

 time. There are many observations in which the water was seen 

 to be broken up into spray in this way, and it is evident that 

 spray would be carried by the wind round and round the tube, 

 rising spirally all the time. The stronger the wind the more spray 

 it will make and carry with it, and its formation at the foot of 

 water-spouts is one of the most prominent parts thereof ; many 

 have remarked the spray as rising abundantly before the spout 

 forms ; Mr. Crichton saw the spray carried up as a cone three 

 thousand feet, Mr. Francis, at South Head, records the same 

 thing, but not so high, and it is a matter of common observation. 

 When, therefore, a water-spout forms, the wind forces the water 

 at its foot into spray, the quantity increasing very rapidly as the 

 velocity rises above forty miles per hour, for when the velocity 

 rises to fifty-seven miles the pressure or force of the wind is twice 

 what it is at forty; and at eighty miles per hour the force is four 

 times as great as it is at forty miles. This spray is carried round 

 the vortex or water-spout, not into it. In a large water-spout, with 

 violent winds, enormous quantities of water would be carried up 

 in this way, and if a sudden break in the water-spout takes place, 

 as in the one reported by Capt. Taplin, the wind suddenly ceases 

 and the spray falls in mass as if it were a continuous flow of 

 water ; falling as it does from great altitudes, one can understand 

 its power of destruction; what that means is indicated by the case 

 in which soil to the depth of seven feet and a mile long was 

 carried away by the water from a burst water-spout. 



