W A T 
WAT 
bout it to resume its level by degrees, and 
le end of the canal that touched it to become 
I small as if it had been tied round with a 
prd; and this continued till the light, strik- 
|g through the cloud, took away the view, 
[still, however, continued to look, expect - 
[g that its parts would join again, as 1 had j 
fetore seen in one of the others, in which the 
pout was more than once broken, and yet 
Lain came together ; but 1 was disappointed, 
pr the spout appeared no more.” 
[ Whirlwinds and water-spouts are by the 
hajority of philosophers referred to the same 
rigin, and some have endeavoured to ac- 
jount for them on electrical principles. They 
>bserve that the effluent matter proceeds 
rom a body actually electrified towards one 
vhich is not so ; and the- affluent matter pro- 
ceeds from a body not electrified towards one 
vhich is actually so. These two currents oc- 
casion two motions analogous to the electri- 
cal attraction and repulsion. If the current 
>f the effluent matter is more powerful than 
Hie affluent matter, which in this case is com- 
posed of particles exhaled from the earth, the 
jarticles of vapours which compose the cloud : 
ire attracted by this effluent matter, and 
form the cylindrical column, called the de- 
scending water-spout ; if, on the contrary, the 
affluent matter is the strongest, it attracts a 
sufficient quantity of aqueous particles to 
form gradually into a cloud, and this is com- 
monly termed the ascending water-spoilt. It 
is farther observed of water-spouts, that the 
convergence of winds, and their consequent 
■whirling motion, was a principal cause in pro- 
ducing that effect; but there are appearances 
which can hardly be solved by supposing that 
to be the only cause. 'They often vanish, and 
presently appear again in the same place : 
whitish or yellowish flames have sometimes 
been seen moving with prodigious swiftness 
about them, and whirlwinds are observed to 
electrify the apparatus very strongly. The 
time of their appearance is generally those 
months which are peculiarly subject to thun- 
der-storms; and they are commonly preceded, 
accompanied, or followed, by lightning, the 
previous state of the air being alike in both 
cases. And the long-established custom 
Which the sailors have of presenting sharp 
swords to disperse them, is no inconsiderable 
circumstance in favour of the supposition of 
their being electrical phenomena. Perhaps 
the ascending motion of the air, by which the 
whirling is produced, may be the current 
known to issue from electrified points, as the 
form of the protuberance in the sea is some- 
what poiirted, and the electrified drop of 
water may afford considerable light in ex- 
plaining this appearance. 
A different theory is, however, adopted by 
other respectable philosophers; and it is pos- 
sible after all, that there may really be two 
kinds of water-spouts, the one the effect of 
the electrical attraction, as digested above, 
and the other caused by a vacuum, or ex- 
treme and sudden rarefaction of the air. 
It is well known that even a common fire 
; produces a kind of circulation of the air in a 
room, but in a different form. It is therefore 
not difficult to conceive, that when any part 
j of the column of air upon the surface of the 
1-earth or water is suddenly rarefied, either by 
j electricity or any other cause, a vacuum, at 
lead, comparatively to the rest of the air, will 
\ Yol. Ik 
immediately take place, and the circumam- 
bient air rushing in at once from every quar- 
ter to fill the void, a conflict of winds ensues, 
and consequently a circular motion, by which 
light bodies will be taken up and turned 
round with considerable velocity; this violent 
rushing of the air on all sides into the vacuum 
then forms what is commonly called at land a 
whirlwind. 
When this vacuum takes place at sea, from 
the nature of fluids, the water will rise to a 
certain height by the pressure of the atmo- 
sphere, as in a common pump ; but as the va- 
cuum is not quite perfect, the water will be 
divided into drops; and as these vacuums are 
generally caused by heal, it will be rarefied 
when it reaches the upper regions of the at- 
mosphere, and assume the appearance of a 
cloud. 
Mr. Oliver, whose theory we have adopted 
with little variation, illustrates the phenome- 
non by a very easy experiment. In a spilt 
paper card he made a hole just large enough 
to insert a goose quill; after cutting the quill 
off square at both ends, he laid the card upon 
the mouth of a wine glass, filled with water 
to within a fifth or sixth part of an inch from 
the lower orifice of the quill; then applying 
his mouth to the upper part, he drew the ab- 
out of the quill, and in one draught of his 
breath drew in about a spoonful of water; and 
this he was able to repeat, the quill remain- 
ing as before. The water, he adds, did not 
ascend to his mouth in a stream, as it would 
have done had the quill reached the water, 
but broken, and confusedly mixed with the 
air which ascended with it. The usual phe- 
nomena of water-spouts are exactly agree- 
able to this theory. They appear at a dis- 
tance like an inverted cone, or the point of a 
sword, which is owing to the water rising in 
large drops at the first, and being expanded 
as it ascends ; and a cloud is generally sus- 
pended over the body of the phenomenon. 
The water which is taken up is undoubtedly 
salt at the first, but by the rarefaction in the 
superior regions, it undergoes a kind of natu- 
ral distillation, and loses all the heavy saline 
particles with which it was charged. Water- 
spouts have been observed at land, of which 
two very remarkable instances are recorded 
in the Philosophical Transactions. Other 
phenomena have been reiirarked, which can 
be explained upon these principles only. Ac- 
counts have been given of red and yellow- 
rain, of frogs and tadpoles, and even of small 
fishes; having been rained upon the tops of 
houses. 'The red and yellow rain was probably 
composed of the blossoms of vegetables, or of 
insects, taken up by one of these aerial tubes; 
and the frogs and fishes veie probable part of 
the contents of some pond, in which the wa- 
ter-spout originated, or over which it might 
have passed in its perambulation. 
The point or cone of the water-spout is ge- 
nerally oblique, depending on the force and 
direction of the wind which drives it along. 
Dr. Perkins, of Boston, is disposed to 
adopt a different theory of water-spouts. Capt. 
Melling informed him, that in a voyage from 
the West Indian islands to Boston, a water- 
spout came across the stern of the vessel 
where he then was, a flood of water fell upon 
him with such violence as almost to beat him 
down, and the spout immediately passed off 
w itli a roaring noise into the sea. The water 
V/ A X 8Q7 
from the spout was perfectly fresh. Mariners 
in general affirm that water descends from 
the clouds through the water-spout into the 
sea, and hence it is inferred that a whirl- 
wind cannot be the cause of a water-spout, 
nor can both of these phenomena proceed 
from the same cause. 
Water-works, in general, denote all 
manner of machines moved by, or employed 
in raising or sustaining water ; in which sense 
water-mills of all kinds, sluices, aqueducts, &c. 
may be called water-works. See Mill, 
&c. 
WATSON JA, a genus of the class and or- 
der triandria monogynia. dlie calyx is six- 
parted ; stigmas three, bifid ; capsules trian- 
gular. There are six species, bulbs of the 
Cape. 
WAVED. See Wavey. 
WAX. The upper surface of the leaves of 
many trees is covered with a varnish, which 
may be separated and obtained in a state of 
purity, and is found to possess all the proper- 
ties of bees’-wax : hence it is justly inferred 
that wax is a vegetable product, and that the 
bees extract it unaltered from the leaves of 
trees and other vegetable substances that 
contain it. Several plants contain wax in 
such abundance as to make it worth while to 
extract it from them. We shall now consider 
the properties of bees’-wax. 
Wax, when pure, is of a whitish colour: if: 
is destitute of taste, and lias scarcely any 
smell. Bees’-wax indeed has a pretty strong 
aromatic smell; but this seems chiefly owing 
to some substance with which it is mixed-; 
for it disappears almost completely by ex- 
posing the wax, drawn out into thin ribands, 
for some time to the atmosphere. By this 
process, which is called bleaching, the yellow 
colour of the wax disappears, and it becomes 
very white. Bleached wax is not affected 
by the air. Its specific gravity is 0.9600. 
W ax is insoluble in water ; nor are its pro- 
perties altered though kept under that li- 
quid. 
When heat is applied to wax it becomes 
soft; and at the temperature of 142°, if un- 
bleached, or of 1550° if bleached, it melts into 
a colourless transparent fluid, which concretes 
again, and resumes its former appearance as 
the temperature diminishes. If the heat is 
still farther increased, the wax boils and eva- 
porates : and if a red heat is applied to the 
vapour, it takes fire and burns with a bright 
flame. It is this property which renderswax 
so useful for making candles. 
Wax is scarcely acted on by alcohol when 
cold, but boiling alcohol dissolves a portion 
of it. This was first observed by Dr. Pearson, 
and has been since verified by ‘Dr. Bostock. 
Bather more than 20 parts of alcohol are ne- 
cessary to dissolve one part of wax ; and as 
the solution cools the greater part of the wax 
precipitates, and the remainder is thrown down 
by water. 
Ether has but little action on wax while 
cold ; but when assisted by heat, it takes up 
about jV of its weight of it, and lets the great- 
! est part precipitate on cooling. 
Wax combines readily with fixed oils when 
assisted by heat, and forms with them a sub- 
stance of greater or less consistency according 
to the quantity of oil. This composition. 
