m 
Hon. Captain Napier on Water-Spoiifs. 
face of tlie sea, before they were perfectly saturated, previous to 
bursting, That these clouds extended in large dark mas- 
ses, over a great part of the western hemisphere, and were quite 
thick and dark over-head. 5tlilyy That the water-spout, at the 
base, covered, in diameter, about half a furlong of water ; and, in 
its most slender part, about fds upwards, it was to appearance 
about 6 feet in diameter ; and that, in height, it might be esti- 
mated at 1700 feet : and, lastly^ That during the operation of 
these extraordinary phenomena in the atmosphere, the mercury 
in the barometer did only become more convex, than before, 
with the thermometer risino; one deoree. 
In proceeding to examine the subject, we shall suppose that the 
water rose from the sea in vacuOy or rather in a cylindrical space 
approximating to that of a vacuum, and that it was caused so 
to rise, m i)a)% by the pressure of tlie atmosphere circumscrib- 
ing the base of the said vacuum. Having allowed so much, wc 
can go no farther without violating the well known law, that 
water cannot rise in vacuc)’' above 3 ,^ feet ; admitting, there- 
fore, that it was even assisted to that small height, vre shall have 
availed ourselves of the theory, as far as truth or reason can 
justify. 
If we say that water is drawn upwards by the suction of a 
cloud, as proposed to be exemplified by Mr Oliver with a quill 
over a glass of water, we shall then begin to establish the theory 
of suction,’’ perfectly irreconcileable, also, v/ith the equally 
well-known fact of tlie gravity of the atmosphere. Besides, tlu? 
force of Mr Oliver’s lungs, over a glass of water, can bear no 
analogy to that of a cloud overhanging the surface of the sea. 
It appears also strange to talk of an empty cloud, or a half 
hausted cloud, for clouds arc not aerial hags^ as some would 
have them to be, but vapours overhanging the earth at different 
heights from it, according to the proportion of humidity or den- 
sity contained in themselves, and which, \vhen 3 by reason of their 
greater weight, they fall within the sphere of the earth’s at- 
traction, begin to discharge themselves in rain, till, being re- 
duced in size and density, if not totally consumed, they natural- 
ly rise above the sphere of attraction, and, regaining the higher 
parts of the atmosphere, again attract each other, and repeat 
such operations to the end of time 
