15 
at Scarborough^ cm the June 1825 . 
but the noise was a continued roar : a faint stream, resembling 
thin vapour, was, however, perceived descending from the cloud 
above. 
The thermometer rose that day to 58°, where it has remained 
with very little variation since. The barometer I noted, ten or 
fifteen minutes after the hurricane, at It fell on the 29th 
to 2955 but since the subsequent storm it has risen to 29|. The 
opposing currents of wind were remarkable ; the lower stratum 
after coming a little while on Thursday evening , from the 
W.SW., again shifted to the N.NE. ; but the clouds atom 
still continued to pass from the S.SW. This opposite state 
of the wind existed till Sunday the 29th, the weather remaining 
dry, with some occasional deviation, and fans and streamers 
pointing in different directions, according to their elevation, 
when a storm of thunder of unwonted energy burst over our 
heads from the W-SW. about 1 p. m. The lightning was most 
vivid, and accompanied with heavy showers of hail. About an 
hour after the storm, the barometer began to rise, but the clouds 
continued to come from the SW.^ whilst the weathercocks on 
the church and in the town stood in the NE,.^ as they had done 
in the morning. The atmosphere became very warm, and the 
wind again setting E.NE., we had soon clear and settled wea^ 
ther for the first time these three weeks^ 
The cause of these phenomena, as explained by Franklin, 
seems to be contrary to the known laws of pneumatics. How 
could a vacuum preserve itself one moment against the super- 
incumbent pressure of the atmosphere ? ^ Besides, if the water 
had been raised in one continued column, it could not have 
ascended higher than 32 feet. Capper, on Winds and Mon- 
soons,” explains it in a similar manner ; but the necessity of a va- 
cuity is by no means clear to me, as the impetus of the gyrating 
motion of the wind is quite sufficient to lake up water in its 
whirls. Darwin imagined that it may be produced by a cold 
stratum of air descending and displacing a lower one of higher 
temperature; but the extreme cold of the earth’s surface which we 
have endured of late, renders this theory equally improbable as a 
primary cause, for a fire on the ground should be followed with 
* See the Honourable Captain Napier’s Paper on Waterspouts in this Journal^ 
VoL Vil. p. 99.— Ed, 
