SPOUT

, or Water Spout, an extraordinary meteor, or appearance, consisting of a moving column or pillar of water; called by the Latins typho, and sipho; and by the French trompe, from its shape, which resembles a speaking trumpet, the widest end uppermost.

Its first appearance is in form of a deep cloud, the upper part of which is white, and the lower black. From the lower part of this cloud there hangs, or rather falls down, what is properly called the Spout, in manner of a conical tube, largest at top. Under this tube is always a great boiling and flying up of the water of the sea, as in a jet d'eau. For some yards above the surface of the sea, the water stands as a column, or pillar; from the extremity of which it spreads, and goes off, as in a kind of smoke. Frequently the cone descends so low as to the middle of this column, and continues for some time contiguous to it; though sometimes it only points to it at some distance, either in a perpendicular, or in an oblique line.

Frequently it can scarce be distinguished, whether the cone or the column appear the first, both appearing all of a sudden against each other. But sometimes the water boils up from the sea to a great height, without any appearance of a Spout pointing to it, either perpendicularly or obliquely. Indeed, generally, the boiling or flying up of the water has the priority, this always preceding its being formed into a column. For the most part the cone does not appear hollow till towards the end, when the sea water is violently thrown up along its middle, as smoke up a chimney: soon after this, the Spout or canal breaks and disappears; the boiling up of the water, and even the pillar, continuing to the last, and for some time afterwards; sometimes till the Spout form itself again, and appear anew, which it will do several times in a quarter of an hour. See a description of several Water-Spouts by Mr. Gordon, and by Dr. Stuart, in Phil. Trans. Abr. vol. iv, pa. 103 &c.

M. de la Pryme, from a near observation of two or three Spouts in Yorkshire, described in the Philosophical Transactions, num. 281, or Abr. vol. iv, pa. 106, concludes, that the Water Spout is nothing but a gyration of clouds by contrary winds meeting in a point, or centre; and there, where the greatest condensation and gravitation is, falling down into a pipe, or great tube, somewhat like Archimedes's spiral screw; and, in its working and whirling motion, absorbing and raising the water, in the same manner as the spiral screw does; and thus destroying ships &c.

Thus, June the 21st, he observed the clouds mightily agitated above, and driven together; upon which they became very black, and were hurried round; whence proceeded a most audible whirling noise like that usually heard in a mill. Soon after there issued a long tube, or Spout, from the centre of the congregated clouds, in which he observed a spiral motion, like that of a screw, by which the water was raised up.

Again, August 15, 1687, the wind blowing at the same time out of the several quarters, created a great vortex and whirling among the clouds, the centre of which every now and then dropt down, in shape of a long thin black pipe, in which he could distinctly behold a motion like that of a screw, continually drawing upwards, and screwing up, as it were, wherever it touched.

In its progress it moved slowly over a grove of trees, which bent under it like wands, in a circular motion. Proceeding, it tore off the thatch from a barn, bent a huge oak tree, broke one of its greatest limbs, and threw it to a great distance. He adds, that whereas it is commonly said, the water works and rises in a column, before the tube comes to touch it, this is doubtless a mistake, owing to the fineness and transparency of the tubes, which do most certainly touch the surface of the sea, before any considerable motion can be raised in it; but which do not become opake and visible, till after they have imbibed a considerable quantity of water.

The dissolution of Water-Spouts he ascribes to the great quantity of water they have glutted: which, by its weight, impeding their motion, upon which their force, and even existence depends, they break, and let go their contents; which use to prove fatal to whatever is found underneath.

A notable instance of this may be seen in the Philosophical Transactions (num. 363, or Abr. vol iv. pa 108) related by Dr. Richardson. A Spout, in 1718, breaking on Emmotmoor, nigh Coln, in Lancashire, the country was immediately overflowed; a brook, in a few minutes, rose fix feet perpendicularly high; and the ground upon which the Spout fell, which was 66 feet over, was torn up to the very rock, which was no less than 7 feet deep; and a deep gulf was made for above half a mile, the earth being raised in vast heaps on each side. See a description and figure of a WaterSpout, with an attempt to account for it in Franklin's Exp. and Obs. pa. 226, &c.

Signor Beccaria has taken pains to show that Water-Spouts have an electrical origin. To make this more evident, he first describes the circumstances attending their appearance, which are the following.

They generally appear in calm weather. The sea seems to boil, and to send up a smoke under them, rising in a hill towards the Spout. At the same time, persons who have been near them have heard a rumbling noise. The form of a Water-Spout is that of a speaking trumpet, the wider end being in the clouds, and the narrower end towards the sea.

The size is various, even in the same Spout. The colour is sometimes inclining to white, and sometimes to black. Their position is sometimes perpendicular to the sea, sometimes oblique; and sometimes the Spout itself is in the form of a curve. Their continuance is very various, some disappearing as soon as formed, and some continuing a considerable time. One that he had heard of continued a whole hour. But they often vanish, and presently appear again in the same place. The very same things that Water-Spouts are at sea, are some kinds of whirlwinds and hurricanes by land. They have been known to tear up trees, to throw down buildings, and make caverns in the earth; and in all these cases, to scatter earth, bricks, stones, timber, &c, | to a great distance in every direction. Great quantities of water have been left, or raised by them, so as to make a kind of deluge; and they have always been attended by a prodigious rumbling noise.

That these phenomena depend upon electricity cannot but appear very probable from the nature of several of them; but the conjecture is made more probable from the following additional circumstances. They generally appear in months peculiarly subject to thunder-storms, and are commonly preceded, accompanied, or followed by lightning, rain, or hail, the previous state of the air being similar. Whitish or yellowish flashes of light have sometimes been seen moving with prodigious swiftness about them. And lastly, the manner in which they terminate exactly resembles what might be expected from the prolongation of one of the uniform protuberances of electrified clouds, mentioned before, towards the sea; the water and the cloud mutually attracting one another: for they suddenly contract themselves, and disperse almost at once; the cloud rising, and the water of the sea under it falling to its level. But the most remarkable circumstance, and the most favourable to the supposition of their depending on electricity, is, that they have been dispersed by presenting to them sharp pointed knives or swords. This, at least, is the constant practice of mariners, in many parts of the world, where these Water-Spouts abound, and he was assured by several of them, that the method has often been undoubtedly effectual.

The analogy between the phenomena of Water Spouts and electricity, he says, may be made visible, by hanging a drop of water to a wire communicating with the prime conductor, and placing a vessel of water under it. In these circumstances, the drop assumes all the various appearances of a Water Spout, both in its rise, form, and manner of disappearing. Nothing is wanting but the smoke, which may require a great force of electricity to become visible.

Mr. Wilcke also considers the Water-Spout as a kind of great electrical cone, raised between the cloud strongly electrified, and the sea or the earth, and he relates a very remarkable appearance which occurred to himself, and which strongly confirms his supposition. On the 20th of July 1758, at three o'clock in the afternoon, he observed a great quantity of dust rising from the ground, and covering a field, and part of the town in which he then was. There was no wind, and the dust moved gently towards the east, where appeared a great black cloud, which, when it was near its zenith, electrified his apparatus positively, and to as great a degree as ever he had observed it to be done by natural electricity. This cloud passed his zenith, and went gradually towards the west, the dust then following it, and continuing to rise higher and higher till it composed a thick pillar, in the form of a sugar-loaf, and at length seemed to be in contact with the cloud. At some distance from this, there came, in the same path, another great cloud, together with a long stream of smaller clouds, moving faster than the preceding. These clouds electrified his apparatus negatively, and when they came near the positive cloud, a flash of lightning was seen to dart through the cloud of dust, the positive cloud, the large negative cloud, and, as far as the eye could distinguish, the whole train of smaller negative clouds which followed it. Upon this, the negative clouds spread very much, and dissolved in rain, and the air was presently clear of all the dust. The whole appearance lasted not above half an hour. See Priestley's Electr. vol. 1, pa. 438, &c.

This theory of Water-Spouts has been farther confirmed by the account which Mr. Forster gives of one of them, in his Voyage Round the World, vol. 1, pa. 191, &c. On the coast of New Zealand he had an opportunity of seeing several, one of which he has particularly described. The water, he says, in a space of fifty or sixty fathoms, moved towards the centre, and there rising into vapour, by the force of the whirling motion, ascended in a spiral form towards the clouds. Directly over the whirlpool, or agitated spot in the sea, a cloud gradually tapered into a long slender tube, which seemed to descend to meet the rising spiral, and soon united with it into a straight column of a cylindrical form. The water was whirled upwards with the greatest violence in a spiral, and appeared to leave a hollow space in the centre; so that the water seemed to form a hollow tube, instead of a solid column; and that this was the case, was rendered still more probable by the colour, which was exactly like that of a hollow glass tube. After some time, this last column was incurvated, and broke like the others; and the appearance of a flash of lightning which attended its disjunction, as well as the hail stones which fell at the time, seemed plainly to indicate, that WaterSpouts either owe their formation to the electric matter, or, at least, that they have some connection with it.

In Pliny's time, the seamen used to pour vinegar into the sea, to assuage and lay the Spout when it approached them: our modern seamen think to keep it off, by making a noise with filing and scratching violently on the deck; or by discharging great guns to disperse it.

See the figure of a Water-Spout, fig. 1, plate 27.