Part of a Letter from Mr Alex. Stuart, (a Physician) to the Publisher, concerning SomeSpouts He Observed in the MediterraneanAuthor(s): Alex. StuartSource: Philosophical Transactions (1683-1775), Vol. 23 (1702 - 1703), pp. 1077-1082Published by: The Royal SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/102853 .

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( IO77 )

particles millions of times bigger thanthemfelves, and (3eAroy and diIfolve thofe molE curious 13o(1ies tlllat are rO fearfully arld fo woIlderfully made. Neither will I con- jeEtllre why they thould lie fo long, commonly 3 Weeks or a month, and oftentimes mtlch longer, btfore that they begin to Rir; vvhy Water, cr l:teer, or any Cold Liqluid is againil them, Cc. becaufie that fuch thitzgs cannot certainly be known but by great I\5lcenefs, and repeatecl Labour and Infpef tion "ris pity that the moR Noble of Creatures lyes at the Mercy of tlle moll lgnoble of parti-

cles; and moR won(lerful fsnat a fesv Atoms thould be able to deIlroy a whole \TWorld, lnilions of times bigger than thz mS>lves.

Roger Msabrgy, mention'd in my laIt Letter, did not lirre in I390, as I writ by miRake, but in Il03 ; 0 tllat

what I fatd albout fome Rcliques of old LE;>orcIls of ITir then Ilanding in thefe Lesrels, is more obServable than E thought of.

V. Part of a Letter fkom 11 Alex. Stuart, (v Puy- £iasJ to the PvbS/i6er, cooscerngng fiome Spovts he shServed in the ̂ Mediterranean.

S I R, T Prefume to fend you the followirlg Acco.npt of fonae | Waterfpouts (as they are commonly caled) which 1[ fRw lately in the AIedizteranean Sea

The z7th of 32gES, I70I. beingupon thc ̂ oaRt)f Barb- r. to the ATorthttsturd of the Town of Bona, upwards of X o Leagues diRance at Sea, alsout 7 a Clock at nint, ffiortly after Stln-Setting appeared in the N. E. (vliziwn mtras direly up the Gulf of lXyOns Som us) great and contllaued FlalEes Of Lightning one after another, without hatdly aIly int^r-

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( IO77 )

particles millions of times bigger thanthemfelves, and (3eAroy and diIfolve thofe molE curious 13o(1ies tlllat are rO fearfully arld fo woIlderfully made. Neither will I con- jeEtllre why they thould lie fo long, commonly 3 Weeks or a month, and oftentimes mtlch longer, btfore that they begin to Rir; vvhy Water, cr l:teer, or any Cold Liqluid is againil them, Cc. becaufie that fuch thitzgs cannot certainly be known but by great I\5lcenefs, and repeatecl Labour and Infpef tion "ris pity that the moR Noble of Creatures lyes at the Mercy of tlle moll lgnoble of parti-

cles; and moR won(lerful fsnat a fesv Atoms thould be able to deIlroy a whole \TWorld, lnilions of times bigger than thz mS>lves.

Roger Msabrgy, mention'd in my laIt Letter, did not lirre in I390, as I writ by miRake, but in Il03 ; 0 tllat

what I fatd albout fome Rcliques of old LE;>orcIls of ITir then Ilanding in thefe Lesrels, is more obServable than E thought of.

V. Part of a Letter fkom 11 Alex. Stuart, (v Puy- £iasJ to the PvbS/i6er, cooscerngng fiome Spovts he shServed in the ̂ Mediterranean.

S I R, T Prefume to fend you the followirlg Acco.npt of fonae | Waterfpouts (as they are commonly caled) which 1[ fRw lately in the AIedizteranean Sea

The z7th of 32gES, I70I. beingupon thc ̂ oaRt)f Barb- r. to the ATorthttsturd of the Town of Bona, upwards of X o Leagues diRance at Sea, alsout 7 a Clock at nint, ffiortly after Stln-Setting appeared in the N. E. (vliziwn mtras direly up the Gulf of lXyOns Som us) great and contllaued FlalEes Of Lightning one after another, without hatdly aIly int^r-

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( I078 )

miS1on, and this without Thunder continued till the next nrorning; the Flalhes of Lightning fonwetimes reprefenting the fudden appearance of a Star, a-t other times of a E2laming Svrord, and again of a fllver Cord Ilretched a long the Clouds, or.as the irregular rents of a Vyal from top to bottom.

About 8 next morning we had Thundritlg, with a con- tinuation of Lightning of the kind and appearance above- snentioned, all from the N. E. or thereby.

About 9 the fame morning, fell down fiom the Clouds (whichlookt diEmally black, lowring, atldas it were hea- vy with Rain) in the faid N. E. quarter three Waterfpouts (as comoonly called) that in the middle lJeing the greateR {eem'd fo big as the maft of a Ship, and I judged it to be at leaR a League and a half diRant from us; rO that in it SelEno doubt it was bigger than thret MaR.s. The other two srere not by half io big. All of them black, as the Cloud from whence they fell. All of them fmootlz, +rith- out any knot or irregularity; only at firk lcalling, fome fell perpendicularly down, and fome obliquely, and a11 of them fmaller at tlle losrer end than above, giving the re- prelientation of a Sword; fometimes alfo one of 'em would bow it Self; and again become Itrait and alfo fometimes became fmaller, and againincreafed its bulk; fometimes st would diSappear? and immediately fall downl again; fome- times it bec;atne extenuated to the fmallnefs of a Rope, and g in became grO5s as before

There vwas always a great boyling and Iflying up of the Water of the Sea, as in a Xefte laevu or Water-work; or this riElng of the Water had the appearatlce of a 1tnoak- wng Chimney in a calm day. Some yards above the fur- fate of the Ses the Water Rood as a C8olumnorPillar and tlaen fpreaxl it Lelf, arld was diElpated as Emoak : And the Sword-like Spout frona the Clouds eithercame dossn to the very middle of this pillars and as it had beeIl jOyll_ sd tith it, as the greatell, which fell perpendicularly

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( I o79 ) down, ItilI did from beginning to end: Or elfe it point- ed to this Column of Water, at folue diliance, either in a perpendicular or oblique Line, as did the other two lefler.

There were tliree or four Spouts more, v;hich appeared at the fame time in the fame quarter of the Heavens, but neither for bulk or duration like to thefe three: Thofe appeared or difappeared feveral times, during thg Conti- nuance of tlleiSe three aforefaid.

It was hardly diRinguithable whetlaer the Sword-like Spout fell firll down-from the Cloud, or the Pillar of Wa- ter rofe- fir{t from the Sen, both appearing oppofite to- one another all of the fudden, as ill the twinkliIlg of an Eye. Only I obServed of one, that the Water boyled up frc)m the Sea to a great height, withovt the lealt appearance of a Spout pOinting to it either perperldicularly or oblique- ly, and llere the Water of the Sea never came together in the form of a PilIar or Colunan, LDut did fly up fcattered- ly, the Sea being in a boyling rage round the place. The Wind being then N. F,. tlle faid boyling advanced towards tlle S. W. as a flitt,rlg or mosZing Bu& upon the furface of the Sea, arld at laflc ceafed. lNhis proves that .lae-boyling or fiying up of the Water of the Sea may begin before thz Spout fr3in the (Cloud appears to us: and indeed tf thcre be arAy fmall matter of pliority betwixt thefe two aspear- ances, the boyling os throsving up of the Sea-Water has it: Which begins firIt to boyl, and then frames it Self into a Pillar of Water, efpecially on the lower part thereof.

Ie Rras obServable of a11 of them, but more perceptible; of the great one, that towards the end it began to appe-ar like a hollow Canal, only b]ack in the bor(lers, but wllite in the lmiddle; and tho at firll it was altogether black and c>paque, yet no one could 57ery diIt-indely perceive the Sea VV ater to fly up alonzR thP nziddle cf this Canal, as Smoale u? a Chimney, and that with great f;iftnefs, and

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( IO.6o1 rery perceptible motion: And then Ihortly after the Spout or Canal brake in the middle, and difappeared by little and little, the boyling up, yeas the Pillar-like fovrm of the Sea-Water corltirluing i:till the laIty yea, for feme con- fiderable time after the Spout difappeared, and perhaps till the Spout appeared again, or reformed it felf which it commonly did in the fame place as before, breaking and forming it Self again feveral timesH in a quarter of an hour, or half an hours time.

The middle one of r;he three, as I have faide exceeded all the reIt in BigneEs, Perpendicularity, Conflancy- of Form and Situatioll as well as Duration; but at laft va- nilBed, as is above fet down.

I know not, Sir, if any has accompted for this Phoeno- meno> lut I imagine it may be folved by SucAion ( im- properly fo called ) or rather Pulfion, as in tlle application of a Gupping-qglaEs to the FleSh, the Air being firIt voided by the kindled Flax.

I have fubjoyned tlae Figures of the Spouts as exadly as I could.

It is further obSenable ( which I had almoll -forbot ) That tlle oblique Spouts pointed always from the Wind; that is, that the Wind being at A. E. the olrlique Spouts aluzays pointed to the S. W. tho at the fame time and mo- ment there were others perpendicular, svhich remained ill rO, notwith{tanding the NVirld.

Alfo that luch as were curved had llill the Convex flde from tEle Wind, and the Concave towards it s that is, the \taTind being at N. E. the Cwoncave was towards the N. E. and the Convex towards the S. W.

It rained a great deal during the continuance of theSe Spouts, and after their total difappearance we had half an hours violent gale o£ Wind from the N. E. with very little Rain, thereafter the Aheather cleared up.

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SfSe Explictgon of the CablesO

Tab. I. A The Spout of a Black Colour, falling out of a Black

C'ioud perpen(licularly. B The Water of the Sea, riElng in the form of a Pillar or

Column in the middles and ftettered round about s:lle faid middlc Coltlinn, in form of Smoak or rather like t}le falling of a yette d' evu. TheSe two meet one anothQr (lirettly, >ncl the Column of Watel from tlat Sca is commonly groSer than the 5pout from the (>louds.

Tab. 2. f a Curvecl Spollt, jinillg with the rirlng Water of the

Sca at B. Tab. 3. I2i,,. 1.

A In Fig. I. reprcSelzts a Black Spout, falling oLliquely from the C>8louds cf the fame colt3ur.

E lle})reJeruts tI1c aScending Colulnn of thc Sca Water a.<; in l'ab. I. With this difirence tllat here the Spout atlcl Column of V{attr nwtct rlot.

Fig z. E atld J ill this I:ig 2. Ilbnifie Ea<s and RVeR. l 2 3 llepretcnt tht fucceffilvc progreSlon of the boyling

o'; tTle Sca from EaR to WeR, or from N. E. to S. W. a7l(1 tllat without any appeararlce of a Spout from tlle Clou(ls, pointing to, cither of theSe placts.

Tab. 4. A Reprefents the big perpendicular Spout a little before

ir() lreaking, white in thc middle. B 'inhe Coltlmn of Sct Water joirlint, therewith. 2 2 2 2 The Water of thz ,Sea) aIcendin> in t'ne form

of Smo>k up a Chimrley, all alongIt the CO1UInn at P to the C8louds.

CJ gb'ggg 2 Tab.

( I06I )

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[ I082 ]

Tab. 5. Fig. 1. A The breaking of a perpendicular Spout, commonly be-.

ginnlng in the middle at a. B ThertSeof tlle Sea Water which begins to faile and

the luiddIe Column to difappear. Fig. 2.

A an Oblique Spout, whicll after reaching to the Sea in a Curved Line or Obtuft Angle, (loes fhortly after break at a anal diSapears.

B The rirlng of the Sea MSateralSo leginning to ceafe. Tab. 6. 1 ig. Iv

A a F>erpendicular Spout beginning to fall-* 13 'rhz beginning aScent of tIw Water of the Sea under it.

1_ . r lg. 2r A One Ol)lique Spout lDegirlning or ctarting itSelf out of tlle

Clouds * IS 'rlle riiir,* or boyling of the Water, anfwering to it in an

obliqut Line..

TheIc fometilnes reac} down tto the Sea or l iling Waters and fonaetimest tIzcy do nor reach thithel, hut continuea wnilv as hcre repreSentedv

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