6th. Water-spouts occur frequently near active volcanos.
This is well known with regard to the West Indies and the Mediterranean. The following notices refer to the Malay Archipelago and the Sandwich Islands:
“Water-spouts are often seen in the seas and straits adjacent to Singapore. In Oct., 1841, I saw six in action, attached to one cloud. In August, 1838, one passed over the harbor and town of Singapore, dismasting one ship, sinking another, and carrying off the corner of the roof of a house, in its passage landward.”—(Journal of Indian Archipelago.)
“1809. An immense water-spout broke over the harbor of Honolulu. A few years before, one broke on the north side of the island (Oahu), washed away a number of houses, and drowned several inhabitants.”—(Jarves’ History of Sandwich Islands.)
7th. Cyclones begin in the immediate neighborhood of active volcanos.
The Mauritius cyclones begin near Java; the West Indian, near the volcanic series of the Caribbean Islands; those of the Bay of Bengal, near the volcanic islands, on its eastern shores; the typhoons of the China Sea, near the Philippine Islands, etc.
8th. Within the tropics, cyclones move toward the west; and, in middle latitudes, cyclones and water-spouts move toward the N. E., in the northern hemisphere, and toward the S. E. in the southern hemisphere.
9th. In the northern hemisphere, cyclones rotate in a horizontal plane, in the order N. W., S. E.; and in the southern hemisphere, in the order N. E., S. W.
By applying the principles of electro-dynamics to the electricity of the atmosphere, I shall endeavor to connect and explain the preceding well-defined facts. The continuous observations of Quetelet, on the electricity of the atmosphere, from 1844 to 1849 (Literary Journal, February, 1850), show that it is always positive, and increases as the temperature diminishes. It therefore increases rapidly with the height above the earth’s surface. We may, consequently, regard the upper and colder regions of the atmosphere as an immense reservoir of electric fluid enveloping the earth, which is insulated by the intermediate spherical shell formed by the lower and denser atmosphere. Now, whenever a vertical column of this atmosphere is suddenly displaced, the surrounding aqueous vapor will be immediately condensed and aggregated, and the cold rarefied air and moisture will form a vertical conductor for the descent of the electrical fluid. This descent will take place down a spiral, gyrating in the order N. W., S. E., in the northern hemisphere, since the electric current is under the same influence as that of the south pole of a magnet; and in the order N. E., S. W., in the southern hemisphere. The air exterior to the conducting cylinder will partake of the violent revolving motion, and a tornado or cyclone will be produced.
Upon the foregoing facts I shall comment in another place.