given to the water, by stirring it around with a stick, this motion will not cause the mud to form a column in the centre of the vessel. Why then should a cloud with a whirling centrifugal motion collect so great a mass of water together? In fact the centrifugal motion sometimes manifested would tend necessarily to throw the drops of water, by reason of their specific gravity, away from the centre of the moving mass instead of bringing them together. If the whirling motions were so rapid as to produce a complete vacuum at the centre (a condition probably in fact never produced) all the water being denser than the air must be driven further outward by the centrifugal force. But even if it were miraculously collected in the centre, the particles, as they reached the vacuum, would only fall the more rapidly, in fact as fast as lead or any other heavy substance would do, instead of waiting there for other particles of water to join them before they started downward. These suggestions are made to render it evident that the mechanical force of whirling clouds is not sufficient to account for the phenomena observed. We must find some force capable of bringing together instantly, as it were, the water contained in a large volume of air, or else an influence must be ascertained sufficiently potent to counteract the most constant and generally recognized force in nature, namely, the force of gravity. As the atmosphere is the only recognized source from which this water could be collected, it must, therefore, have been instantly drawn together, or if it were slowly collected, then the force of gravity must for a time have been suspended, or counteracted while the process was in progress, and until it was completed. Several writers have attributed water spouts to electricity, and have referred to the fact that they were, in some instances, accompanied with remarkable displays of lightning. But it is also true that in other cases no extraordinary electrical phenomena were observed; and even if much electricity was manifested, there might be a question as to whether it might not be merely an effect, rather than a cause. Electricity, however, resembles water spouts in this respect: that they are both involved in mystery. Where a force is of such a character that it cannot be defined, or limited, there is room to exaggerate its powers. Sir Walter Scott said that every remarkable event in Scotland, the authorship of which was unknown, was attributed by the people either to Sir William Wallace, to the great magician, Michael Scott, or to the devil. Electricity and the Prince of Darkness have this common quality, that they are both enveloped in great mystery, and it might be added, too, that they possess this further resemblance, that close contact with either is shunned rather than courted. From the fact that the leaves and like fragments of wood, close to the line of the opening, where the spout had fallen, were not moved, it was evident that there was no commotion in the atmosphere there. Any considerable disturbance or agitation that it underwent must have been at least above the tall trees standing around. But the difficulty of explaining this is rather increased when we remember that probably more than fifty similar falls occurred on that day within an area of thirty miles in length by twenty broad. On the opposite side of the Fishhawk mountain, and only a few hundred yards distant, there fell another water spout. Though I only saw its furrow or channel from a distance, yet it appeared to present, and is represented as showing, similar features to the one I have described. Two smaller ones fell two miles above Mr. Conley's. There were eleven in all that fell on the northern or north western side of the Blue Ridge, while credible persons tell me that there must have been forty or fifty that fell on its south side in portions of North and South Carolina. As far as they were described to me the features appeared to have been similar to the one I examined. Those on the south side of the Blue Ridge are represented to have fallen between the hours of twelve and one o'clock, while Mr. Conley and his wife said that which I examined fell at half-after three o'clock. The condition of the elements, which produced those phenomena, on that day extended over an area of six hundred square miles. That region has been settled by white people. for more than fifty years, and within that period there have been many stormy days and many heavy rains, with freshets, and yet in that time no other water spouts had fallen. Even if such had fallen within. the last three or four centuries the traces would be still visible. Why should such a condition have then existed on the 15th of June last? But, again, there has been one other remarkable fall of water spouts in the western part of North Carolina. On the 7th day of July, 1847, at a place in what is now Clay county, nearly due west from Mr. Conley's and about forty miles distant, there fell a number of water spouts. Though I only have seen the channels cut by them at a distance, yet they have been well described to me. Silas McDowell, Esq., a highly intelligent gentleman of Macon county, visited the locality soon after the fall and gave me a minute description of the appearances, which he has since repeated to me. Four miles north of Fort Hembrie, in Clay county, is a little mountain known as Fires Mountain. It is probably three thousand feet high, but as I have not seen it for many years I may be mistaken. Mr. McDowell counted thirteen spouts which had fallen, at short distances from each other, around the top of the mountain. He described more particularly the largest one. There was, just where it fell, an opening ten or fifteen feet deep, cut perpendicularly to the solid rock. He said it seemed to have fallen with such force that lumps of mud had been thrown up on the trees standing around for some distance, but that just around the opening the ground showed no sign of disturbance, and he especially expressed his surprise at the fact that the leaves all around the opening, within less than a foot of it, and in fact at its very edge lay in their places. His statement corresponds with what I saw at the place near Conley's. Mr. McDowell said that he followed the course of the water to the foot of the mountain, and that it had carried away everything down to the solid rock. Some of the smaller spouts had joined this one, and at the base of the mountain there was a pile of timber, and other debris, an hundred feet high, in which were seen trees of one hundred feet long, some of them with their roots upward. Mr. McDowell says the furrows made by these several spouts varied in width from sixty feet down to twelve feet. Dr. B. W. Moore says that he and his brother counted a much larger number of these spouts, and that the ground over which they fell was two miles in length by one in breadth. He says that though he lived five miles from the place, and though no lightning struck near him, yet both he and his mother felt very much excited, as though they had been highly electrified. The day has been described as being hot, sultry and close until about four o'clock in the afternoon, when two clouds met at the top of the Fires Mountain. After they came together there was a whirling and spinning around in them, while they covered the top of the mountain, and presented a dark mass, and seemed to divide into fragments in whirling motion. It seems from this statement that the phenomena were, in most respects, similar to those exhibited in the occurrences of last June. The fact, in both instances, that the leaves and light brush close around the openings were undisturbed, proves that there was no violent agitation of the air at the surface of the earth. When these facts are presented persons will, in some instances, be inclined to attribute the phenomena to the clouds striking against the mountains, but neither the Fishhawk nor the Fires Mountain is, perhaps, as much as four thousand feet in height, while there are in North Carolina several hundred higher, and not less than fifty which rise six thousand feet above the sea level, and yet none of these higher mountains have been thus visited, exposed as they are to storms and the contact of clouds. Again, it is well known that water spouts are seen more frequently at sea than on land. So many facts similar to those I have described have been noticed that they cannot fairly be denied. A century ago so-called scientific men, because they could not account for such facts, denied that meteoric stones fell to the earth, and resorted to ingenious theories to explain how it happened that people imagined they had seen them fall. At this time no one doubts but that metallic and stony masses do fall to the earth. So now, if some satisfactory explanation can be given of the origin of water spouts, men will not only recognize the fact of their existence, but become ready to accept as true, perhaps, the statement of the fall of frogs, fish, and even of snakes, from the upper regions of the atmosphere. Until this has been done, however, these phenomena will rather remind men of the declaration in Genesis that "the waters below the firmament were divided from the waters above it," and "that the windows of heaven were opened" at the period of the deluge. VOLCANIC ACTION IN NORTH CAROLINA. LECTURE DELIVERED BEFORE THE WASHINGTON By Hon. T. L. CLINGMAN. More than thirty years ago my attention was directed to statements that a certain mountain in the northern part of Haywood County, North Carolina, was, at intervals of two or three years, agitated and broken into fragments along a portion of its surface. In the latter part of the year 1848, I visited the region, and soon afterwards wrote a description of the mountain, which was first published in the National Intelligencer, of the date of November 15th, 1848. As the article occupies two or three columns of the paper, giving a minute description of the locality, its minerals, and the appearance as presented at that time, with suggestions as to the probable cause of the phenomena, I will not detain you with its reproduction. The material facts may be briefly stated as follows: Between the Blue Ridge, which in North Carolina separates the waters falling into the Atlantic, from those discharged into the Mississippi, and the great chain on the Tennessee border, designated in its course by such names as Iron, Unaka and Smoky, there is an elevated plateau of more than two hundred miles in length, with an average breadth of fifty miles. The beds of the larger streams are two thousand feet above the sea, and the general level of the country, exclusive of the mountain ranges, may be estimated at twenty-five hundred feet above tide-water. Geologically considered, it is next to the Lake Superior region, regarded as among the oldest on the surface of the globe. Granite in its varieties is seen in many places, but the predominating surface rocks are of the older metamorphic strata, gneiss, and mica slate are the most prevalent, though hornblendic and magnesian rocks are abundant, with occasionally large veins of quartz, and indeed such a variety of minerals as perhaps no other region of equal extent produces. Haywood county joins the State of Tennesse on its northern border, and the seat of the disturbance is within less than twenty miles of the line of that State. A considerable range of mountains extends north and south along the line which separates the counties of Buncombe and Haywood. From the west side of this extends a ridge which terminates near the head of Fines creek. A quarter of a mile from its western end, as one moves up it towards the east, is the locality referred to. The effect of the disturbance is visible near the crest of the ridge and extends in a direction nearly due south, down the side of the little mountain, four or five hundred yards, to the level ground, and across it for some distance and along the elevations beyond. The whole extent may be a mile in length, with a breadth of not more than a couple of hundred yards at any point. The top of the ridge, where evidences of violence. are seen, is perhaps three or four hundred feet higher than the ground below. There are cracks in the solid granite of which the ridge appears to be composed, but the chief evidences of violence were ob servable a little south of the crest. From thence along the side of the mountain as one descends, there were chasms, none of them above four feet in width, generally extending north and south, but also occasionally seen in all directions. All the large trees had been thrown down. There were a number of little hillocks, the largest eight or ten feet high and fifty or sixty feet in diameter. They were usually surrounded by what appeared to have been a narrow crevice. On their sides the saplings grew perpendicularly to the surface of the ground, but obliquely to the horizon, making it manifest that they had attained some size before the hillocks had been elevated. I observed a large poplar or tulip tree, which had been split through its centre, so as to leave one-half of it standing thirty or forty feet high. The crack or opening under it, was not an inch wide, but could be traced for a hundred yards, making it evident that there had been an opening of sufficient width to split the tree, and that then the sides of the chasm had returned to their original position without having slipped so as to prevent the contact of the broken roots. As indicating the sudden violence with which the force acted, a large mass of detached granite afforded a striking illustration. From its size I estimated that it might have weighed two thousands tons. It seemed from its shape to have originally been broken out of the side of the mountain above, and to have rolled in mass a hundred yards downward. It lay directly across one of the chasms two or three feet in width, and had been broken into three large fragments, which, however, were not separated a foot from each other. The irregu larities of the lines of fracture were conformable, and rendered it certain that the mass had been broken by an instantaneous shock of great violence, which did not continue to act long enough to remove the fragments to a distance In like manner a blast of gunpowder often breaks a rock into fragments, without removing the pieces out of their places, the narrow fissures caused by the explosion, permitting the gasses to escape easily. All persons who saw this locality immediately after shocks spoke of the fact that every stone or fragment of wood had been lifted out of its former bed. When I was there I was told that three years had elapsed since the last previous shock. They were first noticed about the year 1812, and usually repeated at intervals of two or three years. In 1851, I visited the locality again, having been informed that a feeble jar had occurred. As soon as I arrived at the locality, I was struck with the truthfulness of what many persons had told me, that after each shock the appearance of the place was so much changed that it did not at all resemble itself. On this occasion, though the shock had been a feeble one, I found the appearances very different. The greatest evidences of violence were near the foot of the ridge, the branch having been somewhat turned out |