The column of mercury fell downwards, leaving a Torricellian vacuum above.
2.
A "'torricellian vacuum "'is created by filling a tall glass container closed at one end with mercury, and then inverting the container into a bowl to contain the mercury.
3.
Faraday found magnetic effects in a Torricellian vacuum ( like the inside of a mercury barometer above the mercury ) ( p 194 ) in his research published as a collection in 1855, but much of the research was done and published earlier.