5953. [— 11.] Thus the heavens of angels are represented as concentric circles round about the throne of God. His primary sphere, like a screen encircling an illuminated object, will present him facing every angel in every heaven. Looking down from that sphere, he may be represented by a phantasmagoria. Would you see how he apparently looks up from every part of every surrounding sphere ? "Dispose

several mirrors on the circumference of a circle, in such a manner, that they shall correspond with the chords of that circle; if you then place yourself in the centre, you will see your image in all the mirrors at the same time."

HUTTON'S Recreations, vol. ii. p. 231.

5958. [Rev. vi. 4, 12.] Dr. HALLEY, having descended in his great diving-bell fifty fathoms into the sea, reports, that the water which from above was usually seen of a green color, when looked at from below, appeared to him of a very different one, casting a redness upon one of his hands like that of damask roses. See Newton's Optic. p. 56.

-

5959. [8. Death] the Image of God exhibited in the Hydrogenous gaseous sphere encircling the earth at its proper altitude. Hydrogen, like Azote (p. 233 of DALTON'S Chem.) which constitutes nearly four-fifths of atmospheric air, extinguishes burning bodies, and is fatal to animals that breathe it. DALTON'S Chem. part ii. p. 229. Hell (carbon), See Rom. i. 25. and Rev. xx. 14.

The hand also, exposed to the sun with a thin black glove on it, is suddenly and more considerably heated, than when it is held naked to the rays, or covered with a glove of thin white leather. See 2 Peter iii. 10.

See PRIESTLEY'S Hist. of Vision, pp. 143, 144.

5965. [Rev. vii. 1.] Mention is made of Parhelia both by the Antients and the Moderns. They have been visible for one, two, three, and four hours together; and in North America they are said to continue some days, and to be visible from sunrise to sunset. Aristotle relates that two were seen in Bosphorus from morning to evening, though, in general, he observes, they are not seen except when the sun is near the horizon. But the most celebrated appearance of this kind is that which was seen at Rome by Scheiner, in which there were four mock suns.— When mock suns appear, there are always in the heavens six entire circles visible, three of which have the sun, and three the zenith for their centre; and it seems, from all the accounts put together, that parhelia appear wherever any of these circles either intersect, or touch one another.

Ibid. pp. 613, 616, 618, 630.

5966.

In Egypt and Syria, the winds blow from the four cardinal points, periodically at different seasons of the year. For instance, when the sun approaches the tropic of Cancer, the winds, which before blew from the east, change to the north, and become constant in that point. In June they always blow from the north and north west: they continue northerly in July, but vary sometimes toward the west and sometimes toward the east. About the end of July, during all the month of August, and half of September, they remain constantly in the north, and are moderate; brisker in the day, however, and weaker at night. At this period a universal calm reigns on the Mediterranean. - Towards the end of September, when the sun repasses the line, the winds return to the east; and, though not fixed, blow more regu-larly from that than any other point, except the north: this lasts all October and part of November. As the sun approaches the other tropic, the winds become more variable and more tempestuous; they most usually blow from the north, the north-west, and west, in which points they continue during the winter months of December, January, and February. About the end of February and in March, when the sun returns towards the equator, the winds are southerly more frequently than at any other season. During this last month, and that of April, the south-easterly, south, and south-westerly winds prevail; and at times the west, north, and east; the latter of which becomes the most prevalent about

5072. [- - 16.] The matter of heat is an ethereal fluid, in which all things are immersed, and which constitutes the general power of repulsion; as appears in explosions which are produced by the sudden evolution of combined heat, and by the expansion of all bodies by the slower diffusion of it in its uncombined state. Without heat all the matter of the world would be condensed into a point by the power of attrac tion; and neither fluidity nor life could exist. There are also particular powers of repulsion, as those of magnetism and electricity, and of chemistry, such as oil and water; which last may be as numerous as the particular attractions which constitute chemical affinities; and may both of them exist as atmospheres round the individual particles of matter.'

DARWIN'S Temple of Nature, canto i. l. 235.

5976. [Rev. viii. 7. Fire mingled with blood] Strontes has the property of giving a red or purple color to flame. DALTON'S Essays, p. 525. -How purple and fiery, during the tempest, appeared the tumultuous clouds, swiftly ascending or darting from the horizon upwards! They seemed to oppose and dash against each other; the skies appeared streaked with blood or purple flame overhead; the flaming lightning streaming and darting about in every direction around, seemed to fill the world with fire; whilst the heavy thunder kept the earth in a constant tremor. BARTRAM's Travels, p. 139.

5977.

The superior air refrigerated, and the inferior air dilated, constitute in the atmosphere two strata, which maintain a perpetual struggle with each other. If the equilibrium be lost, the superior, ob eying the law of gravity, may rush into the inferior region, even to the earth. To accidents of this nature we must ascribe those sudden torrents of frozen air, known by the name of Hurricanes and squalls, which seem to fall from heaven, and produce, in the warmest seasons, and the hottest regions of the earth, the cold of the polar circles. If the surrounding air resists, their duration is limited to a short time; but when they fall in with currents

already established, they increase their violence, and become tempests, which last several hours. These tempests are dry when the air is pure; but when it is loaded with clouds, they are attended with a deluge of rain and hail, which the cold air condenses in its fall. It may happen that a continued fall of water shall accompany the rupture, increased by the surrounding clouds, attracted to the same vortex; and hence will result these columns of water, known by the name of Typhons and water-spouts. These water-spouts are not unusual on the coast of Syria, toward Cape Wedjh and Mount Carmel ; and it is observed that they are most frequent at the equinoxes, and in a stormy sky, obscured by clouds.

VOLNEY.

5978. [Rev. viii. 7.] At a meeting in 1810, of the Glasgow Philosophical Society, Professor Leshe's process for effecting the congelation of a mass of water in a warm room without the aid of ice, of any cooling mixture, or expense of materials, was exhibited by Dr. Uce. It consists in placing two vessels under the receiver of an air-pump; the one containing water, the other (unslacked lime or) any substance very attractive of moisture. The weight of the air being removed by working the machine, copious evaporation begins to take place from the water. Were there nothing under the receiver but this liquid, an atmosphere of vapor would thus be formed; by whose pressure further evaporation would be prevented: but the other substance absorbs the vapor almost as speedily as it rises. Hence evaporation, and its invariable effect the production of cold, proceeds so vigorously as soou to convert the water into ice; spicula of which are seen shooting beautifully across. In the present case a considerable cake of ice was formed and preserved for upwards of half an hour, although the temperature of the room was thirty degrees above the freezing point. Indeed the ice might have been taken out of the receiver for the purpose of throwing on it portions of the potassium, which, at the instant of contact, took fire and burnt holes in it.

5979.

Public Prints,

The Tuscans held, that the world was subject to certain revolutions, in which it became transformed successively into new ages; each having a certain number of years assigned it of God, ending in what they called the great year. The approach of such a change was portended, they believed, by a prodigy which happened in the time of Č. Marius, when the air being perfectly clear and serene, there was heard a shrill and mournful sound of a trumpet, to every one's astonishment and terror.

See PLUTARCH, in Sylla, p. 456.

The Druids also taught the alternate dissolution of the (supernal) world by water and fire, and its successive renovation.

See STRABO, lib. 4.

5982. [

Ibid.

8.] From thaws and earthquakes, among the mountains of Lebanon, rocks have been known to lose their equilibrium, roll down upon the adjacent houses, and bury the inhabitants such an accident happened about twenty years ago, and overwhelmed a whole village near Mardjordjos, without leaving a single trace to discover where it formerly stood. Still more lately, and near the same spot, a whole hill-side, covered with mulberries and vines, was detached by a sudden thaw, and sliding down the declivity of the rock, was launched altogether, like a ship from the stocks, into the valley.

5983.

VOLNEY'S Trav. vol. i. p. 299.

In Switzerland, early in the evening on the 2d of September, 1806, an immense projection of the mountain of Ruffiberg, in the canton of Schwitz, gave way, and was precipitated into the valley, situated between the lakes of Zug and Lowertz, on two sides, and the mountains of Ruffiberg and Rosi on the others. In four minutes it completely overwhelmed three villages, and parts of two others. The torrent of earth and stones was more rapid than that of lava, and its effects as irresistible and terrible. The mountain in its tremendous descent carried trees, rocks, houses, every thing before it. The mass spread in every direction, so as to bury completely a space of charming country more than three miles square. The force of the earth was so great, that it not only spread over the hollow of the valley, but even ascended to a considerable height on the side of the opposite mountain. A portion of the falling mass rolled into the lake

of Lowertz, and it has been calculated that a fifth part of it is filled up. So large was the body of water raised, and pushed forward by the falling of such a mass into the lake, that its two islands, and the whole village of Seven, at the northern extremity, were for a time completely overwhelmed by the swell. By this catastrophe, 484 human beings, 170 cows and horses, 103 goats and sheep, were killed; 87 meadows, 95 houses, 166 cowhouses, barns or stables, were entirely destroyed; and 60 meadows, 8 dwelling-houses, 19 cowhouses, barns or stables, were considerably damaged, The total loss was estimated at £120,000, sterling.

Monthly Mag. for July 1807, pp. 513 - 520.

5984. [Rev. viii. 8.] It is well ascertained by experience, that there are vast beds of pyrites dispersed through the interior parts of the earth at all depths; and it is a certain fact, that this compound substance may, by the accidental affusion of a due quantity of water, become hot, and at length burn with great fury.

PINKERTON'S Coll, part xiii. p. 910. Near Francfort, on mount Altkoniger there is a spot very favourable for seeing the day-break.

At the instant the first ray of morn gilds the tops of Spessart and Odenwalde, both appear to be islands of fire. As far as Altkoniger all is thick darkness; but the eastern view appears like an illuminated island swimming on the black ocean of night.

5986. [- 9.] The northern people in general, according to the Edda (Edit. Goransoni), believed in a future state of being. They supposed that the soul, as in this present life it is clothed with a material body, would, in the next, have also a body suited to that state, an etherial vehicle; that the objects also of its delight, its happiness, and glory, would exist there also in a kind of metaphysical existence under an aerial substance; which objects it would thus possess and enjoy in a more transcendent degree. Hence the great hunters and warriors had the accompaniments of their former sports, or with which they performed their actions of glory, buried

with them. The hunter had his bow, his spear, and his dog, laid in the same tomb. The heroes of the land-troops had their arms and their horses buried with them: the naval Victs or heroes were buried in their ships, or were burnt together with them, or finally had their tombs erected in the form of a ship. These tombs were afterwards temples, whereat the people annually assembled to offer sacrifice for the prosperity of the nation. The ruins of such a ship-temple are now to be seen near Dundalk in Ireland. Another also has been discovered in the county of Mayo, and barony of Castello, covered with a single stone; and is, says Governor POWNALL, of an uncommon, curious nature.

Archæologia, vol. vii. pp. 149, &c.

5990. On Thursday evening, Aug. 10th, 1815, between ten and eleven o'clock, the country around Pickering was suddenly illuminated in a most brilliant and extraordinary manner. It was occasioned by a meteor, which appeared in the west and south-west direction, proceeding from the north to the south. It was nearly as large as the ordinary appearance of the full moon. The light it gave out, however, was more brilliant, very much resembling inflamed oil of turpentine, but rather of a bluer cast.

It was perfectly globular, and without any opaque spots on its surface. A long train, equal at least to ten times its diameter, was left behind. Whether this luminous body ultimately burst, or gradually burnt away, the Editor of the Rockingham of Hull could not immediately ascertain.

5991. [Rev. viii. 10, 11:] That the putrid efflavium (causing plagues, &c.) will mix with water seems to be evident from the following experiment. If a mouse be put into a jar full of water, standing with its mouth inverted in another vessel of water, a considerable quantity of elastic matter (and which may, therefore, be called air) will soon be generated, unless the weather be so cold as to check all putrefaction. After a short time, the water contracts an extremely fetid and offensive smell, which seems to indicate that the putrid effluvium pervades the water, and affects the neighbouring air. PRIESTLEY'S Experiments on Air, vol. i.

p. 83.

6993. [12.] Being among the Druzes, says VOLNEY, in the year 1784, I observed that, during the cloudy season at the end of July and in August, every day, towards eleven o'clock, or about noon, the sky was overcast, the sun was often invisible the whole afternoon, the sannia, or summit of Lebanon, was capped with clouds, and many of them, ascending the declivities, remained among the vineyards and the pines, and I was frequently so enveloped in a white, humid, warm and opaque mist, as not to be able to see four paces before me. About ten or eleven at night, the sky grew clear, the stars appeared, and the remainder of the night was very fine, the sun rose shining, and, towards noon, the like appearances returned in the same circle. Trav. vol. i. p.

347.

5994. [—————— 13.] There is a remarkable phenomenon produced by a concave mirror: it is the image of an object appearing between the spectator and the mirror, as if it were pendulous in the air. It is produced whenever the object is placed farther from the mirror than the centre of the sphere. If a person go nearer, to view it more attentively, it will not fly from him; and though it have the appearance of a solid substance, yet if he attempt to lay hold on it, he will find nothing. Roger Bacon was satisfied that one might to a great advantage view objects in a concave mirror (such is the hemisphere of any degree either of the natural or spiritual atmosphere over our earth), how distant soever they were. PRIESTLEY'S Hist. of Vision, pp. 13, 27.