ation to the sun, and the different modifications under which they reflect his light. The various appearances and fantastic figures they assume, probably proceed from their loose and voluble texture, revolving into any form by the force or activity of the winds, or by the electricity contained in their substance. But, of all the celestial appearances we can behold, what can be compared to the beauty of the rainbow? What a majestic and stupendous arch does this wonderful phenomenon present to our view, and how beautifully is it tinged in regular order, by all the primogenial colours in nature! Yet, this gorgeous arch is instantaneously erected, and at no expense: the commission is sent forth, and it springs into existence, merely by the operation of the sunbeams on the watery particles that float in the atmosphere The rainbow, it must be observed, is always seen in an opposite direction from the sun, and that it is occasioned by the reflection and refraction of his rays, at a certain angle or distance from the eye of the spectator, must be evident to every person who has tried the experiment of the silly boy in the fable, and gone in pursuit of the treasures at the end of it. Sometimes, too, we have lunar rainbows; but these shine with inferior lustre ; and what more can we expect from the reflected light of a body, such as the moon that shines itself by reflection? Halos are supposed to be occasioned by the refraction of the light of the sun or moon on the frozen particles that surround them in frosty weather; and what are called parhelia, or mock-suns, and paraselenes, or mockmoons, are only representations by the reflection of the face of the true sun or moon from some of the clouds, which are placed at a convenient distance to produce the effect. The Uses of Atmospheric Phenomena, Without entering upon the vast utility of the winds in the world of art, with the many purposes to which they are made subservient and applied, in navigation, agriculture, manufactures, trade and commerce; or recapitulating what we have already said respecting their vast import in the preserving the equilibrium and salubrity of the atmosphere,, we will briefly observe, that the wind may be said to act the important part of Nature's great husbandman, by scattering abroad the productive principles of a multitude of plants; and, instead of that imaginary water bearer which the ancients traced out among the stars, the eye of modern philosophy has discovered, in the operations of the wind, a real Aquarius in the heavens, bearing about his precious treasures, and dispensing them where most wanted. Electricity is, indeed, a most powerful agent in nature, and we are probably but acquainted, as yet, with a small proportion of its wonderful effects; but, from what we do know, we have reason to conclude that the benefits to be derived from this all-pervading principle are numerous as the appearance it puts on; are infinite as its extent. Since the phenomena produced by this fluid have been observed with attention, the true cause of thunder and lightning seems to be ascertained. As the motion of light is almost instantaneous, and that of sound is at the rate of a league in forty pulsations, the distance of thunder may be easily ascertained; for, if we can count thirteen pulsations between the flash and the sound, the thunder will be about a mile off. A means, however, has been invented, by which houses, ships, and other buildings, may be secured from its ravages, and places of the greatest safety, in thunder-storms, pointed out; but what are the evils experienced from thunder storms, when put in competition with the advantages to be derived from them? What would the atmosphere, it may be observed, become, but for the winds? But, notwithstanding the blessings derived from those wholesome ventilations, what would become of the atmosphere itself, were it not for the loud-roaring thunder, the forked lightning, and all the other varieties of electrical phenomena, which purge the air of those noxious substances that are continually mixing with it, and purify, by fire, the upper regions, where so many light, inflammatory substances, are arrested in their course? There appears to be a continual circulation going on in the atmosphere, by which the inflammable air, generated between the tropics, is made to ascend, by its lightness, to the upper regions, where, by the motion of the earth, it is urged to the poles; hence, the inflammatory exhalations continually arriving and taking fire as they approach, are made to form those beautiful appearances called northern and southern lights, which, although they are oft invisible by the thickness of the weather, at other times amuse the inhabitants, even of our climate, in clear frosty weather; and these merry dancers, as the vulgar call them, are no doubt of infinite service to the people of the polar regions, by imparting a lengthened, if not uninterrupted supply of that light and cheerfulness, of which they would otherwise be deprived during their protracted winter. Were it not for the beneficial operations of the electric spark, which is always ready at the com. mand of its Maker, to kindle these combustible materials before they become sufficiently accumulated to involve the whole in one universal conflagration, the world, it is probable, would long ere now have been destroyed by fire. There is no occasion (according to the opinions of some theorists) for calling in the aid of a comet to complete this work of destruction. The Almighty has only to suspend the operations of his fiery meteors, and the elements will soon become sufficiently inflammatory to catch fire by a single spark; so that, in fact, those terrific monitors of the gazing crowd, instead of being certain indications that an incensed Deity is about to inflict the effects of his hot displeasure on a guilty world, according to the language of philosophy and the whispers of religion, are rather convincing tokens that" His mercy is not yet clean gone, that the Lord has not forgotten to be gracious." The use of fogs and mists on the tender herbs, in the absence of rain, is well known to the grazier and agriculturist; and so sensible was the good man of the land of Uz, of the importance of what some may reckon among the inferior kinds of watery meteors, (although it is the surest and most universal which the wise Ruler of the world makes use of to render the earth fruitful) that, when he asks the question, "Has the rain a father?" he does not forget to add, "Who has forgotten the drops of the dew?" From the clouds proceed not only those fertilizing showers that drop down fatness, and the windy currents that, to a surprising degree, agitate the air in warm climates, but, by intervening between the earth and the scorching rays of the sun, they serve as screens to protect from injury the grass and tender herbs, and also act the part of conducting mediums, by which the electric fluid is conveyed not only from the atmosphere to the earth, and from the earth to the atmosphere, but from one end of the heavens to the other. Of all the blessings poured out of the treasures of Providence, there is none, perhaps, of which man is more sensible than that of rain. What an alteration on the face of the earth does a seasonable shower produce! No wonder that the Psalmist, when contemplating such a scene, breaks out in such language as this: "Thou visitest the earth and waterest it: thou makest it soft with showers: thou blessest the sprinkling thereof: the little hills rejoice on every side: the pastures are clothed with flocks: the val R |