Klin To Your Glazed Retreats, Your Air-Built Castles, And Your Silken Seats; 385 Bade His Bold Arm Invade The Lowering Sky, And Seize The Tiptoe Lightnings, Ere They Fly; O'Er The Young Sage Your Mystic Mantle Spread, And Wreath'D The Crown Electric Round His Head.-- Thus When On Wanton Wing Intrepid Love 390 Snatch'D The Raised Lightning From The Arm Of Jove; Quick O'Er His Knee The Triple Bolt He Bent, The Cluster'D Darts And Forky Arrows Rent, Snapp'D With Illumin'D Hands Each Flaming Shaft, His Tingling Fingers Shook, And Stamp'D, And Laugh'D; 395 Bright O'Er The Floor The Scatter'D Fragments Blaz'D, And Gods Retreating Trembled As They Gaz'D; The Immortal Sire, Indulgent To His Child, Bow'D His Ambrosial Locks, And Heaven Relenting Smiled. [You Led Your Franklin. L. 383. Dr. Franklin Was The First That Discovered That Lightening Consisted Of Electric Matter, He Elevated A Tall Rod With A Wire Wrapped Round It, And Fixing The Bottom Of A Rod Into A Glass Bottle, And Preserving It From Falling By Means Of Silk- Strings, He Found It Electrified Whenever A Cloud Parted Over It, Receiving Sparks By His Finger From It, And Charging Coated Phials. This Great Discovery Taught Us To Defend Houses And Ships And Temples From Lightning, And Also To Understand, That People Are Always Perfectly Safe In A Room During A Thunder Storm If They Keep Themselves At Three Or Four Feet Distance From The Walls; For The Matter Of Lightning In Passing From The Clouds To The Earth, Or From The Earth To The Clouds, Runs Through The Walls Of A House, The Trunk Of A Tree, Or Other Elevated Object; Except There Be Some Moister Body, As An Animal In Contact With Them, Or Nearly So; And In That Case The Lightning Leaves The Wall Or Tree, And Passes Through The Animal; But As It Can Pass Through Metals With Still Greater Facility, It Will Leave Animal Bodies To Pass Through Metallic Ones. If A Person In The Open Air Be Surprized By A Thunderstorm, He Will Know His Danger By Observing On A Second Watch The Time Which Passes Between The Flash And The Crack, And Reckoning A Mile For Every Four Seconds And A Half, And A Little More. For Sound Travels At The Rate Of 1142 Feet In A Second Of Time, And The Velocity Of Light Through Such Small Distances Is Not To Be Estimated. In These Circumstances A Person Will Be Safer By Lying Down On The Ground, Than Erect, And Still Safer If Within A Few Feet Of His Horse; Which Being Then A More Elevated Animal Will Receive The Shock, In Preference As The Cloud Passes Over. See Additional Notes, No. Xiii.] [Intrepid Love. L. 389. This Allegory Is Uncommonly Beautiful, Representing Divine Justice As Disarmed By Divine Love, And Relenting Of His Purpose. It Is Expressed On An Agate In The Great Duke'S Collection At Florence. Spence.] Viii. "When Air'S Pure Essence Joins The Vital Flood, 400 And With Phosphoric Acid Dyes The Blood, Your Virgin Trains The Transient Heat Dispart, And Lead The Soft Combustion Round The Heart; Life'S Holy Lamp With Fires Successive Feed, From The Crown'D Forehead To The Prostrate Weed, 405 From Earth'S Proud Realms To All That Swim Or Sweep The Yielding Ether Or Tumultuous Deep. You Swell The Bulb Beneath The Heaving Lawn, Brood The Live Seed, Unfold The Bursting Spawn; Nurse With Soft Lap, And Warm With Fragrant Breath 410 The Embryon Panting In The Arms Of Death; Youth'S Vivid Eye With Living Light Adorn, And Fire The Rising Blush Of Beauty'S Golden Morn. [Transient Heat Dispart. L. 401. Dr. Crawford In His Ingenious Work On Animal Heat Has Endeavoured To Prove, That During The Combination Of The Pure Part Of The Atmosphere With The Phlogistic Part Of The Blood, That Much Of The Matter Of The Heat Is Given Out From The Air; And That This Is The Great And Perpetual Source Of The Heat Of Animals; To Which We May Add That The Phosphoric Acid Is Probably Produced By This Combination; By Which Acid The Colour Of The Blood Is Changed In The Lungs From A Deep Crimson To A Bright Scarlet. There Seems To Be However Another Source Of Animal Heat, Though Of A Similar Nature; And That Is From The Chemical Combinations Produced In All The Glands; Since By Whatever Cause Any Glandular Secretion Is Increased, As By Friction Or Topical Imflammation, The Heat Of That Part Becomes Increased At The Same Time; Thus After The Hands Have Been For A Time Immersed In Snow, On Coming Into A Warm Room, They Become Red And Hot, Without Any Increased Pulmonary Action. Besides This There Would Seem To Be Another Material Received From The Air By Respiration; Which Is So Necessary To Life, That The Embryon Must Learn To Breathe Almost Within A Minute After Its Birth, Or It Dies. The Perpetual Necessity Of Breathing Shews, That The Material Thus Acquired Is Perpetually Consuming Or Escaping, And On That Account Requires Perpetual Renovation. Perhaps The Spirit Of Animation Itself Is Thus Acquired From The Atmosphere, Which If It Be Supposed To Be Finer Or More Subtle Than The Electric Matter, Could Not Long Be Retained In Our Bodies, And Must Therefore Require Perpetual Renovation.] "Thus When The Egg Of Night, On Chaos Hurl'D, Burst, And Disclosed The Cradle Of The World; 415 First From The Gaping Shell Refulgent Sprung Immortal Love, His Bow Celestial Strung;-- O'Er The Wide Waste His Gaudy Wings Unfold, Beam His Soft Smiles, And Wave His Curls Of Gold;-- With Silver Darts He Pierced The Kindling Frame, 420 And Lit With Torch Divine The Ever-Living Flame." [Thus When The Egg Of Night. L. 413. There Were Two Cupids Belonging To The Antient Mythology, One Much Elder Than The Other. The Elder Cupid, Or Eros, Or Divine Love, Was The First That Came Out Of The Great Egg Of Night, Which Floated In Chaos, And Was Broken By The Horns Of The Celestial Bull, That Is, Was Hatched By The Warmth Of The Spring. He Was Winged And Armed, And By His Arrows And Torch Pierced And Vivified All Things, Producing Life And Joy. Bacon, Vol. V. P. 197. Quarto Edit. Lond. 1778. "At This Time, (Says Aristophanes,) Sable-Winged Night Produced An Egg, From Whence Sprung Up Like A Blossom Eros, The Lovely, The Desirable, With His Glossy Golden Wings." Avibus. Bryant'S Mythology, Vol. Ii. P. 350. Second Edition. This Interesting Moment Of This Sublime Allegory Mrs. Cosway Has Chosen For Her Very Beautiful Painting. She Has Represented Eros Or Divine Love With Large Wings Having The Strength Of The Eagle'S Wings, And The Splendor Of The Peacocks, With His Hair Floating In The Form Of Flame, And With A Halo Of Light Vapour Round His Head; Which Illuminates The Painting; While He Is In The Act Of Springing Forwards, And With His Hands Separating The Elements.] Ix. The Goddess Paused, Admired With Conscious Pride The Effulgent Legions Marshal'D By Her Side, Forms Sphered In Fire With Trembling Light Array'D, Ens Without Weight, And Substance Without Shade; 425 And, While Tumultuous Joy Her Bosom Warms, Waves Her White Hand, And Calls Her Hosts To Arms, "Unite, Illustrious Nymphs! Your Radiant Powers, Call From Their Long Repose The Vernal Hours. Wake With Soft Touch, With Rosy Hands Unbind 430 The Struggling Pinions Of The Western Wind; Chafe His Wan Cheeks, His Ruffled Plumes Repair, And Wring The Rain-Drops From His Tangled Hair. Blaze Round Each Frosted Rill, Or Stagnant Wave, And Charm The Naiad From Her Silent Cave; 435 Where, Shrined In Ice, Like Niobe She Mourns, And Clasps With Hoary Arms Her Empty Urns. Call Your Bright Myriads, Trooping From Afar, With Beamy Helms, And Glittering Shafts Of War; In Phalanx Firm The Fiend Of Frost Assail, 440 Break His White Towers, And Pierce His Crystal Mail; To Zembla'S Moon-Bright Coasts The Tyrant Bear, And Chain Him Howling To The Northern Bear. [Of The Western Wind. L. 430. The Principal Frosts Of This Country Are Accompanied Or Produced By A N.E. Wind, And The Thaws By A S.W. Wind; The Reason Of Which Is That The N.E. Winds Consist Of Regions Of Air Brought From The North, Which Appear To Acquire An Easterly Direction As They Advance; And The S.W. Winds Consist Of Regions Of Air Brought From The South, Which Appear To Acquire A Westerly Direction As They Advance. The Surface Of The Earth Nearer The Pole Moves Slower Than It Does In Our Latitude; Whence The Regions Of Air Brought From Thence, Move Slower, When They Arrive Hither, Than The Earth'S Surface With Which They Now Become In Contact; That Is They Acquire An Apparent Easterly Direction, As The Earth Moves From West To East Faster Than This New Part Of Its Atmosphere. The S.W. Winds On The Contrary Consist Of Regions Of Air Brought From The South, Where The Surface Of The Earth Moves Faster Than In Our Latitude; And Have Therefore A Westerly Direction When They Arrive Hither By Their Moving Faster Than The Surface Of The Earth, With Which They Are In Contact; And In General The Nearer To The West And The Greater The Velocity Of These Winds The Warmer They Should Be In Respect To The Season Of The Year, Since They Have Been Brought More Expeditiously From The South, Than Those Winds Which Have Less Westerly Direction, And Have Thence Been Less Cooled In Their Passage. Sometimes I Have Observed The Thaw To Commence Immediately On The Change Of The Wind, Even Within An Hour, If I Am Not Mistaken, Or Sooner. At Other Times The S.W. Wind Has Continued A Day, Or Even Two, Before The Thaw Has Commenced; During Which Time Some Of The Frosty Air, Which Had Gone Southwards, Is Driven Back Over Us; And In Consequence Has Taken A Westerly Direction, As Well As A Southern One. At Other Times I Have Observed A Frost With A N.E. Wind Every Morning, And A Thaw With A S.W. Wind Every Noon For Several Days Together. See Additional Note, Xxxiii.] [The Fiend Of Frost. L. 439. The Principal Injury Done To Vegetation By Frost Is From The Expansion Of The Water Contained In The Vessels Of Plants. Water Converted Into Ice Occupies A Greater Space Than It Did Before, As Appears By The Bursting Of Bottles Filled With Water At The Time Of Their Freezing. Hence Frost Destroys Those Plants Of Our Island First, Which Are Most Succulent; And The Most Succulent Parts First Of Other Plants; As Their Leaves And Last Year'S Shoots; The Vessels Of Which Are Distended And Burst By The Expansion Of Their Freezing Fluids, While The Drier Or More Resinous Plants, As Pines, Yews, Laurels, And Other Ever-Greens, Are Less Liable To Injury From Cold. The Trees In Vallies Are On This Account More Injured By The Vernal Frosts Than Those On Eminencies, Because Their Early Succulent Shoots Come Out Sooner. Hence Fruit Trees Covered By A Six-Inch Coping Of A Wall Are Less Injured By The Vernal Frosts Because Their Being Shielded From Showers And The Descending Night-Dews Has Prevented Them From Being Moist At The Time Of Their Being Frozen: Which Circumstance Has Given Occasion To A Vulgar Error Amongst Gardeners, Who Suppose Frost To Descend. As The Common Heat Of The Earth In This Climate Is 48 Degrees, Those Tender Trees Which Will Bear Bending Down, Are Easily Secured From The Frost By Spreading Them Upon The Ground, And Covering Them With Straw Or Fern. This Particularly Suits Fig-Trees, As They Easily Bear Bending To The Ground, And Are Furnished With An Acrid Juice, Which Secures Them From The Depredations Of Insects; But Are Nevertheless Liable To Be Eaten By Mice. See Additional Notes, No. Xii.] "So When Enormous Grampus, Issuing Forth From The Pale Regions Of The Icy North; 445 Waves His Broad Tail, And Opes His Ribbed Mouth, And Seeks On Winnowing Fin The Breezy South; From Towns Deserted Rush The Breathless Hosts, Swarm Round The Hills, And Darken All The Coasts; Boats Follow Boats Along The Shouting Tides, 450 And Spears And Javelins Pierce His Blubbery Sides; Now The Bold Sailor, Raised On Pointed Toe, Whirls The Wing'D Harpoon On The Slimy Foe; Quick Sinks The Monster In His Oozy Bed, The Blood-Stain'D Surges Circling O'Er His Head, 455 Steers To The Frozen Pole His Wonted Track, And Bears The Iron Tempest On His Back. X. "On Wings Of Flame, Ethereal Virgins! Sweep O'Er Earth'S Fair Bosom, And Complacent Deep; Where Dwell My Vegetative Realms Benumb'D, 460 In Buds Imprison'D, Or In Bulbs Intomb'D, Pervade, Pellucid Forms! Their Cold Retreat, Ray From Bright Urns Your Viewless Floods Of Heat; From Earth'S Deep Wastes Electric Torrents Pour, Or Shed From Heaven The Scintillating Shower; 465 Pierce The Dull Root, Relax Its Fibre-Trains, Thaw The Thick Blood, Which Lingers In Its Veins; Melt With Warm Breath The Fragrant Gums, That Bind The Expanding Foliage In Its Scaly Rind; And As In Air The Laughing Leaflets Play, 470 And Turn Their Shining Bosoms To The Ray, Nymphs! With Sweet Smile Each Opening Glower Invite, And On Its Damask Eyelids Pour The Light. [In Buds Imprison'D. L. 460. The Buds And Bulbs Of Plants Constitute What Is Termed By Linneus The Hybernaculum, Or Winter Cradle Of The Embryon Vegetable. The Buds Arise From The Bark On The Branches Of Trees, And The Bulbs From The Caudex Of Bulbous-Rooted Plants, Or The Part From Which The Fibres Of The Root Are Produced, They Are Defended From Too Much Moisture, And From Frosts, And From The Depredations Of Insects By Various Contrivances, As By Scales, Hairs, Resinous Varnishes, And By Acrid Rinds. The Buds Of Trees Are Of Two Kinds, Either Flower-Buds Or Leaf Buds; The Former Of These Produce Their Seeds And Die; The Latter Produce Other Leaf Buds Or Flower Buds And Die. So That All The Buds Of Trees May Be Considered As Annual Plants, Having Their Embryon Produced During The Preceeding Summer. The Same Seems To Happen With Respect To Bulbs; Thus A Tulip Produces Annually One Flower-Bearing Bulb, Sometimes Two, And Several Leaf-Bearing Bulbs; And Then The Old Root Perishes. Next Year The Flower-Bearing Bulb Produces Seeds And Other Bulbs And Perishes; While The Leaf-Bearing Bulb, Producing Other Bulbs Only, Perishes Likewise; These Circumstances Establish A Strict Analogy Between Bulbs And Buds. See Additional Notes, No. Xiv.] [Viewless Floods Of Heat. L. 462. The Fluid Matter Of Heat, Or Calorique, In Which All Bodies Are Immersed, Is As Necessary To Vegetable As To Animal Existence. It Is Not Yet Determinable Whether Heat And Light Be Different Materials, Or Modifications Of The Same Materials, As They Have Some Properties In Common. They Appear To Be Both Of Them Equally Necessary To Vegetable Health, Since Without Light Green Vegetables Become First Yellow, That Is, They Lose The Blue Colour, Which Contributed To Produce The Green; And Afterwards They Also Lose The Yellow And Become White; As Is Seen In Cellery Blanched Or Etiolated For The Table By Excluding The Light From It. The Upper Surface Of Leaves, Which I Suppose To Be Their Organ Of Respiration, Seems To Require Light As Well As Air; Since Plants Which Grow In Windows On The Inside Of Houses Are Equally Sollicitous To Turn The Upper Side Of Their Leaves To The Light. Vegetables At The Same Time Exsude Or Perspire A Great Quantity From Their Leaves, As Animals Do From Their Lungs; This Perspirable Matter As It Rises From Their Fine Vessels, (Perhaps Much Finer Than The Pores Of Animal Skins,) Is Divided Into Inconcievable Tenuity; And When Acted Upon By The Sun'S Light Appears To Be Decomposed; The Hydrogene Becomes A Part Of The Vegetable, Composing Oils Or Resins; And The Oxygene Combined With Light Or Calorique Ascends, Producing The Pure Part Of The Atmosphere Or Vital Air. Hence During The Light Of The Day Vegetables Give Up More Pure Air Than Their Respiration Injures; But Not So In The Night, Even Though Equally Exposed To Warmth. This Single Fact Would Seem To Shew, That Light Is Essentially Different From Heat; And It Is Perhaps By Its Combination With Bodies, That Their Combined Or Latent Heat Is Set At Liberty, And Becomes Sensible. See Additional Note, Xxxiv.] [Electric Torrents Pour. L. 463. The Influence Of Electricity In Forwarding The Germination Of Plants And Their Growth Seems To Be Pretty Well Established; Though Mr. Ingenhouz Did Not Succeed In His Experiments, And Thence Doubts The Success Of Those Of Others. And Though M. Rouland From His New Experiments Believes, That Neither Positive Nor Negative Electricity Increases Vegetation; Both Which Philosophers Had Previously Been Supporters Of The Contrary Doctrine; For Many Other Naturalists Have Since Repeated Their Experiments Relative To This Object, And Their New Results Have Confirmed Their Former Ones. Mr. D'Ormoy And The Two Roziers Have Found The Same Success In Numerous Experiments Which They Have Made In The Last Two Years; And Mr. Carmoy Has Shewn In A Convincing Manner That Electricity Accelerates Germination. Mr. D'Ormoy Not Only Found Various Seeds To Vegetate Sooner, And To Grow Taller Which Were Put Upon His Insulated Table And Supplied With Electricity, But Also That Silk-Worms Began To Spin Much Sooner Which Were Kept Electrified Than Those Of The Same Hatch Which Were Kept In The Same Place And Manner, Except That They Were Not Electrified. These Experiments Of M. D'Ormoy Are Detailed At Length In The Journal De Physique Of Rozier, Tom. Xxxv. P. 270. M. Bartholon, Who Had Before Written A Tract On This Subject, And Proposed Ingenious Methods For Applying Electricity To Agriculture And Gardening, Has Also Repeated A Numerous Set Of Experiments; And Shews Both That Natural Electricity, As Well As The Artificial, Increases The Growth Of Plants, And The Germination Of Seeds; And Opposes Mr. Ingenhouz By Very Numerous And Conclusive Facts. Ib. Tom. Xxxv. P. 401. Since By The Late Discoveries Or Opinions Of The Chemists There Is Reason To Believe That Water Is Decomposed In The Vessels Of Vegetables; And That The Hydrogene Or Inflammable Air, Of Which It In Part Consists, Contributes To The Nourishment Of The Plant, And To The Production Of Its Oils, Rosins, Gums, Sugar, &C. And Lastly As Electricity Decomposes Water Into These Two Airs Termed Oxygene And Hydrogene, There Is A Powerful Analogy To Induce Us To Believe That It Accelerates Or Contributes To The Growth Of Vegetation, And Like Heat May Possibly Enter Into Combination With Many Bodies, Or Form The Basis Of Some Yet Unanalised Acid.] "So Shall My Pines, Canadian Wilds That Shade, Where No Bold Step Has Pierc'D The Tangled Glade, 475 High-Towering Palms, That Part The Southern Flood With Shadowy Isles And Continents Of Wood, Oaks, Whose Broad Antlers Crest Britannia'S Plain, Or Bear Her Thunders O'Er The Conquer'D Main, Shout, As You Pass, Inhale The Genial Skies, 480 And Bask And Brighten In Your Beamy Eyes; Bow Their White Heads, Admire The Changing Clime, Shake From Their Candied Trunks The Tinkling Rime; With Bursting Buds Their Wrinkled Barks Adorn, And Wed The Timorous Floret To Her Thorn; 485 Deep Strike Their Roots, Their Lengthening Tops Revive, And All My World Of Foliage Wave, Alive. "Thus With Hermetic Art The Adept Combines The Royal Acid With Cobaltic Mines; Marks With Quick Pen, In Lines Unseen Portrayed, 490 The Blushing Mead, Green Dell, And Dusky Glade; Shades With Pellucid Clouds The Tintless Field, And All The Future Group Exists Conceal'D; Till Waked By Fire The Dawning Tablet Glows, Green Springs The Herb, The Purple Floret Blows, 495 Hills Vales And Woods In Bright Succession Rise, And All The Living Landscape Charms His Eyes. [Thus With Hermetic Art. L. 487. The Sympathetic Inks Made By Zaffre Dissolved In The Marine And Nitrous Acids Have This Curious Property, That Being Brought To The Fire One Of Them Becomes Green, And The Other Red; But What Is More Wonderful, They Again Lose These Colours, (Unless The Heat Has Been Too Great,) On Their Being Again Withdrawn From The Fire. Fire-Screens Have Been Thus Painted, Which In The Cold Have Shewn Only The Trunk And Branches Of A Dead Tree, And Sandy Hills, Which On Their Approach To The Fire Have Put Forth Green Leaves And Red Flowers, And Grass Upon The Mountains. The Process Of Making These Inks Is Very Easy, Take Zaffre, As Sold By The Druggists, And Digest It In Aqua Regia, And The Calx Of Cobalt Will Be Dissolved; Which Solution Must Be Diluted With A Little Common Water To Prevent It From Making Too Strong An Impression On The Paper; The Colour When The Paper Is Heated Becomes Of A Fine Green-Blue. If Zaffre Or Regulus Of Cobalt Be Dissolved In The Same Manner In Spirit Of Nitre, Or Aqua Fortis, A Reddish Colour Is Produced On Exposing The Paper To Heat. Chemical Dictionary By Mr. Keir, Art. Ink Sympathetic.] Xi. "With Crest Of Gold Should Sultry Sirius Glare, And With His Kindling Tresses Scorch The Air; With Points Of Flame The Shafts Of Summer Arm, 500 And Burn The Beauties He Designs To Warm;-- --So Erst When Jove His Oath Extorted Mourn'D, And Clad In Glory To The Fair Return'D; While Loves At Forky Bolts Their Torches Light, And Resting Lightnings Gild The Car Of Night; 505 His Blazing Form The Dazzled Maid Admir'D, Met With Fond Lips, And In His Arms Expir'D;-- Nymphs! On Light Pinion Lead Your Banner'D Hosts High O'Er The Cliffs Of Orkney'S Gulphy Coasts; Leave On Your Left The Red Volcanic Light, 510 Which Heccla Lifts Amid The Dusky Night; Mark On The Right The Dofrine'S Snow-Capt Brow, Where Whirling Maelstrome Roars And Foams Below; Watch With Unmoving Eye, Where Cepheus Bends His Triple Crown, His Scepter'D Hand Extends; 515 Where Studs Cassiope With Stars Unknown Her Golden Chair, And Gems Her Sapphire Zone; Where With Vast Convolution Draco Holds The Ecliptic Axis In His Scaly Folds, O'Er Half The Skies His Neck Enormous Rears, 520 And With Immense Meanders Parts The Bears; Onward, The Kindred Bears With Footstep Rude Dance Round The Pole, Pursuing And Pursued. [With Stars Unknown. L. 515. Alluding To The Star Which Appeared In The Chair Of Cassiopea In The Year 1572, Which At First Surpassed Jupiter In Magnitude And Brightness, Diminished By Degrees And Disappeared In 18 Months; It Alarmed All The Astronomers Of The Age, And Was Esteemed A Comet By Some.--Could This Have Been The Georgium Sidus?] "There In Her Azure Coif And Starry Stole, Grey Twilight Sits, And Rules The Slumbering Pole; 525 Bends The Pale Moon-Beams Round The Sparkling Coast, And Strews With Livid Hands Eternal Frost. There, Nymphs! Alight, Array Your Dazzling Powers, With Sudden March Alarm The Torpid Hours; On Ice-Built Isles Expand A Thousand Sails, 530 Hinge The Strong Helms, And Catch The Frozen Gales; The Winged Rocks To Feverish Climates Guide, Where Fainting Zephyrs Pant Upon The Tide; Pass, Where To Ceuta Calpe'S Thunder Roars, And Answering Echoes Shake The Kindred Shores; 535 Pass, Where With Palmy Plumes Canary Smiles, And In Her Silver Girdle Binds Her Isles; Onward, Where Niger'S Dusky Naiad Laves A Thousand Kingdoms With Prolific Waves, Or Leads O'Er Golden Sands Her Threefold Train 540 In Steamy Channels To The Fervid Main, While Swarthy Nations Croud The Sultry Coast, Drink The Fresh Breeze, And Hail The Floating Frost, Nymphs! Veil'D In Mist, The Melting Treasures Steer, And Cool With Arctic Snows The Tropic Year. 545 So From The Burning Line By Monsoons Driven Clouds Sail In Squadrons O'Er The Darken'D Heaven; Wide Wastes Of Sand The Gelid Gales Pervade, And Ocean Cools Beneath The Moving Shade. [On Ice-Built Isles. L. 529. There Are Many Reasons To Believe From The Accounts Of Travellers And Navigators, That The Islands Of Ice In The Higher Northern Latitudes As Well As The Glaciers On The Alps Continue Perpetually To Increase In Bulk. At Certain Times In The Ice- Mountains Of Switzerland There Happen Cracks Which Have Shewn The Great Thickness Of The Ice, As Some Of These Cracks Have Measured Three Or Four Hundred Ells Deep. The Great Islands Of Ice In The Northern Seas Near Hudson'S Bay Have Been Observed To Have Been Immersed Above One Hundred Fathoms Beneath The Surface Of The Sea, And To Have Risen A Fifth Or Sixth Part Above The Surface, And To Have Measured Between Three And Four Miles In Circumference. Phil. Trans. No. 465. Sect. 2. Dr. Lister Endeavoured To Shew That The Ice Of Sea-Water Contains Some Salt And Perhaps Less Air Than Common Ice, And That It Is Therefore Much More Difficult Of Solution; Whence He Accounts For The Perpetual And Great Increase Of These Floating Islands Of Ice. Philos. Trans. No. 169. As By A Famous Experiment Of Mr. Boyles It Appears That Ice Evaporates Very Fast In Severe Frosty Weather When The Wind Blows Upon It; And As Ice In A Thawing State Is Known To Contain Six Times More Cold Than Water At The Same Degree Of Sensible Coldness, It Is Easy To Understand That Winds Blowing Over Islands And Continents Of Ice Perhaps Much Below Nothing On Farenheit'S Scale, And Coming From Thence Into Our Latitude Must Bring Great Degrees Of Cold Along With Them. If We Add To This The Quantity Of Cold Produced By The Evaporation Of The Water As Well As By The Solution Of The Ice, We Cannot Doubt But That The Northern Ice Is The Principle Source Of The Coldness Of Our Winters, And That It Is Brought Hither By The Regions Of Air Blowing From The North, And Which Take An Apparent Easterly Direction By Their Coming To A Part Of The Surface Of The Earth Which Moves Faster Than The Latitude They Come From. Hence The Increase Of The Ice In The Polar Regions By Increasing The Cold Of Our Climate Adds At The Same Time To The Bulk Of The Glaciers Of Italy And Switzerland. If The Nations Who Inhabit This Hemisphere Of The Globe, Instead Of Destroying Their Sea-Men And Exhausting Their Wealth In Unnecessary Wars, Could Be Induced To Unite Their Labours To Navigate These Immense Masses Of Ice Into The More Southern Oceans, Two Great Advantages Would Result To Mankind, The Tropic Countries Would Be Much Cooled By Their Solution, And Our Winters In This Latitude Would Be Rendered Much Milder For Perhaps A Century Or Two, Till The Masses Of Ice Became Again Enormous. Mr. Bradley Describes The Cold Winds And Wet Weather Which Sometimes Happen In May And June To The Solution Of Ice-Islands Accidentally Floating From The North. Treatise On Husbandry And Gardening, Vol. Ii. P. 437. And Adds, That Mr. Barham About The Year 1718, In His Voyage From Jamaica To England In The Beginning Of June, Met With Ice-Islands Coming From The North, Which Were Surrounded With So Great A Fog That The Ship Was In Danger Of Striking Upon Them, And That One Of Them Measured Fifty Miles In Length. We Have Lately Experienced An Instance Of Ice-Islands Brought From The Southern Polar Regions, On Which The Guardian Struck At The Beginning Of Her Passage From The Cape Of Good Hope Towards Botany Bay, On December 22, 1789. These Islands Were Involved In Mist, Were About One Hundred And Fifty Fathoms Long, And About Fifty Fathoms Above The Surface Of The Water. A Part From The Top Of One Of Them Broke Off And Fell Into The Sea, Causing An Extraordinary Commotion In The Water And A Thick Smoke All Round It.] [Threefold Train. L. 539. The River Niger After Traversing An Immense Tract Of Populous Country Is Supposed To Divide Itself Into Three Other Great Rivers. The Rio Grande, The Gambia, And The Senegal. Gold-Dust Is Obtained From The Sands Of These Rivers.] [Wide Wastes Of Sand. L. 547. When The Sun Is In The Southern Tropic 36 Deg. Distant From The Zenith, The Thermometer Is Seldom Lower Than 72 Deg. At Gondar In Abyssinia, But It Falls To 60 Or 53 Deg. When The Sun Is Immediately Vertical; So Much Does The Approach Of Rain Counteract The Heat Of The Sun. Bruce'S Travels, Vol. 3. P. 670.] Xii. Should Solstice, Stalking Through The Sickening Bowers, 550 Suck The Warm Dew-Drops, Lap The Falling Showers; Kneel With Parch'D Lip, And Bending From It'S Brink From Dripping Palm The Scanty River Drink; Nymphs! O'Er The Soil Ten Thousand Points Erect, And High In Air The Electric Flame Collect. 555 Soon Shall Dark Mists With Self-Attraction Shroud The Blazing Day, And Sail In Wilds Of Cloud; Each Silvery Flower The Streams Aerial Quaff, Bow Her Sweet Head, And Infant Harvest Laugh. [Ten Thousand Points Erect. L. 553. The Solution Of Water In Air Or In Calorique, Seems To Acquire Electric Matter At The Same Time, As Appears From An Experiment Of Mr. Bennet. He Put Some Live Coals Into An Insulated Funnel Of Metal, And Throwing On Them A Little Water Observed That The Ascending Steam Was Electrised Plus, And The Water Which Descended Through The Funnel Was Electrised Minus. Hence It Appears That Though Clouds By Their Change Of Form May Sometimes Become Electrised Minus Yet They Have In General An Accumulation Of Electricity. This Accumulation Of Electric Matter Also Evidently Contributes To Support The Atmospheric Vapour When It Is Condensed Into The Form Of Clouds, Because It Is Seen To Descend Rapidly After The Flashes Of Lightning Have Diminished Its Quantity; Whence There Is Reason To Conclude That Very Numerous Metallic Rods With Fine Points Erected High In The Air Might Induce It At Any Time To Part With Some Of Its Water. If We May Trust The Theory Of Mr. Lavoisier Concerning The Composition And Decomposition Of Water, There Would Seem Another Source Of Thunder- Showers; And That Is, That The Two Gasses Termed Oxygene Gas Or Vital Air, And Hydrogene Gas Or Inflammable Air, May Exist In The Summer Atmosphere In A State Of Mixture But Not Of Combination, And That The Electric Spark Or Flash Of Lightning May Combine Them And Produce Water Instantaneously.] "Thus When Elija Mark'D From Carmel'S Brow 560 In Bright Expanse The Briny Flood Below; Roll'D His Red Eyes Amid The Scorching Air, Smote His Firm Breast, And Breathed His Ardent Prayer; High In The Midst A Massy Altar Stood, And Slaughter'D Offerings Press'D The Piles Of Wood; 565 While Israel'S Chiefs The Sacred Hill Surround, And Famish'D Armies Crowd The Dusty Ground; While Proud Idolatry Was Leagued With Dearth, And Wither'D Famine Swept The Desert Earth.-- "Oh, Mighty Lord! Thy Woe-Worn Servant Hear, 570 "Who Calls Thy Name In Agony Of Prayer; "Thy Fanes Dishonour'D, And Thy Prophets Slain, "Lo! I Alone Survive Of All Thy Train!-- "Oh Send From Heaven Thy Sacred Fire,--And Pour "O'Er The Parch'D Land The Salutary Shower,-- 575 "So Shall Thy Priest Thy Erring Flock Recal,-- "And Speak In Thunder, "Thou Art Lord Of All."-- He Cried, And Kneeling On The Mountain-Sands, Stretch'D High In Air His Supplicating Hands. --Descending Flames The Dusky Shrine Illume; 580 Fire The Wet Wood, The Sacred Bull Consume; Wing'D From The Sea The Gathering Mists Arise, And Floating Waters Darken All The Skies; The King With Shifted Reins His Chariot Bends, And Wide O'Er Earth The Airy Flood Descends; 585 With Mingling Cries Dispersing Hosts Applaud, And Shouting Nations Own The Living God." The Goddess Ceased,--The Exulting Tribes Obey, Start From The Soil, And Win Their Airy Way; The Vaulted Skies With Streams Of Transient Rays 590 Shine, As They Pass, And Earth And Ocean Blaze. So From Fierce Wars When Lawless Monarch'S Cease, Or Liberty Returns With Laurel'D Peace; Bright Fly The Sparks, The Colour'D Lustres Burn, Flash Follows F 595 Blue Serpents Sweep Along The Dusky Air, Imp'D By Long Trains Of Scintillating Hair; Red Rockets Rise, Loud Cracks Are Heard On High, And Showers Of Stars Rush Headlong From The Sky, Burst, As In Silver Lines They Hiss Along, 600 And The Quick Flash Unfolds The Gazing Throng.