450 Mr. Brackxwatt’s Observations to ascertain 
sition to facts, will be rendered evident by the following obser- 
vations and experiments, from which a satisfactory solution of 
the difficulty, it is hoped, will be obtained. 
That gossamer, which usually abounds most in the months of 
September and October, is perceived to ascend into the atmo- 
sphere only in serene bright weather, is, I believe, generally 
allowed: it is also admitted, that gossamer in the air is invari- 
ably preceded by gossamer on the ground. "These, as will appear 
in the sequel, are circumstances of much importance in the pre- 
sent investigation; every method of accounting for the ascent 
of the webs and spiders, however plausible, which does not im- 
ply their concurrence, being necessarily erroneous. 
But to proceed to my own researches :—A little before noon 
on the 1st of October 1826, which was a remarkably calm sunny 
day, the thermometer in the shade ranging from 55°:5 to 64°, I 
observed that the fields and hedges in the neighbourhood of 
Manchester were covered over, by the united labours of an im- 
mense multitude of spiders, with a profusion of fine shining lines, 
intersecting one another at every angle, and forming a confused 
kind of net-work. So extremely numerous were these slender 
filaments, that in walking across a small pasture my feet and 
ankles were thickly coated with them : it was evident, however, 
notwithstanding their great abundance, that they must have been 
produced in a very short space of time, as early in the mornin g 
they were not sufficiently conspicuous to attract my notice ; and 
on the 30th of September they could not have existed at all; for 
on referring to my meteorological journal, I find that a strong 
gale from the south prevailed during the greater part of that 
day. 
À circumstance so extraordinary could not fail to excite 
curiosity; but what more particularly arrested my attention 
was the ascent of an amazing quantity of webs of an irregular 
complicated 
