Dr W. Scoresby on Prismatic Colours in Dew Drops. 51 



the appearance of the highly illuminated minute globules of 

 moisture was that of various strings of brilliantly coloured 

 gems, disposed in radiating lines. Strings, as of the topaz, 

 diamond, aquamarine, sapphire, emerald, and amethyst — 

 were dispersed in splendid association over the surface, — 

 whilst each series was, as if magically, altered into some 

 other, by the slightest lateral movement of the eye of the 

 observer. 



In one case, where there was a small and irregular web 

 cast over a portion of the gravel of the carriage drive before 

 the house, the colours, which were rich in their clearness, 

 were intermingled in splendid irregularity, as of a number 

 of seed beads, formed of various precious gems, spread con- 

 fusedly out upon an illuminated white ground. 



In another case, and one, indeed, which was by no means 

 of uncommon occurrence, the web of gossamer happened to 

 be of a form and magnitude of surface, with an appropriate 

 profusion of aqueous globules, which, when viewed in its 

 proper position, and with a high degree of illumination, 

 could not fail to remind one, when contemplating the sin- 

 gular beauty, of some of the most splendid clusters of stars 

 as viewed by the gigantic telescope of the Earl of Rosse ! 

 In an instance observed at Gateshaw so recently as Sep- 

 tember 25th, when various little patches of dew-covered 

 gossamer were scattered about the grass of the lawn, and 

 illuminated by a brilliant morning sun, — one of these nebu- 

 lous looking surfaces was examined of singular analogy, 

 comparing small things with great, with the telescopic ap- 

 pearance of the magnilicent nebula or star-cluster in the 

 constellation of Hercules. Viewed when in the angle shew- 

 ing a highly illuminated surface of colourless light, it pre- 

 sented an aggregation as of ten thousand resplendent 

 diamond-like points, and, as it so happened, with here and 

 there a larger dew-drop, on the proximate grass, appearing 

 almost in the glory of a star of the first magnitude ! As in 

 the other cases, a slight alteration in the position of the eye, 

 changed the previous white light of the dewy gossamer into 

 a succession of the richest qualities of reddish orange, orange, 

 gold yellow, straw yellow, diamond-like white, green, purple 



d2 



