CRITICAL NOTICES OP NBW PUBLICATIONS. 333 



necessities^ which essentially distinguishes the present age from any- 

 antecedent period in the history of nations; and where there is no 

 ascertainable limitation to these powers, that safety may be perpe- 

 tual. The ])romulgation, therefore, of scientific knowledge, by 

 whatever means, is to be advised and encouraged ; thus, " popular 

 elementary works" are highly beneficial, inasmuch as a more gene- 

 ral attention to science is created, when more abstruse productions 

 would be rejected in despair. Among the numerous elementary 

 treatises of the present year, Mr. Higgins's elegant little volume, 

 though last, is not least in merit. The i^uthor does not profess to 

 astonish by the novelty of the matter ; but it is something to attract 

 the attention, as much by the value of the material as, also, by the 

 perspicuous and pleasing mode of communication. The work in- 

 cludes an examination into the principal phenomena of the earth, 

 with their various experimental inductions. The pictorial illustra- 

 tions are neatly executed, especially the sketches in the classification 

 of clouds ; as the Cirrus, Cumulus, Stratus, Cirro-Cumulus, Cirro- 

 Stratus, Cumulo- Stratus, and Nimbus: the commonest observer 

 will acknowledge the correct delineation of these clouds. If there 

 be any fault in Mr. Higgins's work, it is in the poetical exactions : 

 science is a very plain unsophisticated person, who seeks no decora- 

 tion from the Muses. That there is '^ poetry in nature to stir the 

 soul to extacy" may be very true, but it should be left to the " ca- 

 sual observer,'' and not to the '^ minister and interpreter, of nature." 

 Physics, or the doctrine of practical utilities, require merely perspi- 

 cuity of style ; nor can the ornaments of rhetoric lend any impor- 

 tance in the enunciation of facts. Mr. Higgins seems to be a 

 " poetic philosopher ;" and though we would not imply any de- 

 rogation of his knowledge, we affirm it, as a truism, that philosophy 

 and poetry repel each other. We exceedingly regret our want of 

 room disables us from exhibiting many specimens from this inter- 

 esting volume ; but we cannot refrain from extracting the following 

 account of that singular electric phenomenon, called St. Elmo's 

 Light, which is pleasingly described : — 



" St. Elmo's light is a luminous meteor, that firequently settles upon the 

 mast-head of vessels, and is probably of electric origin, though it is never 

 known to produce any of those disastrous effects which so often attend light- 

 ning. Sometimes it is confined to the mast-head, while at other times it 

 fradually descends the mast to the deck itself. It was formerly supposed, 

 y mariners, to be a visible representation of a spirit they call St. Elmo, who 

 is the tutelar deity of those who traverse the mighty deep, and has a prophe- 

 tic power. When it is confined to the topmast, it is a proof, in their opinion, 

 that although bad weather may be present, yet it will not continue, and can- 

 not injure the vessel. But when it descends the mast, it prognosticates a 

 gale oi" wind, or a disaster, which will be more or less violent in proportion to 

 the depth of its descent. Falconer has described this phenomenon in his 

 Shipwreck : — 



' High on the mast, with pale and livid rays. 

 Amid the gloom porteutous meteors blaze.' 



This appearance may be readily explained upon the known aptitude of a 

 pointed conductor in transferring electricity from a highly electrical atmos- 



