[ 486 ] 



neither can it be fuppofed that the denfity of thefe foreign par- 

 ticles was ever the fame. 



^°. The uncommon cold produced by this haze originated, 

 partly from the obftrudlion it prefented to the paflage of the folar 

 rays, and partly from the defcent of its particles exceedingly cool- 

 ed in the lofty regions of the atmofphere into which they at firft 

 afccnded ; this effed, however, muft have varied with their num- 

 ber, denfity, and the duration of their precipitation. 



6". The thunder, fiery meteors and the fudden and violent 

 rains, which accompanied the defcent of this haze, may well ber 

 attributed to the high eletflricai ftate of its particles which were 

 infulated in the more elevated regions, but was often communi- 

 cated in the lower and moifter ftrata; on this occafion the bitu- 

 minous and fulphureous particles muft have a£led a principal 

 part. 



A SIMILAR haze was obferved in Perfia in the year 1721, after 

 the great earthquake in Georgia which deftroyed the city of Tau- 

 lis. 5 Richard's Hift: des meteors, p. 164. The darknefs which 

 obfcured the fun after the death of Caefar may probably be affign- 

 cd to a fimilar caufe, for Julius Obfequens * de Prodigiis, tell us 

 there were earthquakes about that time. 



The 



• He lived in the reign of the emperor Honorius, and colleded the prodigies 

 mentioned by Livy, &c. 



I 



