374 A SJwwer of Mud. 



pentine. This varnish is applied slightly, and in an equal 

 manner, by means of a sponge ; after which the article is 

 suffered to dry iu a place sheltered from dust. Articles var- 

 nished in this manner, it is said, will retain their metallic 

 brilliancy, and never contract any spots of rust. This var- 

 nish may be applied also to copper, of which it preserves the 

 polish, and brightens the colour. It may be employed iii 

 particular, with advantage, lor preserving from alteration 

 philosophical instruments, which, in the course of experi- 

 ments, are brought into contact with water, and by those 

 means are liable to lose their splendour, and to become tar- 

 nisiied. 



A SHOWKR OF MUD. 



The Journal de Phy.<;iquc for Germinal contains a letter 

 from De Fortis to the editor, in which he gives an account 

 of a shower of mud which fell in the evening of the 27 th 

 of March near Udina. " The wind (says the author) had 

 blown with violence from the east for three days. The 

 extent of country which was abundantly besprinkled by this 

 strange rain was twelve miles in diameter from the borders 

 of the sea to the bottom of the Alps of Carnia. I do not 

 know whether the partisans of the opinion which makes 

 Java come to us from the nioon, can derive any arguments 

 in their favour from the mud which has covered the plains 

 of Friouli; but, for my part, I first imagined that the wind, 

 being charged iir Sicilv or near Naples with clouds of vol- 

 canic dust, had deposited them at the bottom of the Carnlan 

 mountains, which prevented the clouds from going further. 

 But having then observed, throuoh a very powerful magw 

 nifying glass, a specimen of the sediment in question which 

 a friend sent me from Udina, I convinced myself that it 

 had not the least resemblance to that detritus \\ hich is raised 

 by volcanoes to the superior regions of the atm.osphere. It 

 appears to me more natural to suppose that a storm, or per- 

 haps water-spouts at sea, having sucked up some of the 

 muddy water which the rivers by their inundation leave on 

 the plains, raised them to the upper regions, where they 

 VvCre carried away by the winds. It is ni consequence of 

 similar circumstances, very natural and common, that 

 worms, tadpoles, and small fishes have often been seen to 

 fall from the clouds with rain, without any person conceive 

 ing the idei of making theni come from an aerial race pf 

 from anotiier globe," 



INDEX 



