ON THE PROMOTION OF SCIENCE. 



load is not the only animal which has been found 

 in similar instances, appears from a notice in 

 the Monthly Magazine for April 1817, which 

 states, that &quot; a large lizard or serpent was found 

 by some miners, imbedded in a stratum of mi 

 neral substance, and lived for some time after it 

 was extricated.&quot; As the mineral substance in 

 which this animal was found was at the bottom 

 of a deep mine, and connected with the surround 

 ing strata, we are almost under the necessity of 

 concluding, that it must have existed in that state 

 for many years. Now, it is proper to take into 

 consideration, that such facts have been disco 

 vered, in the first instance, by labourers, quar- 

 riers, miners, and others engaged in laborious 

 occupations, who, with the limited knowledge 

 they presently possess, are unqualified for at 

 tending to all the circumstances which require 

 to be noticed in conducting philosophical re 

 searches. Were persons of this description 

 accustomed to examine every uncommon occur 

 rence of this kind with a philosophic eye ; were 

 they, in such cases as those to which I have 

 now referred, to examine, with accuracy, whe 

 ther chinks or fissures, either horizontal or per 

 pendicular, existed in the rocks, or were con 

 nected with the. holes or vacuities of the old 

 trees, where Dads were found alive ; and were 

 every other circumstance, which a scientific in 

 vestigator would take into account, accurately 

 observed and recorded, such observations might 

 ultimately lead to some rational explanations of 

 such unaccountable facts. At any rate, as 

 those who belong to that class of society to 

 which I allude, have many opport unties of con 

 templating the various objects and operations of 

 the material world, their accumulated observa 

 tions, when scientifically directed, could not fail 

 of enlarging our knowledge of facts in several 

 departments of the history of nature. 



Meteorology. {n this department of physical 

 science, numerous facts still remain to be ascer 

 tained, before we can attempt to explain the 

 causes of various interesting phenomena. We 

 have hitherto been unable to collect with preci 

 sion all the facts in relation to the diversified 

 phenomena of the atmosphere, and are still at 

 a loss to explain, on known principle*, the causes 

 -.vhich operate in producing many atmospherical 

 appearances. We are still in a great measure 

 ignorant of the aurora boreilix, with respect to 

 its nature and origin, its distance from the sur 

 face of the earth, what precise connexion it has 

 with the magnetic and electric fluids, and why 

 it has been frequently seen at some periods, and 

 been invisible at others. We are in a similar 

 state of ignorance in regard to luminous and 

 fiery meteors, as to their different species and 

 varieties, the velocity and direction of their mo 

 tions, the.ir influence on other atmospherical phe 

 nomena, on vegetation, and on the weather, and 

 the principles in nature which operate in their 



production. Although the general cause of 

 thundfr-storms is in some measure ascertained, 

 yet we are ignorant of the causes of a variety of 

 phenomena with which they are sometimes ac&amp;gt; 

 companied, and of some of the chymical agents 

 by which they are produced. To determine the 

 origin of meteoric stones, the particular regions 

 in which they are produced, the causes of their 

 extreme velocity, the oblique direction of their 

 motion, and the agents which concur in their 

 formation, has hitherto baffled the researches of 

 the whole philosophical world. Even the nature 

 of the clouds, their various modifications, their 

 different electric states, the causes which com 

 bine to produce their precipitation into rain, the 

 nature of evaporation, together with an immense 

 number of facts requisite for laying the founda 

 tion of a correct theory of the weather, are still 

 hid in obscurity. 



It is obvious, that a thorough knowledge of 

 atmospherical phenomena cannot be acquired, 

 before we have ascertained not only the parti 

 cular facts and appearances connected with the 

 atmosphere, but all the preceding, concomitant, 

 and consequent circumstances with which they 

 are generally accompanied ; and to determine 

 such particulars requires an immense variety of 

 observations, both by day and by night, through 

 all the regions of the earth. Before such facts 

 be more fully ascertained, our attempts to ac 

 count for various atmospherical phenomena must 

 prove unsatisfactory and abortive. Hence, the 

 causes assigned by philosophers of the last cen 

 tury for the production of rain, hail, dew, fire 

 balls, and other meteors, are now considered nu 

 gatory and erroneous ; and few will be bold 

 enough to maintain that we have yet arrived at 

 the knowledge of the true causes. If these 

 sentiments be admitted, it will follow, that an in 

 creased number of observers of the scenery of 

 the atmosphere, in different climates, with a sci 

 entific object in view, could not fail of increasing 

 our knowledge both of the phenomena which 

 take place in the regions of the atmosphere, and 

 of tae powers of nature which operate in their 

 production 



With respect to the aurorae boreales, some 

 data might be ascertained for determining their 

 height above the surface of the earth, which 

 might lead to a discovery of their true causa, 

 were a multitude of observers, in different places, 

 at the same moment, to take the altitude and 

 bearing of any particular coruscation, particu 

 larly of the modification of this phenomenon 

 which assumes the form of a rainbow or lumi 

 nous arch, which can instantly be done by noting 

 the series of stars which appear about the mid 

 dle or sides of the arc at any particular instant. 

 By this means the parallactic angle might be 

 found, and the distances of the places of obser 

 vation, or their difference of latitude, if direct y 

 north and south of each other, would form bast 



