312 HISTORY OF 



CHAPTER XXI. 



OF METEORS, AND SUCH APPEARANCES AS RESULT 

 FROM A COMBINATION OF THE ELEMENTS. 



IN proportion as the substances of nature are more 

 compounded and combined, their appearances be- 

 come more inexplicable and amazing. The proper- 

 ties of water have been very nearly ascertained. 

 Many of the qualities of air, earth, and fire, have 

 been discovered and estimated ; but when these 

 come to be united by nature, they often produce 

 a result which no artificial combinations can imi- 

 tate ; and we stand surprised, that although we 

 are possessed of all those substances which nature 

 makes use of, she shows herself a much more va- 

 rious operator than the most skilful chemist ever 

 appeared to be. Every cloud that moves, and 

 every shower that falls, serves to mortify the phi- 

 losopher's pride, and to show him hidden qualities 

 in air and water, that he finds it difficult to ex- 

 plain. Dews, hail, snow, and thunder, are not 

 less difficult for being more common. Indeed, 

 when we reflect on the manner in which nature 

 performs any one of these operations, our wonder 

 increases. To see water, which is heavier than 

 air, rising in air, and then falling in a form so very 

 different from that in which it rose ; to see the 

 same fluid at one time descending in the form of 

 hail, at another in that of snow ; to see two 

 clouds, by dashing against each other, producing 



