RECREATIVE SCIENCE. 



127 



In all big arts, defeated and repuld, 

 An. I K.li-u r.uoJ lu the waste wilduroou." 



Another jfr-nt work of tho same period is tbo drama of " Sam- 



son A . i 'l'-l u|>.,n i: uunical model 



' iroek tragedies. It is not only very noble And elevated 



; uuil c'iiara.-t.-r, hut contains scenes and passages of very 



; -net this work bos an especial and 



:e*t and attraction for every reader. In the charac- 



all about bis complaint, and we hear no more of the affliction 

 yes that caused him so much torment ; indeed, he sob. 

 Hi-'ju'iitly came to England, where he produced works at the 

 Boyal Mint which have placed his name in the front rank of 

 engravers of jewels, aud designers and executants of dial for 

 medals and coins. 



To return to the healthy affection of the optic nerve, called 

 "persistence of vision," no one can fail to remember that at 



tho groat Hebrew champion in the hour of his fall, his : B no time or other they have seen darting suddenly through 

 1 ins b'in-lnoss, and in the touching lamentations the sky that which appears to be a splendid star with a train 



which he utters, it is impossible to doubt that we are reading of fire behind, and then it wholly fades from the vision. 



to somo extent the expression of Milton's own sorrow and A meteor, or " shooting star," may be defined to be some kind 

 .as of heart, under trials not wholly dissimilar to those of light, combustible matter, which moves with great velocity in 

 hero. the upper regions of the air, and is changed to the vaporous 



still remains a class of Milton's poems, tho consideration or rather dust-like condition before it can reach the Earth, and 



of which we have postponed until now, for they belong to no one ' whilst thus changing its physical condition emits an intense 



period of tho poet's life, but are scattered over very many years. 

 Tbo sonnet is a form of composition which bad already been 

 cultivate.! with much success in England, as well as in Italy, 

 und notably by Shakespeare and Spenser. But tbo sonnets ol 

 Milton differ from those of all his predecessors in the peculiar 

 concentration of thought and elevation of feeling which they 

 express, as well as in tbo solemn aud organ-like music of their 

 language and versification. We can find space for but one 

 example, Milton's nineteenth sonnet, on his blindness : 



" When I consider how my light is spent, 

 Ere half my days, in this dark world and wide 

 And that one talent, which 'tis death to hide, 

 Lodged with me useless, though my soul more bent 

 To ser/o therewith iny Maker, and present 

 My true account, lest he returning chide. 

 Doth God exact day-labour, light denied '. 

 I family ask ; but patience, to prevent 

 That murmur, soon replies, God doth not need 

 Either man's work, or his own gifts ; who best 

 Bear his mild yoke, they serve him best. His state 

 Is kingly ; thousands at his bidding speed 

 And post o'er land and ocean without rest ; 

 They also serve who only stand and wait." 



Milton died at his home in London in tbe year 1674. 



RECREATIVE SCIENCE. XVII. 



" THE SHOOTING STAR " AN ILLUSTRATION OF PERSISTENCE 

 OP VISION IMITATION OP THIS NATURAL EFFECT BY 

 PILKINOTON'S TOY AND THE ASTROMETROSCOPE. 



IN the last chapter it was shown that the eye might be affected 

 in peculiar ways either in disease or health, and whilst showing 

 the value of surgical aid in the former case, it is quite as well 

 to remember that if an unusual effect on the vision is produced 

 by a known cause, such as too great a straining of the eye and 

 mind by over-study or special art work, such as engraving steel 

 plates or gems, the remedy is obvious viz., repose and rest 

 for the eye, and change of thought for the mind. 



Tbe famous Benedetto Pistrucchi, who was one of the most 

 celebrated engravers of gems and jewels, says, in a most inte- 

 resting autobiography translated by Dr. Billing : " At the age 

 of twenty-four, my great application to such minute objects as 

 tbe finer parts of tho cameos, and having just worked upon a 

 stone which hod a stratum of a fiery-red colour, produced a 

 weakness of the eyes so great, that whenever I worked for half 

 an hour my sight failed, and whichever way I looked there 

 appeared two clouds of smoke, which disappeared when I fixed 

 my eyes on on object steadily, but returned the moment I 

 moved the pupils. Being tormented in this manner, I applied 

 to the principal surgeons and physicians of Rome, who dosed me 

 with riper broth, applied blisters, bled me, and in fine martyrised 

 me, all to no purpose. I became so melancholy that my rela- 

 tives, fearing I might commit suicide, never permitted me to be 

 alone, and did all in their power to entertain me. It happened 

 that a certain apothecary, of tho name of Eicci, supplied mo 

 with somo medicines, who, coming to tho house, and seeing me 

 so depressed by my malady, invited me to accompany him on a 

 visit to bis native place, where, he said, the air was so pure as to 

 * seem to have almost the power to restore lift.' " 



Pistrucchi starts on this journey, and having encountered 

 many adventures both pleasing and dangerous, seems to forget 



light. 



Such meteors sometimes fall towards the Earth in showers, 

 emitting a remarkable amount of light ; and when the Earth 

 passes through tbe orbit of these little bodies in tbe precise 

 part of it where they are collected, then tbe beautiful " star 

 shower " becomes apparent. 



The November meteors require a period of about 33 J years to 

 perform their orbit or path around the Sun, and it is found that 

 the Earth breaks through tbe group once in thirty-three years, 

 and always in the month of November. A shower of this kind 

 was seen in November, 1799, again in November, 1831, and 

 also in November, 1832, when it is related that multitudes of 

 " shooting stars " fell in the western part of Asia and southern 

 part of Europe. But, Bouvier says, the most magnificent 

 shower of meteors which has ever been known was that which fell 

 during the night of November 12, 1833. This shower com- 

 menced at nine o'clock in the evening, and continued till tho 

 morning sun concealed them from view. It extended from 

 Canada to the northern boundary of South America, and over a 

 tract of nearly three thousand miles in width, its western limit 

 extending to longitude 100 west from Greenwich. 



The area covered by these groups must be very great, con- 

 sidering that tbe Earth moves at tbe rate of 1,000 miles per 

 hour, and met this body of meteors moving at tbe same rate, 

 which velocity increased to 1,200 miles per minute by the 

 Earth's attraction ; and yet it took many hours from nine in 

 the evening until the brilliancy of the Sun's light overpowered 

 that of the meteors before the Earth bad travelled through 

 this immense assemblage of meteoric particles, like tbe sand of 

 the sea-shore in number. 



Stars have shone with "-trains of fire " in an immense shower 

 within the memory of the youngest of tbe present generation, 

 viz., on the 13th and 14th of November, 1866, and have again 

 completed the cycle of 33 years from tbe last recorded, November 

 12, 1833. It is supposed that these meteoric particles do not 

 exceed two grains in weight ; they commence burning at a 

 height of seventy-four miles above our Earth, and ore all dissi- 

 pated into vapour by the time they have travelled twenty miles 

 through the upper and more rarefied parts of the air, and 

 passed within a distance of fifty-four miles of the Earth. 



All motion when arrested generates heat. It is the resistance 

 of our atmosphere the friction of these particles (moving at the 

 rate of upwards of 1,000 miles per minute) against the material 

 substance of tho air surrounding the globe that generates tho 

 ieat which ultimately converts them to a vaporous condition. 



An observer at Cowes, Isle of Wight, thus tersely describes 

 ;he appearance of tho great shower of swift, silent, luminous 

 ' shooting stars," with their trails of light, that fell in Novem- 

 >er, 1866, and surpassed anything that tbe present generation 

 las witnessed : 



" Tbe predicted display of shooting stars was observed hero 



Cowes) on a magnificent scale during tbe early hours of this 



morning, and, as the sky may have possibly been in few places 



so clear as here, the notes I mode may perhaps be interesting to 



some of your numerous readers. 



" During tbe half -hour preceding midnight about 66 were 

 observed. 



' From midnight to 12.30 about 200 were observed. 



'From 12.30 12.50 201 



'From 12.50 12.58 190 



'From 12.58 1.2 201 in 4 mina. 



'From 1.2 1.5 206 in 3 . 



