SPECTRE OF THE BROCKEN. 127 



LETTER VI. 



Natural phenomena marked with the marvellous Spectre 

 of the Brocken described Analogous phenomena 

 Aerial spectres seen in Cumberland Fata Morgana in 

 the Straits of Messina Objects below the horizon raised 

 and magnified by refraction Singular example seen at 

 Hastings Dover Castle seen through the hill on which it 

 stands Erect and inverted images of distant ships seen 

 in the air Similar phenomena seen in the Arctic regions 

 Enchanted coast Mr. Scoresby recognizes his father's 

 ship by its aerial image Images of cows seen in the air 

 Inverted image of horses seen in South America 

 Lateral images produced by refraction Aerial spectres 

 by reflexion Explanation of the preceding phenomena. 



AMONG the wonders of the natural world which 

 are every day presented to us, without either ex 

 citing our surprise or attracting our notice, some 

 are occasionally displayed which possess all the 

 characters of supernatural phenomena. In the 

 names by which they are familiarly known, we 

 recognize the terror which they inspired, and even 

 now, when science has reduced them to the level 

 of natural phenomena, and developed the causes 

 from which they arise, th.ey still retain their primi- 

 tive importance, and are watched by the philoso- 

 pher with as intense an interest as when they were 

 deemed the immediate effects of Divine power. 

 Among these phenomena we may enumerate the 

 Spectre of the Brocken, the Fata Morgana of the 

 Straits of Messina, the Spectre Ships which ap- 



