ANCIENT IDEAS ABOUT RAIN. 1 1 I 



This account of Mr. Elphinstone gives a capital 

 general idea of the phenomena which attend the burst- 

 ing of the Indian monsoon, and the onset of the rainy 

 season, in tropical climates: an event which almost 

 always leaves a vivid recollection upon the mind of 

 the thoughtful traveller, though long years may have 

 elapsed since he witnessed it: the feelings of awe, 

 which the grandeur of the spectacle produces, being 

 mixed with those of wonder as to where all these 

 enormous stores of water can come from. 



Some curious details respecting the causes of these 

 torrential rains, have been handed down to us from 

 the dawn of history. 



At a remote period of antiquity, according to 

 Augustine Calmet a learned Benedictine of the Col- 

 lege of St. Vannes (among other authorities) the 

 ancient Hebrews appear to have entertained the belief 

 that rain was derived from certain great reservoirs 

 " above the heavens" ; to which Moses is supposed to 

 make reference, in the Sacred Writings, as " the 

 Upper," or "Superior Waters," which were supposed 

 to exist above the firmament; in contradistinction to 

 the lower, or inferior waters, of the terrestrial sea. * 



The "firmament " in those early days was supposed 

 to resemble an immense and solid arch, as indeed 

 the word itself implies, f 



This formed the vault of heaven, and served as a 

 barrier between the upper and lower waters, and in 



* Calmet's Dictionary of the Bible, translated from the French, I4th 

 edition, 1861. Edited by the late Chas. Taylor. P. 856, article "Rains." 

 (The first edition published in Paris, 2 Vols fol. 1722 see Bibliotheca 

 Britannica, by Robert Watts, vol. i). 



f "Firmamentum," a support, prop, or stay; see Dr. Smith's Latin 

 Dictionary. 



