316 OP ATMOSPHERICAL CHAP. 10. 2. 



imagined projection from the Moon, were de- 

 scribed very accurately by Livy, whose com- 

 mentators absurdly ridiculed him for the de- 

 scription of a phaenomenon which modern ex- 

 perience has proved to exist in reality.* 



There are many superstitions attached to 

 Meteors of different kinds, which may be na- 

 turally accounted for from the tendency of the 

 mind to connect fear with mystery of any 

 kind, and to ascribe to hidden causes of a fan- 

 ciful nature, effects which, from their sudden- 

 ness, brilliancy, and the gloomy period of night 

 in which they appear, are calculated strongly to 

 excite the feelings. Hence the fables about 

 the Dead Men's Candles, Corpse Candles, and 

 Fetch Lights, which we so often hear of in 



* However astonishing it may seem, yet I believe it is 

 nevertheless true, that the ancient Ephesians worshipped the 

 Meteorolites in their Diopetus. This imaginary being, 

 whose idolatrous worship is alluded to in the Acta Apostol- 

 lorum, xix. 35. in fact, turns out on examination to have been 

 nothing more than a Lunar Stone of immense bigness. A 

 similar gigantic stone fell from the air some years ago in 

 India, and was actually worshipped by the inhabitants, who 

 considered it as a creature of Heaven. I rather think this 

 event happened in August, 1812. But of the date I am 

 uncertain. I have observed the fact quoted in M. Howard's 

 Journal of the Meteorology of London. 



