CHAP. 10. 2. SUPERSTITIONS, &c. 31 



gloomy light of the candle was fearfully set 

 down by them as a memento of the sufferings 

 of Jesus Christ on the Cross, who, as they 

 fancied, mysteriously declared thus again by 

 appearing in a flame / am the light that light- 

 eth every man that cometh into the world* The 

 fearful appearance of this phaenomenon was 

 rendered more impressive to the minds of the 

 credulous, in consequence of its happening on 

 the Vigil of Childermass, which has been ever 

 regarded a day of unlucky omens.f 



The Pythagorean doctrine of the Metempsi- 

 cosis, or transmigration of souls, appears to 

 have been derived originally from contemplating 

 the perpetual revolutions and changes of figure 

 performed by elementary atoms. The easy 



* Excessively cold weather followed in January, 1820. 

 On the 14th of that month, the Quicksilver in my Thermo- 

 meter fell to 5 at eleven o'clock at night. Another 

 Thermometer was also observed, hanging in a window in the 

 house, to be likewise much below Zero. At the same time 

 and during the night, I ascertained by a Six's Thermometer 

 that the cold had been 10, that is. ten degrees below O 

 of Farenheit's Scale, or forty degrees below the freezing 

 point. This extraordinary degree of cold appeared to be 

 partial, and to occur in a particular line of places, as if a 

 stream of excessive cold existed. 



t See Brand's Pop. Antiq. under CHILDERMASS DAY. 



