32?, OF ATMOSPHERICAL CHAP. 10. 2. 



into which 3VI. White, the naturalist of Sel- 

 borne has fallen, namely, that it is the mellific 

 secretion from flowers taken up into the air in 

 sultry weather, and deposited again with the 

 descent of the Fallcloud at eventide. In proof 

 of this notion, we are referred to the sweet and 

 honied smell of the air in close still warm sum- 

 mer weather. The fact, however, is, that the 

 substance alluded to, is the nidus of a species 

 of aphis, which, in certain weathers, infests 

 plants. A similar substance is called Woods- 

 eare, which likewise occurs in weather favour- 

 able to its existence.* But it has nothing to do 



Sed variat, faciemque novat : nascique vocatur 

 Incipere esse aliud, quam quod fuit ante ; morique, 

 Desinere illud idem. Cum sint hue forsitan ilia, 

 Haec translata illuc ; summa tamen omnia constant. 

 Nil equidem durare diu sub imagine eadem 

 Crediderim. Sic ad ferrum venistis ab auro, 

 Saecula. Sic toties versa es, Fortuna locorum." 

 The Transmigration of Souls is still a doctrine of some of 

 the East Indian Religions. 



* Why this substance and its appropriate insect should at 

 particular times come forth and be produced in such abun- 

 dance, is like the cause of blights on the occurrence of East 

 Wind, the intestinal vermes, in peculiar disorders of the 

 bowels and the sudden appearance of parasitical animals and 

 plants in general, to be regarded as one of the arcana naturae 

 hitherto unravelled by philosophic sagacity. 



