Meteors* 107 



To account for these various appear- 

 ances in a satisfactory manner, it is plain 

 that we ought to have an intimate ac- 

 quaintance with the constitution of the at- 

 mosphere ; with the nature of those pow- 

 erful agents by which it appears to be 

 principally influenced, viz. fire, light, 

 and electric fluid ; and with their peculiar 

 modes of operation and action upon one 

 another and upon the atmosphere, and 

 this in every possible variety of circum- 

 stances. Nor is even all this sufficient : 

 the various phenomena of rain, wind, 

 snow, thunder, heat, cold, &c. are known 

 to depend very much upon the situation 

 of different places on the surface of the 

 earth ; and the occasional variations are 

 with great reason suspected to proceed, 

 partly at least, from changes which take 

 place in the bowels of the earth : whence 

 we ought not only to be perfectly well ac- 

 quainted with geography, but with mine- 

 ralogy also: and that to an extent at which 

 human knowledge will probably never 

 arrive. 



In a subject so very difficult, it is not to 

 be 'supposed that any thing like a certain 

 and established theory can be laid down 



