BOOK OF NATURE LAID OPEN. 175 



sence is absolutely necessary to restore the equilibri- 

 um of the lower tracts, in the same manner as the 

 tempest is sometimes sent to agitate, in an uncommon 

 degree, the surface of the ocean; but far more fre- 

 quent, we may suppose, is the busy working of the 

 lightning in the higher regions of the air, although it 

 may be concealed by the density of its lower extre- 

 mities at times from our view. The glancing of the 

 wild fire, as the vulgar style it, and the playful skip, 

 ping of the aurora borealis, give us sufficient inti- 

 mation, that, in the silent hours of rest and repose, 

 the great Supreme faints not, neither is weary, but 

 is busily employed in the unceasing operations of 

 his providence, when our senses are locked in mid- 

 night slumbers, and refreshing sleep stretches her 

 balmy wings over a fatigued world. 



Besides these, which may be called the principal, 

 there are also a number of other fiery meteors. Fire- 

 balls, in all the glare of terrific magnificence, are 

 sometimes seen to rush across the hemisphere Fall- 

 ing stars are observed to shoot with astonishing ra- 

 pidity. The Ignis-fatuus, Will with-the- wisp, or 

 Jack-with-a lanthorn, as it is called, glides along by 

 the sides of hedges or ditches in moist situations, and 

 sometimes takes up his abode among the graves of 

 the dead, or is seen in the neighbourhood of dung- 

 hills; but these, as well as the fiery Dragon, the skip- 

 ping Goat, the Dart and the Lamp, with every other 

 appearance that the unsubstantial and airy form may 

 assume, may all be accounted for on the principles 

 of electricity. 



