MOONBEAMS. 135 



quality of lightning out of the clouds, or of the mois- 

 ture that is floating invisibly in the air. Experi- 

 ment increases the probability of that ; because the 

 artificial lightning, that can be excited by peculiar 

 combinations and actions of substances, and of 

 which electricity, galvanism, and magnetism are 

 the modifications with which we are best ac- 

 quainted, has always two poles, the one of which 

 has a relation to oxydizing and producing colour, 

 and the other an opposite relation. 



And we can observe a very beautiful instance 

 of that in the beams of the moon. These, as has 

 been said, contain little of the red or the heating 

 rays ; and it is well known how very efficient 

 moonlight is in the performing those operations 

 which are more immediately performed by the 

 rays towards the de-oxydizing end of the spectrum. 

 Every housewife knows how nicely her linen is 

 whitened if she can leave it out during the moon- 

 light ; and many know that muslins which the 

 sun would render yellow or brown, can be pre- 

 served as white as snow if dried by the light of 

 the moon. Every farmer, too, that takes notice, 

 (and surely the most unobserving farmers watch 

 the progress of their crops,) must have observed 

 how very rapidly the moonlight, not merely 

 whitens, but actually matures and ripens his corn. 

 In that respect, one fine moonlight night is equal 

 to at least two days of sunshine ; and that cir- 

 cumstance, while it lets us see that moonlight has 

 other qualities besides poetical beauty, tells us, that 

 Nature is a WHOLE, and that the parts which we 

 would suppose to be the most distant and uncon- 

 nected, yet co-operate with each other in the most 

 perfect and wonderful manner. 



N2 



