On the Dew. 159 



at the different periods of the night. The manner of proceeding 

 was by hanging up sev^eral bundles of tow, at different heights in 

 the air, and weighing them from time to time, as they became 

 more and more wetted by it. We evidently found from this, 

 that the dew impregnated the air in greater quantities in the begin- 

 ning of the night than at any other time; the increase of moisture 

 growing less and less towards the morning. Additionally to this, 

 how^ever, I discovered that those bundles of tow which had hung 

 lowest, or nearest the earth, were wet sooner than those which 

 were placed higher. From this circumstance I alleged that the 

 dew did not descend from the air, but ascend from the earth. 

 The thought at first startled his lordship; but we determined to 

 give it a fair trial. We suspended a large square of glass flatwise, 

 by a string, from a horizontal pole laid over the tops of two dis- 

 tant trees in the garden, and we found its lower surface became 

 wet sooner than its upper. From these experiments, nothing can 

 be more evident than that the " falling of the dew" is an improper 

 phrase, and the generally-received opinion which gave rise to it 

 is a false one.*' 



The Holy Scriptures abound with admirable allusions to dew, 

 and it is always represented as a great blessing. ' Blessed of 

 the Lord,' says Moses, speaking of Joseph, ' be his land, for 

 the precious things of heaven; /o?* the dew,'' i^*c. And the want 

 of it is represented as a curse; ' Ye mountains of Gilboa,' said 

 David, ' let there he no dew! ' The favor of the Divine Being 

 is compared to the dew; ' I will be,' says the Lord, by Hosea, 

 ' as the dew unto Israel; he shall grow as the lily, and cast forth 

 his roots as Lebanon.' Heavenly doctrine, or the word of God, 

 is likewise compared to dew. ' My doctrine,' says Moses, 

 ' shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distil as the dew, as the 

 small rain upon the tender herb, and as the showers on the grass;' 

 that is, my doctrine shall have the same effect upon your hearts, 

 as dew has upon the earth; it shall render them soft, pliable, and 

 fruitful.' But the admirable allusions to dew in holy writ are too 

 numerous to be quoted. In a word, these transparent beauties of 

 the morning not only furnish us with poetic images and philosophic 

 knowledge, but with very powerful motives for a life of piety, be- 

 nevolence and virtue. Their great utility to the vegetable king- 

 dom, in particular, should lead us to the unceasing adoration of 

 that gracious Being, who created nothing which has existence 

 merely for an object of idle speculation. 



•Dr. John Hill. 



