646 Notice of the Ajaib-al- Mukhlukat. [No. 152. 



The Winds, (Ar Riah, Jj^I) 



The winds are produced by the sun, and the revolution of the spheres. 

 The North wind is cold, because it comes from the North pole ; and 

 the South wind is warm, because it passes over the equator. 



Thunder and Lightning, (Arradwa-al-bark, /z yj^W&s. J!) 



From the jagged and broken appearance of clouds in a thunder 

 storm, it is thought that thunder and lightning are the result of the 

 shock of the collision by which the clouds are thus broken in their 

 rapid descent after condension in the middle region of air. 



The lightning is seen before the thunder is heard, although it is said 

 that both are simultaneous. The reason of this is, that the sound of the 

 thunder is dependent on the undulations of the air, (mowkuf bar, tama~ 

 wuj,al-haw-a, L..JJ ~ *.4o *.j i«J*3**c) which are slower than sight. 



When a person is beating clothes on a stone at a distance, we see the 

 cloth strike against the stone before we hear the noise.* 



Halos, (Al-halah, ajLjJ hence our term halo,) are caused by the 

 reflection of the moon's light on subtle polished particles floating in the 

 air, and veiling the moon.f 



Rainbows, (Kous, { j t4 ^s) 



Rainbows occur when transparent particles of water are in the air 

 opposite the sun, the rays of which cause them. 



Phenomena of the region of Water, (Karah-al-ma, LjJ 8 ^) Convexity of 

 the surface of the Sea. 



The surface of the ocean is assumed to be convex, because sailors 

 ainrm, that in approaching a mountain from the sea, the top of the 



* Anaximander, more than five centuries before Christ, ascribed the phenomena of 

 thunder and lightning to a similar cause ; and his pupil, Anaximenes we find, in an 

 approach to the discovery of electricity, comparing lightning to the flash produced, 

 in seas of warm latitudes, by the stroke of an oar. 



f Halos have been lately considered as caused by the moon's light, or frozen 

 shining particles floating in the air ; while others suppose them occasioned by that 

 class of cloud called by meteorologists, cirro-stratus, which are formed in the lower 

 strata of the atmosphere. 



