250 
LIGHT AND RADIANT HEAT. 
Various show- To the globes of fire we may certainly join the showers of 
They resemble ^ rom which these last are not distinguishable, except by 
the firy globes, their great division, whilst in the globes the same substance is 
concentrated in a single body. A rain of this description pro- 
duced great ravages in Germany, in the year S23*, and burned 
entire villages. Another shower of the same nature fell in 
15 / 1 in the great Duchy of Hesse, and, after a terrible explo- 
sion, ran in the streets, still burning, but without causing a-ny 
real combustion. A third shower of fire took place in 16/8 at 
Sachsen-Haufenf, and the inflammable matter burned for half 
an hour in the streets before it was extinguished. Lastly, that 
which fell on the town of Brunswick (Braunschweig) was 
so violent, that at the beginning the efforts were ineffectual that 
were made to extinguish it by water*. 
(To be concluded.) 
V. 
Report upon a Memoir of M. Benard, relating to the physical 
and chemical Properties of the different rays which compose 
the solar Light. By Messrs. Bf.rthollet, Chaptal, and 
Biot, by Commission from the National Institute of France. 
Introduction. T\7ff BERTHOLLET, M. Chaptal, and myself, having 
JLvil © been charged to examine a memoir recently presented 
by M. Berard on the physical and chemical properties of the 
different rays which compose the solar light, we now proceed 
to give an account of the same to the class. 
Whether calc- The question has long been disputed among philosophers and 
thesamef htbe chemists, whether caloric and light be modifications of one and 
the same principle, or essentially different from each other. 
Many systems have been made, in favour of each of these by- 
* Donnernder Wetterfcnall. Nurnbcrg. 
t Journal de Gilbert, tom. XXX. 
f Ibid. tom. XXIX. 
pothescs j 
