243 
Condensation of Humidity on Solid Surfaces . 
his attention had been chiefly directed to the appearance of the 
heavens ; and, it is not improbable, that the place where his ob- 
servations were chiefly made, was not favourably situated for 
observing the state of the lower air, by directing the eye to the 
distant surface. But, even when there are no clouds, and when 
the stars may be considered both distinct and bright, we some* 
times observe the moon to be surrounded by a hazy whiteness 
or circle ; a sufficient though not the only proof, that the at- 
mosphere may have no inconsiderable quantity of condensed 
vapour dispersed through it, at a time when it might be consi- 
dered both serene and pellucid. Even in this country, however, 
opportunities are not wanting for observing all solid bodies in- 
discriminately dewed, even to the woolly and hairy coverings of 
animals. This occurs when the air contains much aqueous va- 
pour,— -when, during the night, there has been a copious deposi- 
tion of dew, and towards morning the formation of a dense fog. 
An increase of this state of the atmosphere would give rise to 
what is termed a drizzling rain, or raw mist, called in the French 
language bruine *. On such occasions, the upper surface 
* According to Toland, who had no small acquaintance with the Northern 
languages and dialects, “ Linguarum plus decern sciens dour in Armoric, and 
dur in Irish, are terms for water ; and daigr in Armoric, and dear in Irish, im- 
port drops and also tears. Hence probably the origin of our terra dew ; and evi- 
dently that of daig or daigy , sometimes pronounced daghy , a word still in use in 
some parts of Scotland, and importing a 44 raw mist,” or that deposition of 
moisture which is intermediate between rain and fog. Etymology, however, is 
a field for the imagination to sport in. How many words may be found to cor- 
respond in sound and signification even in the Hebrew and Scottish languages ! 
But, as words were evidently sometimes intended to imitate the sounds of which 
they were made the signs, and at other times the sounds occasionally made by 
the objects they were intended to designate, coincidences are not unlikely to oc- 
cur, even in languages as remotely connected as these. Thus, in the former, 
peek, (on the faith of lexicographers ), sig. expirare ; and in the latter it has exact- 
ly the same signification : 44 Peching and groaning like a broken- winded horse.” 
Again, in the Celtic, the name for a sow’s trunk or snout is groin , which, when 
well pronouneed, exactly resembles the sound produced by means of that organ. 
The attempt to form words whose sounds resemble, in some respects, and more 
or less perfectly, the thing or action they are intended to designate, is discovera- 
ble in many, if not in all languages ; and, (by the aid of a little imagination), we 
may possibly be able sometimes to discover, how, with this object equally in 
view, an action shall be expressed, in two different languages, by words whose 
sounds bear little or no resemblance to each other. Thus, ptuo in Greek, spit in 
