ON CHEMISTRY. 
153 
and attenuation, not combination, nor attraction. The vapour is ta¬ 
ken up into the mass of clear air, and becomes an integrant part of it. 
The same thing occurs, though upon a grander scale, with those 
stratified mists, which, in summer and autumn, afford proof of, and 
precede, a clear and settled state of weather. The morning which 
comes attended with one vast and dense haze, is gradually relieved 
by the agency of solar light; the vapours break, form into masses, 
and roll away, till they vanish into air, and leave the sky cloudless, 
and under the dominion of a powerful and burning sun. The same 
vapour under a different modification, is frequently the precursor of 
a thunderstorm. Instead of vanishing, it is formed into vast cumuli, 
which, bearing different electric relations with other cumuli, or with 
a portion of the earth’s surface, emit when within the sphere of mu¬ 
tual attraction, flashes of fire, and effect the decomposition, and in 
the next instant, the re-formation of the watery particles. The 
reader who has witnessed the striking effect produced by throwing 
a certain portion of water upon a large mass of burning coals, igni¬ 
ted to almost a white heat, may readily imagine a case of the sud¬ 
den developement of the constituents, (oxygen and hydrogen gases,) 
and at their instant re-union, attended with a most tremendous ex¬ 
plosion. The phenomenon is not far remote from the one under 
consideration. 
I proceed to notice other natural facts which tend to prove the 
conversion of vapour into atmospheric air, these are to be found 
2. In the Phenomena of Hoar-Frost and Snow. 
Whoever is attached to meterological observation, can scarcely 
fail to recollect the singular disappearance of those concomitants of 
winter. A mist or stratus, at times accompanies severe frost ; in this 
case, the whole surface of the ground, every blade of grass, every 
twig, is covered with frosts Specuke : a tree, a mass of trees particu¬ 
larly, presents a splendid spectacle, every portion of the spray is 
studded with crystals of dazzling whiteness. Under these circum¬ 
stances, the hazy mist alone being removed—in a state of perfect 
calm, without any particular change in the temperature, without 
thawing, or any visible solution of the particles, the whole of the 
rime shall disappear, vanish, and be taken up by the air. A body 
of snow also, is frequently seen to dwindle away without any abate¬ 
ment of frost, or dispersion by the force of wind. 
During the operation of these silent attractions, millions of cubic 
feet of crystallised water (such at least, these meteors are believed to 
be) are taken up into the aerial volume, and wholly disappear! In 
some instances, these phenomena are followed by rain, and then, it 
