4.02 
emade for forty years patt. 
which have been the principal caufe of 
the failure of thofe well-intended at- 
tempts of this kind, which have bee 
The misfor- 
tune is, that a /andfion mu ever be 
wanting to the difcipline of a diffenting 
college, forcible enough to controul the 
irregular propenfities cf “youth ler loofe 
from the reftraints of a fchool; but not 
yet fitted for felf-government. Even 
with fuch fanétions, we fee how defec- 
1 
tive the inititutions of the eftabliihment . 
i =o 
are in fecuring the morals and mduftry 
of their members. After all, if the dif- 
. fenting parent firft chaofes a good fchool 
for his fon} and, when arrived at acade- 
mical years, places him for higher in- 
fruction under the tuition of fome per 
fon of real knowledge and enlarged fen- 
timents among thofe of his way of think- 
ing, he will probably unite as mamy of 
the advantages of liberal education with 
as few of its dangers as can be procured 
im the prefent ftate of things. 
obferving it. 
Landon, Fuly 4. Laicus. 
EE 
METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS. 
To ibe Editor of tbe Montbly Magazine. 
: { Concluded from our loft. | 
—I sEG leave to fubjoin to this long, and 
T fear tedious letter, an account of the 
cireuinftances of a remarkable lunar phe- 
somenon, as they were related to me by 
zwo gentlemen who had an opportunity of 
2 The fituation of the fint 
obferver (his view being bounded by 
hoeufes, &c ) was not fo favourable as that 
of the fecond, who was travelling in the 
country, though the difference in the rela" 
- ¢}ons cannot be accounted for from this cir- 
_ eaumftance alone. 
To thete obfervations 
cannot indeed be applied the expreffion of 
Plutarch, who, {peaking of the meafure-. 
ment of mount Olympus, by an ancient 
geometrician, fays, the bufinefs was done 
ay Mapepess *edrw yrivtodw met cf opyaywy. 
Neither of the above gentlemen was pro- 
vided with the means of very nice obfer- 
oe 
vr 
wation, as (for example) any inftrument 
for meafuring angles ; yet the general ac- 
curacy and fidelity of both may be fully 
relied on. The phzromenon took place 
very early (viz. between twelve and one) 
on the morning of the sth of Auguft, 1795. 
“The moon was feen by the firft obferver 
.farrounded by a halo, and a bright line as a 
diameter to this hala, parallel tothe hori- 
zon, paffed over the centre of the moon,, 
en the disk of which it was feen as a faint 
Lunar Phenomenon. 
(July 
belt: at the two extremities of this dia- 
meter; and juft without the circumference 
of the halo, were two paraj/élenz, irregular 
in fhape, but coloured prifmatically with 
great vividnefs and beauty : from the two 
parafelene were extended two ample 
arches, alfo prifmatically coloured near to 
their origin, but in a faint degree: thefe 
arches were of unequal extent, but if they 
had been fuficientiy extended, this ob- 
ferver thinks they would have met at 2 
confiderable diftance to the north of the 
zenith. Whenever light clouds pafled - 
over the face of the moon, the parafelene - 
_loft their prifmatic colours, appearing 
only bright like the halo and its diame- 
ter; on the cloud’s pafiing away, the 
colours again became vifible. The fe- 
cond obferver, who, at the time of the 
phenomenon, happened to be at the 
diftance of about eight miles eaftward of 
the firft, had a very diftiné and ex. 
tended view of it. He defcribed the 
moon as only half-encircled (i. e. onthe 
upper part) with a femi-halo, the bright- 
ne{s of which he compared to that of the 
_ galaxy: at the two extremities of this 
femi-halo, there were two parajeleng, 
prifmatically coloured, and accurately 
round; but fading by degrees into the 
azure of the fky: from the paraflenz, 
extended eaftward and weftward, lumi- 
nous arches, exactly parallel to the ho- 
rizon, terminating (at what number of 
degrees diftance either way could not be 
afcertained) in two other parafelene of 
the fame magnitude as thofe neareft the 
moon, but fainter.» This obferyer was 
poiitive, that no luminous diameter paff- 
ed between the two neareft parajelene 
over the difk of the moon. The phzno- 
menon continued without variation, ex- 
cept in brightnefs, during the whole 
time it was obferved, which was hardly 
lefs than an hour: in what time, or by 
what gradual changes, it ceafed, ] have 
had no opportunity of knowing. A, 
fultry day followed thefe remarkable ap- 
pearances; early in the afternoon, fome 
thunder clouds were feen, but the even- 
ing was fine till eight o’clock; after. 
wards, the fky became overcaft, and the 
clouds thickened, hanging near the fur- 
face of the earth: about nine, P.M, 
I obferved,; in the fouth-eaft, fome lu- 
mihous appearances, like fire-balls, fall- 
ing from the lower ftratum of clouds ta 
the ground: another luminous pheno- 
menon occurred, which I fhould have 
judged to have been the firing of a piftol, 
had any report accompanied the appear 
ance. ss the night advanced, the thick- 
iP nefs 
