355.

There seem to be two situations which may be conceived to be exempted from rain falling upon them : ene where the constaut trade-winds meet beneath the line, for here two regions of warm air are mixed together, and thence do not seem to have any cause to precipitate their vapor; and the other is, where the winds are brought from colder climates and become warmer by their contact with the earth of a warmer one. Thus Lower Egypt is a flat country warmed by the sun more than the higher lands on one side of it, and than the Mediterranean on the other; and hence the winds which blow over it acquire greater warmth, which-ever way they come, than they possessed before, and in consequence have a tendency to acquire and not to part with their vapor like the north-east winds of this country.

DARWIN'S Botanic Garden, part ii. Canto iii. p. 127.

356. [Gen. ix. 13-17.] The rainbows in our latitudes are only seen in the mornings or evenings, when the sun is not much more than forty-two degrees high. In the more northern latitudes where the meridian is not more than fortytwo degrees high, they are also visible at noon.

DARWIN'S Temple of Nature, Canto i. l. 363.

357. At Dehli in the East Indies, there is scarcely a month in the rainy season but lunar rainbows are seen, when the moon is high above the horizon. I have seen of them, says BERNIER, three or four nights one after another, and sometimes double ones. They were not circles about the moon, but opposite to her, and in the like position with solar rainbows: as often as I have seen them, the moon was westward, and the rainbow eastward. The moon was also near the full; which, in my opinion, is necessary; because at other times, she would not have light enough to form any. Lastly, these rainbows were not so white as the (lunar) crowns use to be, but much more coloured, insomuch that there might be discerned in them some distinction of colors. (See Pinkerton's Voy. and Trav. part xxxii. p. 229.)

The Antients, according to ARISTOTLE, had observed no such thing before his time: that is, the Writers read by him had not lived where such appearances are usual.

of the outer crust, the interior part of the drop had a structure similar to that of fluid glass, or at least, that the ultimate particles were in both cases at the same distance, having been prevented, in the case of the drop, from approaching each other by the action of the external coat. He therefore procured, he tells us, several of these drops made of bottle glass, and on exposing them to a polarised pencil of light, he found that they not only depolarised it completely, but produced the alternation of the prismatic colors.

360.

See Phil. Trans. for 1814, part ii. p. 437.

Is the aurora borealis meant by the "bow in the cloud," and not the rainbow ?-DALTON has shewn in his Essays, pp. 175, &c., that the aurora is a magnetic phenomenon; that its beams arise from the earth's magne tism; that it is electric light solely; and that its appearance is a prognostication of fair weather.

361.

Essay 8, Sect. 6. part ii.

SWEDENBORG, evidently describing the magnetic sphere shooting its aurora of electric light, says, There is as it were a rainbow heaven, where the whole atmosphere appears to consist of very small continued rainbows. The whole atmosphere or aura therein, consists of such beams or breakings forth of light, irradiated thus in each of its points wherein it originates. All around is the form of a very large rainbow, encompassing the whole heaven, most beautiful in its appearance, being composed of similar smaller rainbows, which are images of the larger, &c.

363. [Gen. ix. 14.] That light, electricity, and the aurora borealis, are identical, seems now fully proved by the effects of a machine figured and described by Dr. G. L. ROBERTS, in the Month. Mag. for Feb. 1815, p. 4.-Set, says he, the machine in motion, and, as soon as the jar is about three parts charged, the aurora borealis will appear; keep the machine in motion, and balls of fire, of a dense purple color, will pass from ball to ball; still continue to turn the machine, and they will soon be succeeded by stars, (issuing) with a loud report, and as bright as the sun.

See Rev. xix. 13.

364. [Gen. ii. 6.] The cause of the ascent, suspension, and descent of vapors, is not yet fully determined; many think that electricity is the principal agent in producing these phenomena; whilst others are of opinion, that water is raised and suspended in the air, much after the same manner in which salts are raised and suspended in water; and it must be owned that this opinion (which future experience may shew not to be wholly inconsistent with the other) has a great appearance of probability.

WATSON'S Chem, vol. iii. p. 76.

365. [Gen. ix. 14, 15.] It is demonstrable, that an atmosphere of steam does actually surround the earth, existing independently of the other atmospheres with which however it is necessarily most intimately mixed. In the higher regions of this our mixed atmosphere a condensation of vapor takes place, at the same moment that evaporation is going on below. This is actually the case almost every day, as all know from their own observation; a cloudy stratum of air frequently exists above, whilst the region below is comparatively dry. (DALTON'S Chemical Philosophy, part i. p. 132.)-As this condensation of vapor, which is the cause of that rain indicated by the bow in the cloud, keeps pace to a certain degree with the evaporation arising from the earth's surface, it necessarily follows that, according to the stated laws of our atmosphere, while water thus regularly rises and falls there cannot be a universal deluge.

366. [Gen. i. 7.] Were all the water precipitated (in rains) which is dissolved in the air, it might probably be sufficient to cover the surface of the whole earth, to the depth of above thirty feet.

WATSON'S Chem. vol. iii. p. 87.

367. [Gen. ix. 13, 14.] The Bow in the Cloud is made a sign, an emblem of the Presence and power of the PURIFIER. Whenever the Purifier appeared, as above the Cherubim, with the bow, the irradiation of his Person; he was attended with a cloud.-Hence their augurs consulted such clouds; and their God in the cloud was supposed to give them answers. (HUTCHINSON'S Covenant in the Cherubim, pp. 458, 459, 460.)--This is the first account of GOD's appearing in a cloud, with a rainbow encircling his head.—In the First Church, and in the Jewish, he was encompassed with fire in the Second, and Fourth, in a white cloud, crowned with a rainbow. See Rev. x. 1.

368. [Gen. x. 1.] Now these are the generations of the sons of Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth: and unto them were sons born after the flood.

The arts and sciences, known to Noah and his sons, would have been diffused equally throughout the earth, had all nations been naturally descended from those

patriarchs. For instance, "if ever the use of iron had been known to the savages of America, or to their progenitors; if ever they had employed a plough, a loom, or a forge, the utility of these inventions would have preserved them, and it is impossible that they should have been abandoned or forgotten." Dr. ROBERTSON.

369. [Gen. x. 2.] It is uncertain if all the names, mentioned in the tenth Chapter of Genesis, be the names of individuals. In the Hebrew idiom, the terms father, son; begot, was born, imply not always immediate parentage or filiation,

Dr. GEDDES.

370. [Gen. v. 4.] "Several of the chiefs of your bands," says CARVER, in his address to the American savages, "have often told me, in times past, when I dwelt with you in your tents, that they much wished to be counted among the children and allies of the great king my master.-As there are now several of your chiefs here, who came from the great plains towards the setting of the sun, whom I have never spoke with in council before, I ask you to let me know if you are willing to acknowledge yourselves the children of my great master, the king of the English and other nations." "Good brother," replied the principal chief, "we are well satisfied in the truth of what you have told us about the great king our greatest father; for whom we spread this beaver blanket, that his fatherly protection may ever rest easy and safe among us his children.-We desire that when you return, you will acquaint the great king how much the Naudowessies wish to be counted among his good children.” See his Travels in N. America, pp. 55, 56.

372. [Gen. x. 5.] In the Northern Archipelago, the inhabitants of the Fox Islands live together in families, and societies consisting of several families united, which constitute, what they call, a race; and, in case of an attack or defence, they mutually assist and support each other. The inhabitants of the same island always pretend to be of the same race; and every person looks upon his island as a possession, which is common to every member of the same community. MAVOR,

L

373. Thus whole nations of American savages, such as Hurons, Miamies, Chipeways, Ottowaws, Pontowattimies, Mississauges, and some other tribes, at this day confederate themselves under the direction of a Pontiac, a celebrated Indian chieftain.

See CARVER'S Trav. in N. America, p. 12.

374. The most antient people on this earth were distinguished into nations, families, and houses. They were all content with their own goods. To grow rich from the goods of others, and likewise to have dominion, was at that time altogether unknown. Every one then did what was good from a principle of goodness; and what was just from a principle of justice. Self-love and the love of the world were then far away. Every one from his heart was glad at his own, and no less at another's good. But, in succeeding times, when the lust of dominion and of possessing the goods of others seized the mind; then mankind, for the sake of self-defence, gathered together into kingdoms. and empires. And, as the laws of charity and conscience, which had been inscribed on human hearts, ceased to operate; to restrain violences, it became necessary to enact laws; to propose honors and gains as rewards, and the privations thereof as punishments. When the state of the world was thus changed, heaven removed itself from man, and this more and more, even to the present ages, when it is no longer known, whether there be a heaven, consequently whether there be a hell; nay, when their existence is denied ! (SWEDENBORG'S Arcana, n. 8118.)-No Book contains monuments more authentic of the History of Nations, and of Nature, than the Book of Genesis.

Studies of Nature, vol. i. p. 336.

375. [Gen. x. 32.] The nations, which possess Europe and a part of Asia and of Africa, appear to have descended from one family; and to have had their origin near the banks of the Mediterranean, as probably in Syria, the site of Paradise, according to the Mosaic history. This seems highly probable from the similarity of the structure of the languages of these nations, and from their early possession of similar religions, customs, and arts, as well as from the most antient histories extant.-Other families of mankind, nevertheless, appear to have arisen in other parts of the habitable earth, as the language of the Chinese is said not to resemble those of this part of the world in any respect. And the inhabitants of the islands of the South-sea had neither the use of iron tools, nor of the bow, nor of wheels, nor of spinning, nor had learnt to coagulate milk, or to boil water, though the domestication of fire seems to have been the first great discovery that distinguished mankind from the bestial inhabitants of the forest. DARWIN'S Temple of Nature, Canto i. 2.

376. Sir W.JONES thinks the colonies, formed by YA'FET, were the Tartars; those by SHEM, the Arabs; and those by HAM, the Indians. Works, vol. i. p. 135.

[Gen. x. 5.] By the sons of JAPHETH were the isles of the Gentiles divided in their lands; every one after his tongue, after their families, in their nations.

377. [Gen. x. 1, &c.] The countries between the Euxine and Caspian seas, are the true vagina gentium, elsewhere sought in vain, where a whole multitude of peoples, differing in language, and sometimes mingling those languages, lived within a narrow circle.-Abulfeda, in his Geography, mentions a place in the south-east of Trebisond, called the Mount of Tongues, which is said to have had its name from the circumstance of so many people of different languages having ren-countered or dwelt upon it.

SMITH'S Michaelis, vol. ii. p. 479.

378. [Gen. x. 2.] Magog, Scythia, or Great Tartary. -To form an idea of this most antient country, conceive a line drawn from the mouth of the Oby to that of the Dnicper, and, bringing it back eastward across the Euxine, so as to include the peninsula of Krim, extend it along the foot of Caucasus, by the rivers Cur and Aras, to the Caspian lake, from the opposite shore of which follow the course of

the Jaihun' and the chain of Caucascan hills as far as those of Imaus: whence continue the line beyond the Chinese wall to the White Mountain and the country of Yetso; skirting the borders of Persia, India, China, Corca, but including part of Russia, with all the districts which lie between the Glacial sea, and that of Japan.

379.

Works of Sir W. JONES, vol. i. p. 52.

Magog was the Syrian name for Bambyce, Hierapolis or the Holy City, in the province of Cyrrhestica; where stood the temple of the great Syrian goddess, their deified queen Arathis.—Within the inclosures of this temple were kept beeves, horses, lions, bears, eagles; all sacred and tame. Here were Galli, or eunuch priests.-Who took on them the attire of women; forbidden by Moses.-Twice a year they went to the sea-side, and thence brought water into the temple (to re-fill, probably, their baptismal laver, after its impure waters had been let off into a natural hole or cleft in the ground).

Univer. Hist. vol. ii. pp. 234, 257, 259, 260, 261, 262.

[Gen. x. 20.] These are the sons of HAM, after their families, after their tongues in their countries, and in their nations.

382. [Gen. viii. 20.] The successors of the Noachites first settled in the province of Kurdistan, and thence spread themselves to India (Egypt, Chaldea, Persia) and other places (See Gen. x).

BARTOLOMEO, p. 363.

383. [Gen. x. 6.] The modern Abyssinians are by the Arabs called the children of CUSH.

Works of Sir W. JONES, vol. i. p. 31.

384. [Gen. x. 6, 7.] The Hindoos have a great number of regular dramas, at least two thousand years old, and among them are several very fine ones on the story of Rama.—I incline to think, says Sir W. JONES, that this was Rama, the son of Cush, who might have established the first regular government in this part of Asia.-It is very remarkable, he adds, that the Peruvians, whose Incas boasted of the same descent, styled their great festival Ramasitoa; whence we may suppose that South America was peopled by the same race, who imported into the farthest parts of Asia the rites and fabulous history of Rama.-The first and second Ramas were said to have been contemporary; but whether all or any of them mean Rama the son of Cush, I leave, continues this learned gentleman, others to determine :-The hypothesis, that government was first established, laws enacted, and agriculture encouraged in India by Rama, about three thousand years ago, agrees with the received account of Noah's death, and the previous settlement of his immediate descendants.

Asiat. Researches, vol.i. pp. 258, 426.

385. [Gen. x. 10.] The children of HAM founded in Iran itself, or Persia, the monarchy of the first Chaldeans. Works of Sir W. JONES, vol. i. p. 140.

386. [Gen. x. 8.] Syria proper lay eastward of the Tigris, extending nearly north-east and south-west from the springs of that river and the lake Van, to the province of Khuzestân in Persia. Here was the first great monarchy, which in process of time grew venerable, even to those who had originally suffered by its power; till at length all the country between the Mediterranean on the west, and the river Indus on the east, assumed the appellation of Assyria.-This monarchy was founded by Ashur, and not by Nimrod as some have contended.

See Univer. Hist. vol. iv. pp. 123, 127.

387. From Nimrod to Ninus, the seat of the Assyrian Monarchy was at Babel; from Ninus to Asarhaddon, it was at Nineveh; and in the interval from Merodac to

393. [Gen. xi. 20.] Suidas informs us from Estiæus of of idolatry. If so, then this might be the man, says Dr. Miletum, that Serug was a carver of images, and a teacher GREGORY, that made Nimrod a god. (See EUSEBIUS Scaligerianus, p. 13. Or GREGORY'S Assyr. Monarchy, p. 217.) -Accordingly, remarks ABARBINEL, the Latin Scribes have written that this Nimrod, who reigned first in Babel, made himself a god-an idol after his own image (some say, ten cubits high), and called it Bel (or Baal, Lord).

Ibid. p. 222.

394. [Gen. xi. 4.] Among those swarms of nations, which, from the seventh to the twelfth century of the christian era, successively inhabited the country of Mexico; we find, that the pyramidal houses of their gods were raised each in the midst of a square and walled enclosure, which, somewhat like the peribolos of the Greeks, contained gardens, foun

tains, the dwellings of the priests, and sometimes arsenals; since each house of a Mexican divinity, like the antient temple of Baal Berith, burnt by Abimelech, was a strong place. A great staircase led to the top of the truncated pyramid, and on the summit of the platform were one or two chapels, built like towers, which contained the colossal idols of the divinity, to whom the stupendous structure was dedicated. This part of the edifice must be considered as the most consecrated place, where the priests kept up the sacred fire. The inside of the edifice was the burial place of the (enshrined) kings and principal personages of Mexico. It is impossible to read the descriptions, which Herodotus, and Diodorus Siculus have left us, of the temple of Jupiter Belus, without being struck with the resemblance of that Babylonian monument to these Mexican structures.

397.

WHEELER'S Manches. Chron. Jan. 12th, 1805.

No one of the antient writers, neither Herodotus nor Strabo, Diodorus nor Pausanias, Arrian nor Quintus Curtius, asserts, that the temple of Belus was erected according to the four cardinal points, like the Egyptian and Mexican pyramids. Pliny observes only, that Belus was considered as the inventor of astronomy: Inventor hic fuit sideralis scientiæ. Diodorus relates, that the Babylonian temple served as an observatory to the Chaldeans. "It must be admitted," says he, "that this building was of an extraordinary height, and that here the Chaldeans made their observations on the stars, the rising and setting of which might be exactly perceived, on account of the elevation of the edifice." The Mexican priests made observations also on the stars from the summit of their temples; and announced to the people, by the sound of the horn, the hours of the night. These structures were built in the interval between the epocha of Mahomet and the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella; and we cannot observe without astonishment, that American edifices, the form of which is almost the same as that of one of the most antient monuments on the banks of the Euphrates, belong to times so near our own.

HUMBOLDT-Suppl. to Month. Mag. for Jan. 1815, p. 612.

398. [Gen. xi. 1.] And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech.

Lip, when put for a human action, signifies perpetually throughout the Old Testament, religious confession. Hence the idea here is, that the idolaters having resolved to build a tower or temple To the Heavens, the Most High made them disagree about the model of their liturgy. Sce HUTCHINSON'S Essay toward a Natural History of the Bible.

399. All the symbols of sound at first, probably, were only rude outlines of the different organs of speech, and had a common origin: the symbols of ideas, now used in China and Japan, and formerly, perhaps, in Egypt and Mexico, are quite of a distinct nature; but it is very remarkable, that the order of sounds in the Chinese grammars corresponds nearly with that observed in THIBET, and hardly differs from that, which the HINDOOS consider as the invention of their Gods.

It is probable, that all the languages properly Tartarian (of which the Turkish of Constantinople is one) arose from Works of Sir W. JONES, vol. i. pp. 27, 60.

one common source.

400. [Gen. ii. 20.] Several of the Antients were of opinion, that men, in the beginning of the world, expressed their thoughts by dumb signs, or gesticulations only. (See DIODOR. SIC. l. i. p. 8. LACTANT. de vero cult. l. 10.)—In naming the different animals, Adam probably did but mimic their natural cries.

401. [Gen. xi. 7.] It is thought to be an evil, that nations do not understand each other: But if all spoke the same language, the impostures, the errors, the prejudices, the cruel opinions peculiar to each nation, would be diffused all over the Earth. The general confusion which is now in the words, would in that case be in the thoughts.

402.

St. PIERRE'S Arcadia, p. 190.

The monarch of Great Britain has in actual possession nineteen antient kingdoms and principalities : England antiently contained seven, Scotland three, Ireland five, Wales three, and the Isle of Man one. The inhabitants speak nine several languages, English, Scotch, Welsh, Cornish, Irish, Manks, Galish in the Orcade Isles, French in Jersey and Guernsey, and Dutch in several places where Netherlanders dwell, having churches, and the service in their own tongue.

Month. Mag for 1815, p. 527.—From the MSS that belonged to the late William, Marquis of Lansdowne, now deposited in the British Museum.