its having cured paralytic limbs. Naturalists also have discovered a great analogy between lightning and electrical fire, which has given rise to new opinions upon the manner in which thunder is formed, and has changed the former ideas on that subject. Thus, from time to time, we receive new solutions of the mysteries contained in the great works of our Creator. How limited are the views of man! and how little attention is paid to important things placed before our eyes, since the phenomena just mentioned were for many ages unknown; and even now how little are we acquainted with nature! and how much have we not yet to learn!

JUNE XXVI.

The Manner in which Thunder forms itself.

FORMERLY, and even at the beginning of this century, it was thought that thunder proceeded from the inflammation of salts, of sulphureous matter, and other substances in the air. It was imagined that there was the greatest resemblance between the effects of fire-arms and that of thunder and lightning. However, all the explanations by which they endeavoured to establish this system were not sufficient to remove the difficulties which opposed it, or to account for the supposed effects. But since the phenomena produced by electrical fire have been observed with attention, it has authorised us to assign a very different cause for thunder. The perfect resemblance there is between that and electricity, have convinced the naturalists that they are the same, and that electricity is in our hands what thunder is in the hands of nature. The latter executes in the great,what we imitate in the little. It will not be difficult to convince even those who have not studied natural philosophy,

if they will only take the trouble to compare the effects of thunder with those of electrical fire. The effects of thunder appear by loud noise heard at a distance, and by conflagration. Buildings that are struck with it are set in flames. Men struck with it are blackened and burned. Sometimes, however, there is no trace of fire, and it is the blow that occasions death. Their clothes are all torn to rags. The lightning casts them to a distance from the place they were in; and part of the body that has been struck is often pierced with holes. Sometimes large stones are broken by lightning, and it destroys the ground it falls on. Electricity produces the same effects, but in a less degree. When by means of water its force is increased, the electrical lightning is followed by a very strong commotion. Very compact bodies are pierced with holes; birds and other little animals are killed by it; and every electrical flash is attended with a loud noise. That torrent also of fire which flies off hissing from the point of electrified bodies, is one of the phenomena which are found in lightning. And in regard to its swiftness there is still a greater resemblance between thunder and electricity. If, during a storm, a sword or chain is hung up in the air by silken strings, they become electrical. If we put our finger near it, there will come out of it sparks of fire, more or less, in proportion to the degree of the storm, or our distance from it. In a word, all the effects of electricity appear during a storm. After such experiments it can no longer be doubted that the air is electrified when there is a storm, and that thunder and lightning are the effects of a violent electrical fire.

Thus all that appeared wonderful and tremendous in these natural phenomena, disappear by degrees, as we become better acquainted with the laws of nature. Every one, consequently ought to have a general knowledge at least of the first principles of natural history. Superstition and

fear, which often mix with our observation of nature, would soon be at an end, if we either resolved to reflect upon it ourselves with more attention, or to consult others who are well informed upon the subject. Let us make use of what we have acquired in respect to the nature of thunder, so as to banish the dread and horror which so strongly seize our minds at the approach of a storm; and let us always look up to and trust in that God who alone worketh such great marvels. For though we can thus assign the causes of thunder, it is not therefore the less wonderful. There are even some circumstances of it that will ever be inexplicable to the most penetrating understandings. It is enough to know that the nature of the air, and of the atmosphere which surrounds us, renders this phenomenon necessary; that storms, in the hands of God, are a means of making the earth fruitful, and therefore ought to incline us to pay a tribute of adoration and gratitude to our Creator.

JUNE XXVII.

Herrings.

THIS is the season in which they begin to fish for herrings on the coasts of England and Scotland; by which means we shall receive, in a short time, a great quantity of these fish, which feed the poor, as well as the rich, during the whole year. Let ns examine what is most important in the natural history of these fish. Innumerable shoals of herrings live in the Frozen Sea, near the Arctic pole; but, at a certain period, they quit that place, and come in multitudes to the coasts of England and Scotland. It is not yet positively ascertained what may be the cause of this emigration. Some think it is to avoid whales and other great fish in the Frozen seas; others imagin e that the prodi

gious increase of the herrings obliges them to take these long voyages, and to divide into separate colonies, lest they should be in too great quantities to find sufficient food in the northern seas. Perhaps, also, it is the desire of propagation, and a peculiar instinct, which leads them to the places most favourable for the increase and preservation of their race. It is certainly these reasons in general that occasion such shoals of herrings to quit the north at the beginning of the year; for, in the month of March, a wing of their army had already reached the coasts of Iceland, and it is their western wing. The herrings are at this season so plentiful there, that, by putting the shovel with which the sails are watered into the sea, there are great quantities of them taken up at a time. The eastern wing advances farther into the Baltic sea. A part of it turns towards the Cape North, sails along the coast of Norway, and enters through the southern straits into the sea. Another part gains the northern point of Jutland, then enters into the Zuyder zee, and from thence passes again through the Baltic sea, in order to return to the place from whence it set out. But the largest detachment of the eastern wing, is that which turns to the western coast, in order to advance directly to the Orkney islands, where the Dutch go to catch them. Towards the 8th of June, the sea in those parts is full of herrings. They then direct their course towards Scotland and England, where they fill all the bays and the mouths of the rivers with their fry. After having quitted England, they probably return back to their own country. The prodigious multitude of these fish is surpri sing: One single herring lays at least ten thousand eggs in the sea near the British coasts. This great fruitfulness makes what is said of the Dutch fishery credible, where there are annually caught about two hundred millions of herrings; a fishery which supports numbers of people, and increases the

June 23. revenue of the Dutch above twenty millions of

crowns.

It is but just that we should lift up our hearts to the almighty and beneficent Creator, who, by a guidance full of wisdom, causes these fish to fall into the hands of man. By how many different ways he provides for our support! All the seas, the lakes, and the rivers, are subservient to mankind, and contribute to our preservation.

JUNE XXVIII.

Eclipses of the Sun and Moon.

IT is shameful that, in an age so enlightened as ours, not only the multitude, but even those who pretend to be superior to the common people, should be still so ignorant in respect to those bodies. From thence proceed the superstitious notions which are raised by eclipses of the sun and moon. If any one took the trouble to inquire into the cause of them, it would be found how absurd it is to shut up the wells during an eclipse, to prevent the water from acquiring any hurtful quality, or to take other superstitious precautions, which are melancholy proofs of the ignorance and want of piety in mankind. Let us then examine into this phenomenon, because it is in itself very remarkable, and furnishes us with a new occasion to glorify our great Creator. The eclipse of the sun is an effect entirely natural. It is caused by the moon passing between the earth and the sun. But it can only take place when the moon, which is an opaque body, and dark in itself, comes nearly in a direct line between the sun and our earth. It then conceals from us part of that globe, or the whole of it. The former is called, in the almanacks, a partial eclipse, the latter a total eclipse. Thus