Magazine of Magazines

^ d ^ A G A ^ l ^ E ^ MAGA^*F8,
AS A MOLTEN L OCX I N G G L ASS t Job
XXxVii- 15, &C.
The greatest objection that I can
frame to this hypothesis is, that thefe
lights Sometimes appear after midnight,
when the fun is on the opposite side of
the globe. But, perhaps, it Will be answered
to thisl that as Sor one half of
the year it constantly Shines on our polar
regions, it might find water enough
there to reflect its rays into our horizon,
which the coenptessed figure oS the earth
at the poles the better admits of And
hence, I presume, it is that thefe sights
are Said to be Seen almost all nightlong,
in countries bordering on thoSe regions ;
and iS they appear then towards the S.
W. and when the Sun is on this fide the
line, it will help to confirm this hypothesis.
But before it can be sully established,
Supposing it true, suture observations
will be necessary, as they will
be likewise of use to confute it, if erroneous,
and therefore I doubt not but
curious observers will he attentive to
catch every appearance of this phenomenon.
I saw a Small one on Saturday
the i 4th of last October, a little before
eight at night, which appeared in a few
upright and pretty steady pillars, or
fleams of sight, near the horizon, on
the north side of it.
IS gentlemen would be exact in their
observations, and mark particularly the
time of night, and part of the heavens
they appear in, and Send their observations
to St. John's Gate, I presume from
your known readiness to promote any
branch of ufesul knowledge, that they
would be recorded for public use.
The reader perceives I am inclined
to W. /P.*s hypothesis, which I own I
am at prefent, because it bids the fairest
of any other for truth, as it seems to
be built on more certain pri nciples", to
be more intelligible in itself, and to be
charged with sewer difficulties than any
other, tho' it has its difficulties likewise.
IS the author had vouchsafed to
reconsider it,- perhaps he might have
cleared them up in a more satisfactory
manner. But' as it seems to have been
deserted by i^ owit parent, for reasons
best known to him, I have taken it up
as a Founding, and bestuw'd a little cost
upon it just to keep it alive. But I
here give him fair warning, that ifl
hereafter find it does not deserve to live,
l shall leave it to shift for itself, and
staffer it to die, for any farther trouble
that I will be at about it. I am Mr.
Crhan, Your hemhle servaut.
Nov. 2s. A BYSTANDER.
Further Observations to illustrate that Phenomenon.
Mr. Lrhan,
A S foon as I read W. W's explana-
Sdk. tion and hypothesis of an Aurora
Borealis—Irecolacted that being in a
house at Richmond on a bright day I beheld
fomething so like that appearance,
vibrating upon the wainfeot and ceiling,
that immediately looking down into the
Thames, I perceived the Sun to shine
bright on the clear waves os it, which,
there being a little hreeze, exhibited a
representation of thousands of diamonds
from its Surface variously Sormed, and
theSe were constantly changing their
positions and sides ; what angle the Sun
made with the ceiling I now forget ;
but I have seen it at divers times of the
day in the Same room, tho' more or
lets on the ceiling, according aS it was
late or" early in the day. I concluded,
that therefore the Sun and water were
evidently the cauSe of the Aurora Borealis
; but my diScovery met with the
Same objections as W. W.'s.
fours, E. E.
Succinct Account of Mr. Co L n E N 's Prin-
ciples of Action in H Litter, &c.
(•Continuedfrom p. 425.)
S^CTlOtl IV.
^^^ Othing can act where it is not, or
l. R communicate its action but by
an intervening mndiuma we perceive the
Sun communicates Some kind os action
to all the planets, by which they are
kept in their orbs, and gravitate towards
it a