Copy of a PAPER explanatory of the Lunar Action on the Weather, presented, on the Part of the Author, at the INTRODUCTION. Ar a moment when, from the progress making in chemical and electrical discovery, the darkness which through a number of succeeding ages, had so long and obstinately held enveloped and concealed the first principles of things, is at length, though slowly, giving way before the penetrating beams of science; and that the species of optical deception connected with the solar action, as refers to what is called solar heat,-similar to that by which it was so long preceded, in reference to the equally apparent movement of the sun, is about to undergo a similar fate; as few, at the present day, are so simple, or wedded to ancient prejudices as to suppose that the heat induced by the sun is projected from his body, or has its source in combustion; but that it is, on the contrary, of home growth, as being the result of a local action on the atmosphere, excited by the sun;-at a moment such as this, I say, so interesting to every true friend of science, when. as if escaping from the last strong-holds of ignorance and barbarism, men's minds are occupied B on, and looking forward to the attainment of a more intimate knowledge of, and acquaintance with the hitherto mysterious operations of nature in the atmosphere; and that,—similar to lighting on a new vein of ore, every new advance made in so ample a field, is likely to prove a new source of wealth, of security, or of admiration to mankind. Having, (as proved by some former publications,) from my idea of its importance, devoted some years of no ordinanary industry, and I may add of solicitude to this pursuit, and, probably, pushed my inquiries still further than others; and having collected, with some care, these the fruits of my persevering application, under the impression that they cannot fail to interest from their novelty, or to prove advantageous from their connexion with the general interests of society; and, whether erroneously or not, esteeming them the richest tribute that it were in my power to offer at the shrine of Science, or of utility; I am thus induced, with all possible deference, to present them at the tribunal of public opinion. As in the physical world all things are connected, so in the intellectual every thing is consecutive; and this is so much the case in science, that it is not before the way has been prepared by an advance in certain of its departments, that any thing can be done towards the advancement of others; for, from the intimacy of their relations, they may be said mutually to touch, and either to borrow or to reflect light on each other; so that, something like the Horloge Botanique of Linnæus, in the march of the sciences, each may be said to have its relative, and, as it were, stated period of development. This, however, can be only considered to apply generally, for, as coming within the list of those singular anomalies*, in which in science, equally as in physics, Nature occasionally indulges; in the list of the sciences there is one, and this, it may be said, the most important of them all,-which owing at once to the bodies that, from their connection with, compose its members, and to the nature of the agencies, combined with the inadequateness of the senses or ordinary faculties of man to grapple with its parts, must be considered an exception to the rule, as though, in mockery, placed without the pale of human attainments; and is it necessary for me to add, that the science alluded to is Meteorology? embracing within its range, as it does, on the one hand, the globe we inhabit, and vivifying with its breath the whole of the animal and vegetable kingdoms of which it is the * "C'est ainsi que la nature," observes Raynal, in treating of the diamond, se joue dans tous les règnes par une infinité d'anomalies surprenantes. Tantôt elle semble s'astreindre, dans la chaîne et l'échelle des êtres, à l'ordre des nuances insensibles; et tantôt rompant toute série, elle fait un saut brusque, laisse derrière elle un vuide immense, et pose deux bornes éloignées dont il est impossible de remplir l'intervalle."-Histoire Philosophique tome viii. page 154. theatre; and, on the other, claiming kindred and connexion with the entire of that external nature, with all its skyey influences, composed by the sun and remainder of the planets. From all which, I say, it will readily be seen, that owing to its nature, very considerable advances in the most abstruse of the sciences, (chemistry and electricity,) became, in the first place, necessary, in order, with any prospect of success, to make even the slightest progress in meteorology; and that, even provided with such aids as these sciences could furnish, it was still but a matter of chance, whether man should ever succeed in obtaining an adequate acquaintance with it. And thus that, as observed by Voltaire, if "l'estime des hommes se mesure par les difficultés surmontées," he who, by his industry, should succeed in exploring the sources, and in tracing the rudiments of this science, so as to establish it on principles such and so immutable as that succeeding years would only serve the more fully to confirm and prove their correctness,-would, at the least, have merited well of his contemporaries, and have established thereby a just claim to the respect and gratitude of posterity. But if to attempt this, when so many, and these not of the ordinary class of men, had proved unsuccessful, were little short of madness: to succeed in such an attempt were, on the other hand, little short of miraculous. And yet such, and so unequal was |