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Show [ 10 ] Bend, as they journey with projeCl:ile force, In bright ellipfes their reluCtant courfe; Orbs wheel in orbs, round centres centres roll, And form, [elf-balanced, one revoiving Whole. -Onward they move amid their bright abode, Space without bound, THE BOSOM o:v THEIR Goo ! IIO ii. "ETHEREAL PowERS! vou chafe the ihooting fiars, Or yoke the vollied lightenings to your cars, Cling round the aerial bow with prifms bright, And pleas' d untwift the fevenfold threads of light ; primary ones, at the beginning of their courfe ; they might be fo influenced or diverted by the attraCtions of the funs, or fun, in their vicinity, as to prevent thei~ tendency to return into the body, from which they were projeCted. If thefe innumerable and immenfe funs tlrus riling out of Chaos are fuppofed to have thrown out their attendant planets by new explolions, as they afcended; and thofe their refpeClive fatellites, filling in a moment the immenlity of fpace with light and motion, a grander idea cannot be conceived by the mind of man. Chajt the jhootingflars. l. II 5· The meteors called {hooting fiars, the lightening, the rainbow, and the clouds, arc phenomena of the lower regions of the atmofphere. The twilight, the meteors call'd fire-balls, or flying dragons, and the northern lights, inhabit the higher regions of the atmofphere. See additional notes, No. I. Cling round the ae'rialhow. 1. 117. See additional notes, No. II. [ II ] Eve's filken couch with gorgeous tints adorn, And fire the arrowy throne of rifing ·~orn. I 2 o -OR, plum' d with flame, in gay battalions fpring To brighter regions borne on broader wing ; Where lighter gafes, circumfufed on high, Form the vall: concave of exterior f.ky; Eve'sjilken couch. 1. II9· See additional Notes, No. III. Where lighter gafes. 1. 123: Mr. Cavendifh has fhewn, that the gas called inflammable air, is at leafl: ten times lighter than common air; Mr. Lavoilier contends, that it is one of the component parts of water, and is by him called hydrogene. It is fuppofed to afford their principal nourilhment to vegetables and thence to animals, and is perpetually riling from their decQmpolition; this fource of it in hot climates, and in fum mer months, is fo great as to exceed efl:imation. Now if this light gas paffes through the atmofphere, without combining with it, it mufl: compofe another atmofphere over the aerial one; which mufl: expand, when the preffure above it is thus taken away, to inconceivable tenuity. If this fupernatural gaffeous atmofphere floats upon the aerial one, like ether upon water, what mufl: happen 1 I. it will flow from the line, where it will be produced in the greatefl: quantities, and become much accumulated over the poles of the earth : 2. the common air, or lower fl:ratum of the atmofphere, will be much thinner over the poles than at the line; becaufe if a glafs globe be filled with oil and water, and whirled upon its axis, the centrifugal power will carry the heavier fluid to the circumference, and the lighter will in confequence be found round the axis. 3· There may be a place at fome certain latitude between the poles and the line on each fide the equator, where the inflammable fupernatant atrnofphere may end, owing to the greater centrifugal force of the heavier aerial atmofphere. 4· Between the termination of the aerial and the beginning of the galfeous atmofphere, the airs will occalionally be intermixed, and thus become inflammable by the eleCtric fpark; thefe circumfl:ances will ailifl: in explaining the phenomena of fire balls, northern lights, and of fome variable winds, and long-co{ltinued :ains. Since the above note was firfl: written, Mr. Volta I am informed has applied the fuppofition of a fupernatant atmofplrere of infl:ammable air, to explain fome phenomena in Cz |