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CIRCLE OF THE SCIENCES WITH SUITABLE

REFLECTIONS.

COMETS.

"At His command, affrighting human kind,
Comets drag on their blazing lengths behind,
And though sometimes they near approach the sun,
Sometimes beyond our system's orbit run,

Throughout their course they act their Maker's will,
His power declare, His purposes fulfil."

"They fought from heaven; the stars, in their courses, fought against

Sisera."-Jud. v. 20.

The astronomy of comets may be said to be in its infancy, scarcely any knowledge having been gained of them before the 17th century. The ancients, it seems knew very little of their nature. Seneca relates his having seen three: but they were merely considered, both by him and his cotemporaries, as wandering stars, or fiery meteors, generated of bituminous exhalations from the earth, which, being raised into the higher regions of the air, were set on fire, and there continued till they were consumed. They were also believed to be ominous phenomena, displayed by the Deity to terrify mankind, and give warning of some dreadful calamity; and the same opinion has prevailed from the time of the Roman empire till the illustrious Newton extending his discoveries beyond even the confines of our system, in his aerial researches through the regions of space, discovered the periodical return of these (till then) awful strangers.

Comets, according to sir Isaac Newton, are compact durable bodies; that is a kind of planets which move in very oblique elliptical orbits every way with the greatest force persevering in their motions even against the course of the planets; and their tails are very thin and slender vapors emitted by the head or nucleus of the comet, ignited or heated by the sun. But the length of time in which they are performing their revolutions, and the short stay they make within sight of our planet must long render their history dark and obscure.

Some philosophers, have asserted, that the matter which constitutes their tails is not an illuminated vapor, but a self-shining substance, which in all their positions and whatever the directions of their motions,

whether to or from the sun, is thrown off from its dark atmosphere in a direction opposite the sun a short time before or after its perihelion. Others have shown that there is a perfect analogy between their tails and the aurora borealis, and suppose that they are both formed from the emanation of the electric fluid from their respective bodies, although it was the opinion of Sir Isaac Newton that they were planetary bodies, most likely inhabited. Yet others have differed from him and have supposed that they were formed

From their huge vap'ry train, perhaps to shake
Reviving moisture on the numerous orbs
Through which their long ellipsis winds.

THOMPSON.

Others again have supposed that they were fiery bodies designed perhaps

To lend new fuel to declining suns,

To light up worlds, and feed the eternal fire.

THOMPSON.

Some have supposed them to be worlds which having performed their office in creation, are in a state of fusion. But the still more prevailing opinion than either that has been mentioned is, that one of them is intended to burn up this earth. This opinion, which seems to have been almost coeval with time itself, is supposed to have its foundation in the sacred writings.

The comet of 1680, is supposed to be the one intended to perform this dreadful operation: the period of its return is 575 years and its distance from the sun is 13 millions of miles. This Comet passed by the earth's orbit in the year of the universal deluge, and by its attraction, is supposed to have assisted in elevating the waters, and drawing them over the surface. In the year 1680, it passed very near the earth's orbit, but she was then in a distant part. It approached the sun within onesixth of his diameter from his surface, moving with the velocity of 880,000 miles an hour, and was heated to a degree of intensity 2000 times greater than the heat of red-hot iron. It will return in the year 2225.

The number of Comets is supposed to be no less than 450. There are Comets of much shorter periods than

that of 1680. The Comet Halley appeared in 1759, its period is 75 years: and it will return again in 1834 or 1835.

HISTORICAL AND PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY OF THE HOLY LAND-No. IV.

RIVERS

In consequence of the paucity of showers in the east, WATER is an article of great importance to the inhabitants. Hence, in Lot's estimation, it was a principal recommendation of the plain of Jordan that it was well watered every where (Gen. xiii. 10.): and the same advantage continued in later ages to be enjoyed by the Israelites, whose country was intersected by numerous brooks and streams.

Although rivers are frequently mentioned in the sacred writings, yet, strictly speaking, the only river in the Holy Land is the Jordan, which is sometimes designated in Scripture as the river without any addition; as also is the Nile (Gen. xli. 1. Exod. i. 22. ii. 5. iv. 9. vii. 18. and viii. 3. 9. 11.), and occasionally, the Euphrates (as in Jer. ii. 18.): in the passages here referred to, the tenor of the discourse must determine which is the river actually intended by the sacred writers. The name of river is also given to inconsiderable streams and rivulets, as to the Kishon (Judges iv. 7. and v. 21.) and the Arnon. (Deut. iii. 16.)

The principal river which waters Palestine is the JORDAN or Yar-Dan, i. e. the river of Dan, so called because it takes its rise in the vicinity of the little city of Dan. Its true source is in the lake Phiala near Cæsarea Philippi, at the foot of Antilibanus, or the eastern ridge of mount Lebanon, whence it passes under ground, and, emerging to the light from a cave in the vicinity of Paneas, it flows due south through the centre of the country, intersecting the lake Merom and the sea or lake of Galilee, and (it is said) without mingling with its waters; and it loses itself in the lake Asphaltites or the Dead sea, into which it rolls a considerable volume of deep water, and so rapid as to prevent a strong, active, and expert swimmer from swimming

across it. The course of the Jordan is about one hundred miles; its breadth and depth are various. All travellers concur in stating that its waters are turbid, from the rapidity which they flow.

Anciently, the Jordan overflowed its banks about the time of barley-harvest (Josh. iii. 15. iv. 18. 1 Chron. xii. 15. Jer. xlix. 19.) or the feast of the passover; when, the snows being dissolved on the mountains, the torrents discharged themselves into its channel with great impetuosity. Its banks are covered with various kinds of bushes and shrubs, which afford an asylum for wild animals now, as they did in the time of Jeremiah, who alludes to them. (Jer. xlix. 19.)

The other remarkable streams or rivulets of Palestine are the following: viz. 1. The Arnon, which descends from the mountain of the same name, and discharges itself into the Dead Sea : -2. The Sihor (the Belus of ancient geographers, at present called the Kardanah,) has its source about four miles to the east of the heads of the river Kishon. It waters the plains of Acre and Esdraelon, and falls into the sea at the gulf of Keilah : -3. The brook Jabbok takes its rise in the same mountains, and falls into the river Jordan :- - 4. the Kanah, or brook of reeds, springs from the mountains of Judah but only flows during the winter: it falls into the Mediterranean Sea near Cæsarea :-5. The brook Besor (1· Sam. xxx. 9.) falls into the same sea between Gaza and Rhinocorura :-6. The Kishon issues from the mountains of Carmel, at the foot of which it forms two streams; one flows eastward into the sea of Galilee, and the other, taking a westerly course through the plain of Jezreel or Esdraelon, discharges itself into the Mediterranean Sea. This is the stream noticed in 1 Kings xviii. 40. :—7. Kedron, Kidron, or Cedron, as it is variously termed, runs in the valley of Jehoshaphat, eastward of Jerusalem, between that city and the mount of Olives; except during the winter, or after heavy rains, its channel is generally dry, but when swollen by torrents it flows with great impetuosity.

*2 Sam. xv. 23. 1 Kings xv. 13. 2 Kings xxiii. 6. 12. 2 Chron. xxix, 16, Jer, xxxi. 40. John xviii. 1.

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The city of Antioch, now called by its inhabitants Antaky, is seated at the foot of a steep and bare hill, which terminates the range of Jebel Okrah, the mount Casius of the ancients standing on its north-western side, and having open before it a wide valley, and the range of Jebel Ahhmar from west to north, at the distance of from ten to fifteen miles. It thus resembles, very nearly, the situation of Balbeck in the valley of Bukhah, as these mountains are not much inferior to Libanus and Anti Libanus in height, and the valley between them is about the same breadth, and takes the same direction of N. E. leaving an unbounded plain in that quarter: but here the hill that overlooks the town is steeper and more abrupt than at Balbeck, and the vale in which it stands is more thickly wooded and highly cultivated, as the course of the Ahssy through it distributes fertility along its winding way."

The town, though inferior only to Aleppo, Damascus, and Hamah, in size, and, consequently larger than any of those on the coast, is not so well built as these generally are, and has no large public buildings of any

*Antioch is described by Benjamin, of Tudela, to be situated in the valley of Jabok, upon the river Pir, which comes from Lebanon through the land of Hamath. It was thought in his day, to be the best fortified place in the hands of the gentiles.

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