Jo flie phenomena tc f Norway, ,aiMlfo£:$he afta.
J^efe,.^tp <|nq$e [jmiP^dfotgly my;firbjeiSi,gthan -natural philofophy
ip. gpi^aj.^. .1 flatter rnyfolf, m’ay, tin* tome* re“vf!
foe^bpdcflvf lonie ibenefit from .this work.
..„A that the; norther® peafant, tho?-*he
flops pot arrogantly protend., to inform -us, what '?th'e Aurora
horea.in'jj is^ypt hjC jp not fo ftnpid asSt^imagfee Jt to be foxhp
jrpmppflous portent pf wars, the deaths of princes, and other
dirpfyJnifVepts^£which Ji&s been the interpretation er thdfe5 lights,
eyep tjll mpcfofft ffejes, when >tfeey have .been leen’ i’h France,
Spain, pnd Itftly, imd been made ufe of-t©‘Circulate a general
terror pnfl ^ntflety, very feldorrf -as-the oiridn oPany happvjevent; ‘
X?t .a .figpal foftgnpeqf the latter happened 'even^inTNorWay,
anfl up fonger ago than the middle of the laft cehtu-ry; which,
firnong other things focws, the north-light formerly xlot to have
been flip veiy Ijlhal evenhene, or not fo well JqwSKa/f But one
extraordinary circumftance is, that the perfon ynoi inwippacS
this light as an omen, was a pnofeflbr of phyfips aftcFm^jhdma-
tics, wflo, in the middle of the laft century, was firmly^perfoaded
of having fepn an apparition, which probably was -no "other than
the nordt-light; and this apparition revealed to him6t^]imfeiir--
tant and happy revolution, which, within tKr^^ ^ ^ffieF;i|ap-i
pened in this kingdom, when the government was changed into
an independent hereditary .monarchy *.
* The authority to which I can appeal for this, is in J. H. Feuftking’s Gynae-
- ceum Haeret. Fanat. p. rp ■ 6gS _ in thefe words: “ A few years fin ce. died here in
Kemberg, in his 9yd year, our learned and experienced phy.fioian Ambrofe Rhodes,
who, whilft profeffor of natural philofophy and mathematics,' at Chriftiana in Nor*
way, pr,eflifited from the appearances which were obferyed at Eger in Norway on the
ift of Auguft, 1657, that Frederic III. who was then on-»lie throne of-Denmark,
yrould be inyefted -with an -unfimited fovereignty, and that the. kingdom befpte
eledtiye, would fig thus made heteditary. An- account- of:his thoughts arid; irifefeSees
from - this phaerfomenoh,' he drew 'up in writing at- the prefling requeftof Jens Bil-
kens, chancellor of-the kingdom, I muft own that fome particulars in. it .are very
aftonilhing, and‘appear fo ev.en -to .the celebrated C. S. Sohurtzfl’eifch, 'who'in his
Latin letters (which are very well worth reading) mentions it in the following mam
‘ ner.. | Memorabile eft in vicino oppido Kembergenfi, medici et, mathema,tici non in-
glorii judicium de^oftentp quodam in Norvegia yifo,’ unde praefagivit Regi Danise
Eriderico III. plenam et hsereditariam poteftatem,' qupd eventus An. 1666, appro-1
N A T U R A L H 1 S T 6 ft Y. q£ iV 0 R WAT,
1 e .■ C;TV t v . >
From the light, which is the fw; object -of perception in the
air, I proceed, to its hpgj and cold. The, degrees of t-hefe, as
already obferyed, am.vefF .yafious; atid this pot only from the
annua) vj.ciflitpdes.0f the feafopsy •’b.U.t.flp the very lam? fgftfon^
and oft .die fome day, the vgrjflflgnefsrfo.-gre^teT than ftrangers caft "
wefl conceive to he pofuhlo-' I fliall the rather enlarge pn this remarkable
phenomenon, as it is a manifefl: .argument of-the power
pn/j wifdom of the Creator and-hi^jt^der.e^p pfihjs^ipprtures *
On the eaft-fide of Norway,^ or fropl r.me,.foontier|pf Swpflpfl .,to
Filefiefd, that is inmpft of the-prbyjnce.s, pfoe winters cold genft^
rally fets in about the middle of October, lafting till the- middle
of April, or, according to the ^cpmpntatjon^of the peafonts, frorp
Galixtus’s day to that of Tiburtus, wheft- .the air sgrhere., m
cold as at the extremity of the temperate ;~3©ne, The waters
®re frozen tq a thick ice, and the mountains „and. yafleys eOY^efl
with foow, I fhall hereafter prodne&^me inftances of. the
treme, intenfenef« of the ookl. However, ;‘mis is of fuch importance
IK) the welfare af the country, that, in a mild winter, the
ne-afant«, who Ijve among the mquftmiQ?> am coafiderable duffer-
ersj for, without this fevere frofl; and fopyy, ,they can neither cpn-
vey the timber they have felled, to the river,.nor carry theft: corn»
butter, fifs,? and other commodities, in their fledges* r|o. markep-
towns,, aftd after the fole ofil^m, 5fi||irv:toe^^ necefforie? they
are there'fupplied with. I muft here^mfeirooll awonderfulrn-
.ftance o-jTffiSml^e*meQnoiiny,’’which.-I.®ipyld hefitate; to commit
to writing« did not thoufonds gf ^wgtneflef. confirm itj-j .whe® the
f^ ^ n^ ra fo g to^the^hmiiiolri^bpiniqo, ana"SilAi', die poftifon i¥f! ?jolemy’yJG^fegfi
cap. viiiS Cpunwes .equally d^i4nt‘f r®n? j , ef*e^allf W, tjjbs.litie,'' thpufo bkve
equal, pojd and h e a t .B p t that thS^OColmc cafe is p^qyed DyFrorelMr kaeftner in
hlSExpihnatiWbf’Br. Halley’s ti^thod df cafeufa®nfg fieat,Hambufjg Wagaxihfl&liii
iq p ,4 ?6 , buy none o’fIthe jpftaq?es adduced by hm) are,ft)^:lwsas,what might
have beeh brought tr&m tne’tfetural ftafe of Norway; had ne u.een Scqrfamfed Wifh.
it. The true, caufe p f the want of heat, in the northern coijhtries,. is the .vicinity
p f that pari or the globe, t&fhepble-; the iblar rays, thereTallmgjnra^d.miquely
anp, copfeqqetitly, n o th in g With fuclji fgree/as nfe'arthiFiiVife, wffirdthe.jr fall in
geipepqidllfr other,catile,j®o^CTfrrat^ftibii flie ignorant,
' namely, i the’ greater diftance’iof.the, fun',' can occn:;on‘ na great .di(fere.::.ct-, if we1 cqh-
fidej: the vatt.diftance of ih? iqH’ ftpm the.e^rth^ »fqnfifnng 'of fo fo^tijliteifliqtii of
miles; .for this being'cqnm^red two h'updr? 3 T ' d f o r ’lefef dahnofbe fuppofed
. to idTeil.us, at leaf!; not in any degree.; efpecially .as we ktiow, that the fun is ftrtheft
frdm' the earth m Klie hei’gntRof ftrrhmer, .'and nearefe it aibOut Cftriftqtes btit it
than defeends fb 'very low-, that, frorn t^'bollq'uit.y of its rays; it grtfes* little or ho
'
i " winter
Tlie wi’ntejr
milid in the
weftern parts,
and) the ft of:
Seldom fevers
or laftingy