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Roman Gods as a certain modern poet of our times does now on the religions of Europe. When, however, the Roman satirist said,

Nullum numen habes si sit Prudentia, quamvis

Te facimus Fortuna deam coeloque locamus,

he overshot his mark; for there is no fact more notoriously true, than that, take what pains we will to follow Prudence and her counsels, we are not wholly exempt from those sudden reverses of fortune which no human foresight can guard against; and that fatality has made even those men superstitious who have possessed strong and intelligent minds on all other subjects, and has given Fortune a more extensive dominion and a longer reign than has fallen to the lot of the other divinities who were her former companions in the Pagan Heaven. Great warriors, and mariners in particular, have been more prone to worship Fortune and the Fates than philosophers; because they are habitually exposed to more violent impressive and unexpected vicissitudes, which have inspired them with notions of Fatalism; while philosophers, studying in secure retreats, in the gardens of colleges, or in their own quiet chambers, have had time to contemplate on subjects of a speculative nature more closely, and have seen that the particular destiny or lot of mortals, which appoints to each man a course to run and a time to die, cannot be separated from Philosophical Necessity in general, which ascribes all things to an inevitable source of causes. Be all this as it may, however, no superstition is more popular and universal, under some form or other, than that which relates to good and evil luck, to destiny, and to Fortune. And this belief is in every country accompanied by a belief in certain ominous tokens of the particular luck of individuals, which are variously, and under ten thousand modifications, ascribed to some half conceived secret agents, by people of every known religion and country. Certain extraordinary Coincidences, and the run of luck at cards and games of chance, and the strange way that things often fall out in combinations, have contributed to perpetuate this notion; and it seems probable that the divinity celebrated today by one of her surnames, that of Feminine, will outlive the other gods and goddesses, whose power, when once seriously questioned, is lost for ever. For there seems to be this remarkable circumstance in the history of superstitions, that the same superstition never prevails more than once, and being once overthrown is gone from the world for ever. So that the philosopher, who bowed to a dilapidated statue of Jupiter, and said, "Ah! it will be your turn again some

day!" was wrong, and offered unwarranted consolation to the discarded god. The physical speculations on the elements by the philosophers of the banks of the Nile, whose records are lost in the night of history, gave rise to the personified polytheism of Aegypt, which was transferred to Greece, and by degrees introduced under modifications into Rome. At the fall of the empire, and the change of religion, the statues of the Heathen Gods were exchanged for the pious images of Catholic Saints; but though the latter may wane away, the former will never be restored; at least all historical facts are against it.

To return to Fortune: we may observe that, like the others, her fabled genealogy makes her out to be related to those other powers with which luck and the lot of men is naturally most apt to be associated; as Fate for example, the sea and its uncertain dangers, and so on. All her emblems too are representative of the evolution of unforeseen chances. She rides a rapid wheel blindfolded, or is represented trampling unweetingly on the just and the unjust, the careless and the provident, the rich and the poor. She is the daughter of Oceanus according to Homer, of one of the Parcae according to Pindar. In Achaia her statue held the horn of plenty in one hand, and had a winged Cupid at her feet. In Boeotia she had a statue which represented her as holding Plutus the god of riches in her arms: to intimate that Fortune is the source whence wealth and honours flow. Bupalus was the first who made a statue of Fortune for the people of Smyrna, and he represented her with the polar star upon her head, and the horn of plenty in her hand. The Romans paid particular attention to her, and had no less than eight different temples erected to her honour in their city. Tullus Hostilius was the first who built her a temple, and from that circumstance it is easily known when her worship was first introduced among the Romans. Her most famous temple in Italy was at Antium, whither presents and offerings were regularly sent from every part of the country. Fortune has been called Pherepolis the protectress of cities, and Acrea from the temple of Corinth on an augos or eminence. She was called Praenestina at Praeneste in Italy, where she had also a temple. Besides she was worshipped among the Romans under different names, such as Female Fortune, Virile Fortune, and Equestrian Fortune. For more particulars see our observations on April 1st, p. 150. See also June 11, and Horace's celebrated Ode to Fortune, which we have already quoted April the 6th, p. 164.

With regard to the omens of good and evil fortune, they have been believed in at all periods, and are often referable

to the abuse or misconception of certain real prognostics. Augury, and the whole doctrine of good and bad signs, may be referred to some ancient perception of obscure causes existing in nature, though so much misused afterwards. To accidental Coincidences may, perhaps, be referred the faith in the vain prophecies of reposed Visions and Dreams, and the ominous importance of certain natural things, as the appearance of Owls and other Birds and Animals, which even to the present day terrify the ignorant all over the world, and whose signs have been reduced to a system.

Lunar Superstitions regarding Luck.-It is said in Wiltshire to be unlucky to look at the New Moon first through a window. The Days of the Moon, and their particular omens, have been well known ever since the time of Virgil. It is a curious fact, mentioned by Mungo Parke, that the Mandingo Nations of Africa have similar superstitions, and say a short prayer to the New Moon.

The ancient superstition of the Man in the Moon, is supposed to have taken rise from the passage in the Book of Numbers, where a man is related to have been punished with death for picking up sticks on the Sabbath day.

COELUM.-Atmospherical Refraction.-The Power of the Atmosphere to disperse the Rays of Light in their Passage, and the effects of this Dispersion on Astronomical Observations, though long known, are circumstances which are as yet but imperfectly understood. Tables of Refraction calculated for application to the Catalogues of Stars, have been founded on this general fallacy, that they have been made General Tables, and have been composed on the false presumption that they would apply universally; whereas, in fact, there ought to be a separate Table of Mean Refraction for each Observatory. The Dispersive Power of the Atmosphere varies in different places, as well as at different times; and the partial or otherwise erroneous application of the General Tables of Mean Refraction has led to many anomalous and absurd results in Astronomy. Moreover, the Light of certain Stars being differently composed from that of others, their apparent place in the Heavens requires a different correction, in order to determine their real place. Some Stars are composed of a larger proportion of the more refrangible colours than others: thus Aldebaran, Arcturus, and Betalgeus, have more of the red rays; Sirius, Procyon, and Lucida Lyrae, more of the blue; and the Prismatic Spectra, which these said several Stars present in a dispersive lens will be found to accord with their ordinary appearance in this respect. Antares, again, has

more red rays than many Stars have, and also exhibits in a more prominent degree that extraordinary alternation of colour in the alternate twinkling, than other Stars. Some Stars, again, have more of the yellow rays. And this diversity in the composition of the light of the Stars, causes them not only to appear of a different colour to the naked eye, but to produce severally in the prismatic lens a prodigiously different sort of Spectrum: for the apparent colour of the Star must depend on the proportion in which the primitive coloured rays are compounded.

A similar observation may be made with regard to the Planets which shine by the reflected light of the Sun; for different planets seem to be of different colours, both when seen with the naked eyes, and when viewed in the prism: thus, Jupiter appears to be of a somewhat greener light, when viewed at the same time with Sirius. And Jupiter presents a most remarkable prismatic spectrum in the lens, as was first observed by Mr. Lee in a paper read at the Royal Society. Mars is much redder, and Venus whiter in colour. Now, as Planets have no light of their own, we must suppose the difference in their apparent colour to arise from their different Powers to absorb and reflect the rays of the Sun. They may be regarded as imperfectly dispersive mirrors: and whether this property results from their dense bodies themselves, or from the dispersive power of their several Atmospheres, cannot be easily determined. Again: certain Stars have more intensity of light in proportion to their apparent size than others. Some Stars are brilliant and white, others dull white, others red, others yellow, and so on.

It will be found, that when the Bright White Stars are viewed in the Prismatic Lens, they exhibit much of the beautiful Violet, and other more refrangible colours; of which Sirius furnishes the most brilliant instance. The Dull White Stars exhibit a great deal of green light; the Red Stars shew only a very small proportion of the most refrangible rays, and present a red Spectrum.

Jupiter shews but little green in the spectrum, though he appears greenish when compared, as viewed with the naked eyes, with Sirius. Jupiter, Venus, and also the Moon, exhibit nearly all the colours in the Spectrum, as seen in a Prismatic Lens. Mars has but few of the most refrangible rays. We have not observed Mercury; but Mr. Lee, in a Paper lately read at the Society, states that he is found very deficient in the more refrangible rays, and that Saturn has most of the mean rays.

When viewed near the horizon, Stars as well as Planets

present, in a certain degree, all the above phenomena in ordinary telescopes; and, even without any glasses, at all times, great differences may be found. All the above circumstances must cause a difference in the corrections to be made to each Star, or Planet, by means of the application of Refraction Tables.

Another very remarkable Phenomenon is the permutation of colour of certain Stars when near the horizon, which appears in their alternate twinklings. See our Calendar for January 16, where a Paper was, in the hasty composition of this work, accidentally cited verbatim from the Monthly Magazine, instead of being written out and revised.

Till all the above circumstances are duly considered, and till Tables of Mean Refraction are made out, conformed to each Longitude and Latitude, Altitude and Climate, the results will never be correct. The great diversity in the power of the atmosphere to refract certain light at different times, is observable in the various colours exhibited by Clouds on different occasions; sometimes by the colouring power of the Clouds themselves, but oftener from the Sun's light, simply reflected by the Clouds, being coloured by the dispersive power of the atmosphere through which it passes. A sudden change, for example, from golden yellow to crimson or red, often suddenly takes place on the first falling of Dew about Sunset. See Phil. Mag. for 1824.

It seems owing to some Stars being duller in light than others that they became the soonest obscured, by the condensing of the sky into cloud before rain; as, for instance, the two small Stars of the Aselli in the Constellation of the Crab, of whose peculiar prognostic so much is said by Aratus. The Pleiades are remarkably brilliant for their size. One should expect that the light of different Stars would produce differences in the coloured halos seen sometimes to surround them.

We have otherwhere noticed the Double Spectrum of the Moon in laminated States of the Atmosphere, like the double refraction in the Spar.

December 2. St. Bibiana Virgin and Martyr.

CHRONOLOGY.-Napoleon Buonaparte crowned Emperor of France in the Cathedral of Notre Dame in 1804, by Pope Pius VII.

Battle of Austerlitz in Moravia, in 1805.

Died in 1805, aged 69 years, the Rev. Benjamin Forster, Rector of Boconnoc and Bradoc, of Chenehayes St. Michael, St. Stephen, St. Denys, and Vicar of Chenehayes, all in the County of Cornwall. He was edu

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