their action or light, as tho-e seen in the more northern regions, nor were they coloured; but they were always accompanied by the black vapoury shroud, which hid every thing else from view,

and added greatly to the lustre of their exodus from the horizon.

Having made the foregoing sketch, I again returned to view the Aurora, which had somewhat changed its appearance.

Both arcs or belts were now less distinct, the lower one almost obliterated, but still its place was well marked by the arch of vapour below, which was darker than ever. Three large spots of intense light now displayed themselves, one on the horizontal chord, and one on each side of the lower arch, whilst this lower zone shot out innumerable pencils and floods of light from its dark nucleus, the upper zone also darting forth long lines of brilliant rays; all these rays from both hands moving in a very stately march or progression from east to west.

Towards the southern and western portions of the heavens, all was clear blueblack star-light, Orion being particularly brilliant; the north was as if overspread with a thin veil, through which the stars were barely visible.

I watched these alterations of the phenomenon until after ten; and the last I observed presented this form; after which the arches became less distinct, and eventually, with the exception of the great arch, passed away.

In this fourth change the Aurora, it will be observed, resumed its three arches, but they were no longer concentric, the third being broken on the right into a portion of a fourth. Between the second and third the darkness was the darkness of blackness, whilst the third arch was light itself; but the lower arches were not so bright, and the lower nucleus was only darkish, which was contrary to every state that it had presented, under any former observations, for several years.

The constant arch of the Aurora of the lakes has, I believe, never been noticed in any scientific publication as is well worthy the attention of the learned. Whether it is created by a peculiar locality of the matter of which the substance of the Aurora is composed, or whether the Aurora itself, as the magnetic influence, has a peculiar pole from whence its effluences emanate, can scarcely be, at present, determined; but it is, at all events highly singular, that in a latitude so low as 44°, the Aurora should assume forms unknown in the higher northern regions, where its powers were hitherto supposed to have developed themselves in the highest possible state.

Not having been very well when this singular scene occurred, I did not take all that notice of it which it deserved. I trust I shall be able during the winter to note the atmospheric phenomena which accompany it, more particularly, as well as to give more detailed accounts, and more perfect drawings.

II. Solar Phenomenon.

Immediately previous to the alteration of the weather at Kingston, on Lake Ontario, after an unusual duration of severe frost, and about the middle of March, at near four o'clock in the afternoon of Sunday, I observed a singular species of halo or rainbow.

The day was mild, and there was scarcely any wind, and no rain, but the face of the sky was overclouded, and the sun appeared as it does through a slight fog.

Around the luminary, at a radial distance of perhaps twenty degrees there was a dark halo of the usual defined character and appearance; and circling this halo in various places. a rainbow was visible. This rainbow was brightest in the eastern and western parts of the halo, where it assumed that peculiar appearance which seafaring men call weatherdogs, and which are of very frequent occurrence in the northern division of the Atlantic Ocean.

It was evident from the dull whitish light that was diffused about those portions of the circumference of the halo on which the prismatic colours were not perfectly defined, that, in some situations, an observer might witness the singularly interesting spectacle of a circum-solar rainbow, in which the prismatic colours

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formed a complete circle, concentric with the sun.

In the course of the winter season, during changes of the weather from frost to a thaw, I have frequently observed a small portion of a vertical arch of the above description, although the sun was hardly visible. Usually these occurrences have taken place when the sun has been at the same elevation as in the instance here described. They have always happened when there was no rain.

I am unable to say whether the ap pearances might not be created by reflection from the brilliant surface of such a vast body of ice, unincumbered by snow, as has been presented by Lake Ontario during the last winter, as it is difficult to account for the formation of a rainbow of so small a diameter on the usual principles, since the sun at the time was forty degrees above the horizon.

I have used the word rainbow in the above description, although it is not a correct one, as there were no appearances of rain during the presence of the phenomenon, although it is true there was a slight mist or fog.

Since writing the above, I have seen an almost complete circum-solar rainbow, which appeared at Toronto, Upper Canada, July, 1834, at seven in the morning.

MR. MACKINTOSH'S LECTURES ON HIS ELECTRICAL THEORY OF THE UNIVERSE.

On Monday, the 3rd instant, at the "Hall of Science," City-road, Mr. Mackintosh delivered the first of a series of lectures on the "Electrical Theory of the Universe," which are to be continued every Monday evening. In the course of his introductory observations, he instanced some striking analogies from the vegetable and animal kingdoms, tending to prove that every thing in nature, of which we have any knowledge, has a birth, rises to maturity, and gradually declines to a final dissolution.

In the vegetable kingdom, he remarked, the young shoots of plants are mere collections of sap, vessels of the most delicate, soft, and pulpy texture, which are filled with juices in a state of the most active circulation; as the plant advances to maturity, the soft pulpy texture hardens into solid timber, and the circulation of the juices is less active; as the tree declines, the cellular texture continues to fill with solid matter, by which the circula ion is impeded, until at last the circulation is stopped, and the plant dies and falls to the earth a piece of dry dead, inert, matter.

In the animal kingdom the same arrange

ment of circumstances prevail; the muscle of the young animal is soft and juicy, the bone is mere cartilage; the same process goes on as in the vegetable: at mature age the cartilage is hardened into solid bone, and the muscle is firm and compact; as old age creeps on the bones become hard and brittle, the flesh begins to ossify, the circulation is impeded more and more, and is at length entirely stopped by the ossifying process, and the animal dies of extreme old age.

These are the natural processes, from birth to death, in the animal and vegetable kingdoms, provided the constitution of the animal or plant is sound and good; and provided, also, that they escape the casual diseases and accidents incident to animal and vegetable life.

Mr. M. next proceeded to show that the earth itself is undergoing the same ossifying process; that that, which was once the soft and friable surface of the earth, is now composed of hard and impenetrable marble, in which are found the remains of animals and plants thereby proving, beyond all controversy, that that bed of marble must have been at a former period composed of soft and yielding materials.

On these principles he proceeded to contend, that at a remote period the earth existed in the soft, loose, aeriform state of a comet, that the process of condensation or ossification has been going on from the beginning, and will continue to go on until at last the whole earth will be converted into solid stone, and in that condition it will fall back into the sun, to be again converted into aeriform matter, and so on, ad infinitum.

The lecture for Monday next treats of the laws and sources of motion, which must be of special interest in the present age of steam-carriages and railroads, and will no doubt be handled in a manner equally original.

publication, but few comparatively have been employed; in the interim, various improvements have been introduced, all tending greatly to increase its convenience and usefulness. It is truly lamentable to hear of the accidents that are continually happening in the metropolis from the want of some such contrivance as this, for the protection of servants while cleaning the outside of windows. A recent calamity of this kind called forth the following remarks which appeared in the Morning Herald newspaper about a fortnight ago:

"Destruction of Human Life by Windowcleaning. The very inhuman practice of compelling female servants to clean the windows of their employers, though not punishable by our laws, certainly ought to be subjected to certain legal penalties by fine or imprisonment; in the first place, the party should be smartly fined, for ordering, or even permitting any house-servant, male or female, to clean the windows of their premises; and should the want of decency and Christian feeling compel their servants to do this illegal act, and should the servant be severely injured in consequence of obeying such orders, then the law should compel the employer to maintain the party until quite able to earn their bread; but in case the servant should fall and become a victim to the violent and cruel death which inevitably follows, then the employer ought to be handed over to a criminal tribunal, to be tried for the crime of manslaughter, and if convicted, then condemned to imprisonment for any term not less than one month, nor more than two years, according to the nature of the offence; a very few cases of such punishments would, we are quite certain, put a stop to this growing enormity, which, instead of being laid aside as barbarous and cruel, appears to increase in a frightful degree; so much so, that we can hardly go through a street of any length without being pained with the sight of some poor servant, generally a female, dangling on the window-sill of what is, par excellence, denominated "the drawing-room," or the second floor window; and on three several occasions have we been horror-struck by seeing those devoted victims of a miserable and inhuman spirit of economy, precipitated to the pavement, or transfixed upon the iron spikes of the railings before the house, whilst the heartless employers looked on with more indifference than if a favourite cat or monkey had been the sufferer. We ask, again, is this cruel and degrading practice to be still suffered to exist in Christian England ?—a practice that destroys annually a greater number of innocent persons by a torturing death, than are de

stroyed in the same time, by the arm of the penal code, for crimes of violence and blood! Another victim to this poverty-stricken economy has just been sent to the Middlesex Hospital, having fallen from a window, forty feet from the ground, in Golden-square. As the poor girl is not likely to recover, we hope the Coroner's Jury will lay a heavy deodand upon the window as the cause of her death. Juries ought to use their power in such cases; if they do not, it will be indispensable to make this offence a criminal one."

Although strong, this language is by

no means stronger than the occasion requires, and it is to be hoped, that the public press will be able to put a stop to the practice of compelling servants to clean the outside of windows without some adequate protection.

The accompanying drawing, fig. 1, represents Gregory's safety window-cleaner in use; it consists of a floor, a, with two sides bb, and a back e hinged to it. On the under side a frame with two legs is connected with the floor of the machine

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such a compact form as to occupy but little space, and to be carried from room to room, as required, with the utmost facility. When necessary to be used, the sides are first set up, and then the back, which catching hold of a spring on either side, becomes perfectly firm, and is still farther secured by the binding-iron e, which also catches a spring on either side, and the whole becomes firm and immoveable. Females or others may stand within this portable balcony, and perform the external cleaning of windows with as much safety as they now do the interior. The machine is secured to the window-sill by a couple of legs, sliding on the arms which project within the room, and fixed at a suitable distance by iron pins. So far the contrivance is admirable, but perhaps one of the greatest improvements made in this machine by its talented inventor, has been its conversion into a very convenient and very efficient fire-escape, thereby making it a life-preserver of a two-fold kind.

For the latter purpose the floor a is made moveable, and being taken away, the apparatus (fig. 2) is inserted, consist ing of a wooden frame and cradle, in which females, children, invalids, &c. may be lowered in safety.

Fig. 2.

The cradle is suspended by two ropes, which pass up through the sides of the frame, then through two of the cross bars, and can afterwards be passed once or twice round the last bar, which is hinged on for the purpose, so that suffi cient friction may be generated to permit

the descent to be safely made by the individuals themselves without any extraneous aid. The cradle can be lowered either by the persons within it, by those above, or by assistants in the street, according to circumstances.

Within the last three weeks a gentleman has been severely injured by precipitating himself from an upper window to save his life from destruction by fire; and within the last week a female has lost her life by throwing herself and her child from a window of her burning habitation, within a few yards of a police-station and of a fire-engine station provided with fire-escapes, &c.

After this, and numberless similar instances, it must be evident that little or no dependance can be placed upon the chance of external aid, and that, to obtain perfect security, individuals must themselves provide the means of escape. The two-fold advantages possessed by the machine now submitted, renders it, in my opinion, a most eligible and effectual life-preserver against two of the most frequent and most distressing accidents "that flesh is heir to."

The circumstance of the machine being frequently employed for windowcleaning, &c., would ensure its being kept in good repair, and would also render its management so familiar, that in one minute it might be set up, even in the dark, and an escape immediately effected.

P.S.-Since the above communication was in the printer's hands, another lamentable accident has occurred-another fellow-creature been sacrificed to the abominable practice of unprotected window. cleaning. The Morning Herald of Monday last contained the following comment on this catastrophe :

"Another Victim to Window-cleaning.-It is not more than ten or twelve days since we had the painful duty of recording the destruction of a human life, by a species of homicide which, we believe, is unknown, except in our Christian' and benevolent country.' This cruel and wanton species of homicide, which disgraces the British character, is unhappily not recognised as a crime, or even a misdemeanour, by our criminal code, which, though lately sanguinary to a most revolting degree, and even in its miti