Personal Narrative Of Travels To The Equinoctial Regions Of America During The Years 1799-1804 - Volume 1 - By Alexander Von Humboldt And Aime Bonpland.
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I Have Proved By Experiments Published In 1797, That The
Shining Of Wood Is Extinguished In Hydrogen Gas, And In Pure Azotic
Gas, And That Its Light Reappears Whenever We Mix With It The
Smallest Bubble Of Oxygen Gas.
These facts, to which several others
may be added, tend to explain the causes of the phosphorescence of
the sea, and of that peculiar influence which the shock of the
waves exercises on the production of light.
When we were between the island of Madeira and the coast of Africa,
we had slight breezes and dead calms, very favourable for the
magnetic observations, which occupied me during this passage. We
were never weary of admiring the beauty of the nights; nothing can
be compared to the transparency and serenity of an African sky. We
were struck with the innumerable quantity of falling stars, which
appeared at every instant. The farther progress we made towards the
south, the more frequent was this phenomenon, especially near the
Canaries. I have observed during my travels, that these igneous
meteors are in general more common and luminous in some regions of
the globe than in others; but I have never beheld them so
multiplied as in the vicinity of the volcanoes of the province of
Quito, and in that part of the Pacific ocean which bathes the
volcanic coasts of Guatimala. The influence which place, climate,
and season appear to exercise on the falling stars, distinguishes
this class of meteors from those to which we trace stones that drop
from the sky (aerolites), and which probably exist beyond the
boundaries of our atmosphere. According to the observations of
Messrs. Benzenberg and Brandes, many of the falling stars seen in
Europe have been only thirty thousand toises high. One was even
measured which did not exceed fourteen thousand toises, or five
nautical leagues. These measures, which can give no result but by
approximation, deserve well to be repeated. In warm climates,
especially within the tropics, falling stars leave a tail behind
them, which remains luminous 12 or 15 seconds: at other times they
seem to burst into sparks, and they are generally lower than those
in the north of Europe. We perceive them only in a serene and azure
sky; they have perhaps never been below a cloud. Falling stars
often follow the same direction for several hours, which direction
is that of the wind. In the bay of Naples, M. Gay-Lussac and myself
observed luminous phenomena very analogous to those which fixed my
attention during a long abode at Mexico and Quito. These meteors
are perhaps modified by the nature of the soil and the air, like
certain effects of the looming or mirage, and of the terrestrial
refraction peculiar to the coasts of Calabria and Sicily.
When we were forty leagues east of the island of Madeira, a
swallow* (* Hirundo rustica, Linn.) perched on the topsail-yard. It
was so fatigued, that it suffered itself to be easily taken. It was
remarkable that a bird, in that season, and in calm weather, should
fly so far.
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