Natural phenomena marked with the marvellous—Spectre of the Brocken described—Analogous phenomena—AËrial spectres seen in Cumberland—Fata Morgana in the Straits of Messina—Objects below the horizon raised and magnified by refraction—Singular example seen at Hastings—Dover Castle seen through the hill on which it stands—Erect and inverted images of distant ships seen in the air—Similar phenomena seen in the Arctic regions—Enchanted coast—Mr. Scoresby recognizes his father’s ship by its aËrial image—Images of cows seen in the air—Inverted image of horses seen in South America—Lateral images produced by refraction—AËrial spectres by reflexion—Explanation of the preceding phenomena.

Among the wonders of the natural world which are every day presented to us, without either exciting our surprise or attracting our notice, some are occasionally displayed which possess all the characters of supernatural phenomena. In the names by which they are familiarly known, we recognize the terror which they inspired, and even now, when science has reduced them to the level of natural phenomena, and developed the causes from which they arise, they still retain their primitive importance, and are watched by the philosopher with as intense an interest as when they were deemed the immediate effects of Divine power. Among these phenomena we may enumerate the Spectre of the Brocken, the Fata Morgana of the Straits of Messina, the Spectre Ships which appear in the air, and the other extraordinary effects of the Mirage.14

The Brocken is the name of the loftiest of the Hartz mountains, a picturesque range which lies in the kingdom of Hanover. It is elevated 3,300 feet above the sea, and commands the view of a plain seventy leagues in extent, occupying nearly the two-hundredth part of the whole of Europe, and animated with a population of above five millions of inhabitants. From the earliest periods of authentic history, the Brocken has been the seat of the marvellous. On its summits are still seen huge blocks of granite called the Sorcerer’s Chair and the Altar. A spring of pure water is known by the name of the Magic Fountain, and the Anemone of the Brocken is distinguished by the title of the Sorcerer’s Flower. These names are supposed to have originated in the rites of the great idol Cortho, whom the Saxons worshipped in secret on the summit of the Brocken, when Christianity was extending her benignant sway over the subjacent plains.

As the locality of these idolatrous rites, the Brocken must have been much frequented, and we can scarcely doubt that the spectre which now so often haunts it at sunrise must have been observed from the earliest times; but it is nowhere mentioned that this phenomenon was in any way associated with the objects of their idolatrous worship. One of the best accounts of the spectre of the Brocken is that which is given by M. Haue, who saw it on the 23rd of May, 1797. After having been on the summit of the mountain no less than thirty times, he had at last the good fortune of witnessing the object of his curiosity. The sun rose about four o’clock in the morning through a serene atmosphere. In the south-west, towards Achtermannshohe, a brisk west wind carried before it the transparent vapours, which had not yet been condensed into thick heavy clouds. About a quarter past four he went towards the inn, and looked round to see whether the atmosphere would afford him a free prospect towards the south-west, when he observed at a very great distance, towards Achtermannshohe, a human figure of a monstrous size. His hat having been almost carried away by a violent gust of wind, he suddenly raised his hand to his head to protect his hat, and the colossal figure did the same. He immediately made another movement by bending his body,—an action which was repeated by the spectral figure. M. Haue was desirous of making further experiments, but the figure disappeared. He remained, however, in the same position, expecting its return, and in a few minutes it again made its appearance on the Achtermannshohe, when it mimicked his gestures as before. He then called the landlord of the inn, and having both taken the same position which he had before, they looked towards the Achtermannshohe, but saw nothing. In a very short space of time, however, two colossal figures were formed over the above eminence, and after bending their bodies and imitating the gestures of the two spectators, they disappeared. Retaining their position, and keeping their eyes still fixed upon the same spot, the two gigantic spectres again stood before them, and were joined by a third. Every movement that they made was imitated by the three figures, but the effect varied in its intensity, being sometimes weak and faint, and at other times strong and well defined.

In the year 1798, M. Jordan saw the same phenomenon at sunrise, and under similar circumstances, but with less distinctness, and without any duplication of the figures.15

Phenomena perfectly analogous to the preceding, though seen under less imposing circumstances, have been often witnessed. When the spectator sees his own shadow opposite to the sun upon a mass of thin fleecy vapour passing near him, it not only imitates all his movements, but its head is distinctly encircled with a halo of light. The aËrial figure is often not larger than life, its size and its apparent distance depending, as we shall afterwards see, upon particular causes. I have often seen a similar shadow when bathing in a bright summer’s day in an extensive pool of deep water. When the fine mud deposited at the bottom of the pool is disturbed by the feet of the bather, so as to be disseminated through the mass of water in the direction of his shadow, his shadow is no longer a shapeless mass formed upon the bottom, but is a regular figure formed upon the floating particles of mud, and having the head surrounded with a halo, not only luminous, but consisting of distinct radiations.

One of the most interesting accounts of aËrial spectres with which we are acquainted has been given by Mr. James Clarke, in his Survey of the Lakes of Cumberland, and the accuracy of this account was confirmed by the attestations of two of the persons by whom the phenomena were first seen. On a summer’s evening, in the year 1743, when Daniel Stricket, servant to John Wren, of Wilton Hall, was sitting at the door along with his master, they saw the figure of a man with a dog pursuing some horses along Souterfell-side, a place so extremely steep, that a horse could scarcely travel upon it at all. The figures appeared to run at an amazing pace, till they got out of sight at the lower end of the Fell. On the following morning, Stricket and his master ascended the steep side of the mountain, in the full expectation of finding the man dead, and of picking up some of the shoes of the horses, which they thought must have been cast while galloping at such a furious rate. Their expectations, however, were disappointed. No traces, either of man or horse, could be found, and they could not even discover upon the turf the single mark of a horse’s hoof. These strange appearances seen at the same time by two different persons in perfect health, could not fail to make a deep impression on their minds. They at first concealed what they had seen, but they at length disclosed it, and were laughed at for their credulity.

In the following year, on the 23rd June, 1744, Daniel Stricket, who was then servant to Mr. Lancaster, of Blakehills, (a place near Wilton Hall, and both of which places are only about half a mile from Souterfell,) was walking, about seven o’clock in the evening, a little above the house, when he saw a troop of horsemen riding on Souterfell-side, in pretty close ranks, and at a brisk pace. Recollecting the ridicule that had been cast upon him the preceding year, he continued to observe the figures for some time in silence; but being at last convinced that there could be no deception in the matter, he went to the house, and informed his master that he had something curious to show him. They accordingly went out together; but before Stricket had pointed out the place, Mr. Lancaster’s son had discovered the aËrial figures. The family was then summoned to the spot, and the phenomena were seen alike by them all. The equestrian figures seemed to come from the lowest parts of Souterfell, and became visible at a place called Knott. They then advanced in regular troops along the side of the Fell, till they came opposite to Blakehills, when they went over the mountain, after describing a kind of curvilineal path. The pace at which the figures moved was a regular swift walk, and they continued to be seen for upwards of two hours, the approach of darkness alone preventing them from being visible. Many troops were seen in succession; and frequently the last but one in a troop quitted his position, galloped to the front, and took up the same pace with the rest. The changes in the figures were seen equally by all the spectators, and the view of them was not confined to the farm of Blakehills only, but they were seen by every person at every cottage within the distance of a mile, the number of persons who saw them amounting to about twenty-six. The attestation of these facts, signed by Lancaster and Stricket, bears the date of the 21st July, 1785.

These extraordinary sights were received not only with distrust, but with absolute incredulity. They were not even honoured with a place in the records of natural phenomena, and the philosophers of the day were neither in possession of analogous facts, nor were they acquainted with those principles of atmospherical refraction upon which they depend. The strange phenomena, indeed, of the Fata Morgana, or the Castles of the Fairy Morgana, had been long before observed, and had been described by Kircher in the 17th century, but they presented nothing so mysterious as the aËrial troopers of Souterfell; and the general characters of the two phenomena were so unlike, that even a philosopher might have been excused for ascribing them to different causes.

This singular exhibition has been frequently seen in the straits of Messina, between Sicily and the coast of Italy, and whenever it takes place, the people, in a state of exultation, as if it were not only a pleasing but a lucky phenomenon, hurry down to the sea, exclaiming Morgana, Morgana! When the rays of the rising sun form an angle of 45° on the sea of Reggio, and when the surface of the water is perfectly unruffled, either by the wind or the current, a spectator placed upon an eminence in the city, and having his back to the sun and his face to the sea, observes upon the surface of the water superb palaces, with their balconies and windows, lofty towers, herds and flocks grazing in wooded valleys and fertile plains; armies of men on horseback and on foot, with multiplied fragments of buildings, such as columns, pilasters, and arches. These objects pass rapidly in succession along the surface of the sea during the brief period of their appearance. The various objects thus enumerated are pictures of palaces and buildings actually existing on shore, and the living objects are of course only seen when they happen to form a part of the general landscape.

If, at the time that these phenomena are visible, the atmosphere is charged with vapour or dense exhalations, the same objects which are depicted upon the sea will be seen also in the air, occupying a space which extends from the surface to the height of twenty-five feet. These images, however, are less distinctly delineated than the former.

If the air is in such a state as to deposit dew, and is capable of forming the rainbow, the objects will be seen only on the surface of the sea; but they all appear fringed with red, yellow, and blue light, as if they were seen through a prism.

In our own country, and in our own times, facts still more extraordinary have been witnessed. From Hastings, on the coast of Sussex, the cliffs on the French coast are fifty miles distant, and they are actually hid by the convexity of the earth; that is, a straight line drawn from Hastings to the French coast would pass through the sea. On Wednesday, the 26th of July, 1798, about five o’clock in the afternoon, Mr. Latham, a Fellow of the Royal Society, then residing at Hastings, was surprised to see a crowd of people running to the sea-side. Upon inquiry into the cause of this, he learned that the coast of France could be seen by the naked eye, and he immediately went down to witness so singular a sight. He distinctly saw the cliffs extending for some leagues along the French coast, and they appeared as if they were only a few miles off. They gradually appeared more and more elevated, and seemed to approach nearer to the eye. The sailors with whom Mr. Latham walked along the waters edge were at first unwilling to believe in the reality of the appearance; but they soon became so thoroughly convinced of it, that they pointed out and named to him the different places which they had been accustomed to visit, and which they conceived to be as near as if they were sailing at a small distance into the harbour. These appearances continued for nearly an hour, the cliffs sometimes appearing brighter and nearer, and at other times fainter and more remote. Mr. Latham then went upon the eastern cliff or hill, which is of considerable height, when, as he remarks, a most beautiful scene presented itself to his view. He beheld at once Dungeness, Dover cliffs, and the French coast all along from Calais, Boulogne, &c., to St. Vallery, and, as some of the fishermen affirmed, as far west as Dieppe. With the help of a telescope, the French fishing-boats were plainly seen at anchor, and the different colours of the land upon the heights, together with the buildings, were perfectly discernible. Mr. Latham likewise states that the cape of land called Dungeness, which extends nearly two miles into the sea, and is about sixteen miles in a straight line from Hastings, appeared as if quite close to it, and the vessels and fishing-boats which were sailing between the two places appeared equally near, and were magnified to a high degree. These curious phenomena continued “in the highest splendour” till past eight o’clock, although a black cloud had for some time totally obscured the face of the sun.

A phenomenon no less marvellous was seen by Professor Vince, of Cambridge, and another gentleman, on the 6th of August, 1806, at Ramsgate. The summits v w x y of the four turrets of Dover Castle are usually seen over the hill AB, upon which it stands, lying between Ramsgate and Dover; but on the day above-mentioned, at seven o’clock in the evening, when the air was very still and a little hazy, not only were the tops v w x y of the four towers of Dover Castle seen over the adjacent hill AB, but the whole of the Castle, m n r s, appeared as if it were situated on the side of the hill next Ramsgate, and rising above the hill as much as usual. This phenomenon was so very singular and unexpected, that at first sight Dr. Vince thought it an illusion; but upon continuing his observations, he became satisfied that it was a real image of the Castle. Upon this he gave a telescope to a person present, who, upon attentive examination, saw also a very clear image of the Castle as the Doctor had described it. He continued to observe it for about twenty minutes, during which time the appearance remained precisely the same; but rain coming on, they were prevented from making any further observations. Between the observers and the land from which the hill rises there was about six miles of sea, and from thence to the top of the hill there was about the same distance. Their own height above the surface of the water was about seventy feet.

This illusion derived great force from the remarkable circumstance, that the hill itself did not appear through the image, as it might have been expected to do. The image of the castle was very strong and well defined, and though the rays from the hill behind it must undoubtedly have come to the eye, yet the strength of the image of the castle so far obscured the background, that it made no sensible impression on the observers. Their attention was of course principally directed to the image of the castle; but if the hill behind had been at all visible, Dr. Vince conceives that it could not have escaped their observation, as they continued to look at it for a considerable time with a good telescope.

Hitherto our aËrial visions have been seen only in their erect and natural positions, either projected against the ground or elevated in the air; but cases have occurred in which both erect and inverted images of objects have been seen in the air, sometimes singly, sometimes combined, sometimes when the real object was invisible, and sometimes when a part of it had begun to show itself to the spectator.

In the year 1793, Mr. Huddart, when residing at Allonby, in Cumberland, perceived the inverted image of a ship beneath the image, as shown in Fig. 32; but Dr. Vince, who afterwards observed this phenomenon under a greater variety of forms, found that the ship, which was here considered the real one, was only an erect image of the real ship, which was at that time beneath the horizon, and wholly invisible.

In August, 1798, Dr. Vince observed a great variety of these aËrial images of vessels approaching the horizon. Sometimes there was seen only one inverted image above the real ship, and this was generally the case when the real ship was full in view. But when the real ship was just begin beginning to show its top-mast above the horizon, as at A, Fig. 33, two aËrial images of it were seen, one at B inverted, and the other in its natural position at C. In this case the sea was distinctly visible between the erect and inverted images, but in other cases the hull of the one image was immediately in contact with the hull of the other.

Analogous phenomena were seen by Captain Scoresby when navigating with the ship Baffin the icy sea in the immediate neighbourhood of West Greenland. On the 28th of June, 1820, he observed about eighteen sail of ships at the distance of ten or fifteen miles. The sun had shone during the day without the interposition of a cloud, and its rays were peculiarly powerful. The intensity of its light occasioned a painful sensation in the eyes, while its heat softened the tar in the rigging of the ship, and melted the snow on the surrounding ice with such rapidity that pools of fresh water were formed on almost every place, and thousands of rills carried the excess into the sea. There was scarcely a breath of wind: the sea was as smooth as a mirror. The surrounding ice was crowded together, and exhibited every variety, from the smallest lumps to the most magnificent sheets. Bears traversed the fields and floes in unusual numbers, and many whales sported in the recesses and openings among the drift ice. About six in the evening, a light breeze at N.W. having sprung up, a thin stratus or “fog bank,” at first considerably illuminated by the sun, appeared in the same quarter, and gradually rose to the altitude of about a quarter of a degree. At this time most of the ships navigating at the distance of ten or fifteen miles began to change their form and magnitude, and when examined by a telescope from the mast-head, exhibited some extraordinary appearances, which differed at almost every point of the compass. One ship had a perfect image, as dark and distinct as the original, united to its mast-head in a reverse position. Two others presented two distinct inverted images in the air, one of them a perfect figure of the original, and the other wanting the hull. Two or three more were strangely distorted, their masts appearing of at least twice their proper height, the top-gallant mast forming one-half of the total elevation; and other vessels exhibited an appearance totally different from all the preceding, being as it were compressed, in place of elongated. Their masts seemed to be scarcely one-half of their proper altitude, in consequence of which one would have supposed that they were greatly heeled-to one side, or in the position called careening. Along with all the images of the ships a reflexion of the ice, sometimes in two strata, also appeared in the air, and these reflexions suggested the idea of cliffs composed of vertical columns of alabaster.

On the 15th, 16th, and 17th of the same month, Mr. Scoresby observed similar phenomena, sometimes extending continuously through half the circumference of the horizon, and at other times appearing only in detached spots in various quarters. The inverted images of distant vessels were often seen in the air, while the ships themselves were far beyond the reach of vision. Some ships were elevated to twice their proper height, while others were compressed almost to a line. Hummocks of ice were surprisingly enlarged, and every prominent object in a proper position was either magnified or distorted.

But of all the phenomena witnessed by Mr. Scoresby, that of the Enchanted Coast, as it may be called, must have been the most remarkable. This singular effect was seen on the 18th of July, when the sky was clear, and a tremulous and perfectly transparent vapour was particularly sensible and profuse: at nine o’clock in the morning, when the phenomenon was first seen, the thermometer stood at 42° Fahr.; but in the preceding evening it must have been greatly lower, as the sea was in many places covered with a considerable pellicle of new ice,—a circumstance, which, in the very warmest time of the year, must be considered as quite extraordinary, especially when it is known that 10° farther to the north no freezing of the sea at this season had ever before been observed. Having approached on this occasion so near the unexplored shore of Greenland that the land appeared distinct and bold, Mr. Scoresby was anxious to obtain a drawing of it; but on making the attempt he found that the outline was constantly changing, and he was induced to examine the coast with a telescope, and to sketch the various appearances which presented themselves. These are shown, without any regard to their proper order, in Fig. 34, which we shall describe in Mr. Scoresby’s own words: “The general telescopic appearance of the coast was that of an extensive ancient city abounding with the ruins of castles, obelisks, churches, and monuments, with other large and conspicuous buildings. Some of the hills seemed to be surmounted by turrets, battlements, spires, and pinnacles; while others, subjected to one or two reflexions, exhibited large masses of rock, apparently suspended in the air, at a considerable elevation above the actual termination of the mountains to which they referred. The whole exhibition was a grand phantasmagoria. Scarcely was any particular portion sketched before it changed its appearance, and assumed the form of an object totally different. It was perhaps alternately a castle, a cathedral, or an obelisk; then expanding horizontally, and coalescing with the adjoining hills, united the intermediate valleys, though some miles in width, by a bridge of a single arch, of the most magnificent appearance and extent. Notwithstanding these repeated changes, the various figures represented in the drawing had all the distinctness of reality; and not only the different strata, but also the veins of the rocks, with the wreaths of snow occupying ravines and fissures, form sharp and distinct lines, and exhibited every appearance of the most perfect solidity.”

One of the most remarkable facts respecting aËrial images presented itself to Mr. Scoresby in a later voyage which he performed to the coast of Greenland in 1822. Having seen an inverted image of a ship in the air, he directed to it his telescope; he was able to discover it to be his father’s ship, which was at the time below the horizon. “It was,” says he, “so well defined, that I could distinguish by a telescope every sail, the general rig of the ship, and its particular character; insomuch, that I confidently pronounced it to be my father’s ship, the Fame, which it afterwards proved to be; though, on comparing notes with my father, I found that our relative position, at the time, gave a distance from one another very nearly thirty miles, being about seventeen miles beyond the horizon, and some leagues beyond the limit of direct vision. I was so struck with the peculiarity of the circumstance, that I mentioned it to the officer of the watch, stating my full conviction that the Fame was then cruising in the neighbouring inlet.”

Several curious effects of the mirage were observed by Baron Humboldt during his travels in South America. When he was residing at Cumana, he frequently saw the islands of Picuita and Boracha suspended in the air, and sometimes with an inverted image. On one occasion he observed small fishing-boats swimming in the air, during more than three or four minutes, above the well-defined horizon of the sea; and when they were viewed through a telescope, one of the boats had an inverted image accompanying it in its movements. This distinguished traveller observed similar phenomena in the barren steppes of the Caraccas, and on the borders of the Orinoco, where the river is surrounded by sandy plains. Little hills and chains of hills appeared suspended in the air, when seen from the steppes, at three or four leagues’ distance. Palm-trees standing single in the Llanos appeared to be cut off at bottom, as if a stratum of air separated them from the ground; and, as in the African desert, plains destitute of vegetation appeared to be rivers or lakes. At the Mesa de Pavona M. Humboldt and M. Bonpland saw cows suspended in the air at the distance of 1000 toises, and having their feet elevated 3’ 20” above the soil. In this case the images were erect, but the travellers learned from good authority that inverted images of horses had been seen suspended in the air near Calabozo.

In all these cases of aËrial spectres, the images were directly above the real object; but a curious case was observed by Messrs. Jurine and Soret on the 17th September, 1818, where the image of the vessel was on one side of the real one. About 10 P.M. a barque at the distance of about 4000 toises from Bellerive, on the lake of Geneva, was seen approaching to Geneva by the left bank of the lake, and at the same time an image of the sails was observed above the water, which, instead of following the direction of the barque, separated from it, and appeared to approach Geneva by the right bank of the lake, the image moving from east to west, while the barque moved from north to south. When the image first separated from the barque they had both the same magnitude, but the image diminished as it receded from it, and was reduced to one-half when the phenomenon disappeared.

A very unusual example of aËrial spectres occurred to Dr. A. P. Buchan while walking on the cliff about a mile to the east of Brighton, on the morning of the 28th of November, 1804. “While watching the rising of the sun,” says he, “I turned my eyes directly towards the sea, just as the solar disk emerged from the surface of the water, and saw the face of the cliff on which I was standing represented precisely opposite to me at some distance on the ocean. Calling the attention of my companion to this appearance, we discerned our own figures standing on the summit of the apparent opposite cliff, as well as the representation of the windmill near at hand.

“The reflected images were most distinct precisely opposite to where we stood, and the false cliff seemed to fade away, and to draw near to the real one, in proportion as it receded towards the west. This phenomenon lasted about ten minutes, or till the sun had risen nearly his own diameter above the surface of the ocean. The whole then seemed to be elevated into the air, and successively disappeared, giving an impression very similar to that which is produced by the drawing up of a drop-scene in a theatre. The horizon was cloudy, or perhaps it might with more propriety be said that the surface of the sea was covered with a dense fog of many yards in height, and which gradually receded before the rays of the sun.”

An illusion of a different kind, though not less interesting, is described by the Rev. Mr. Hughes in his Travels in Greece, as seen from the summit of Mount Ætna. “I must not forget to mention,” says he, “one extraordinary phenomenon, which we observed, and for which I have searched in vain for a satisfactory solution. At the extremity of the vast shadow which Ætna projects across the island, appeared a perfect and distinct image of the mountain itself elevated above the horizon, and diminished as if viewed in a concave mirror. Where or what the reflector could be which exhibited this image, I cannot conceive; we could not be mistaken in its appearance, for all our party observed it, and we had been prepared for it beforehand by our Catanian friends. It remained visible about ten minutes, and disappeared as the shadow decreased. Mr. Jones observed the same phenomenon, as well as some other friends with whom I conversed upon the subject in England.”

It is impossible to study the preceding phenomena without being impressed with the conviction, that nature is full of the marvellous, and that the progress of science and the diffusion of knowledge are alone capable of dispelling the fears which her wonders must necessarily excite even in enlightened minds. When a spectre haunts the couch of the sick, or follows the susceptible vision of the invalid, a consciousness of indisposition divests the apparition of much of its terror, while its invisibility to surrounding friends soon stamps it with the impress of a false perception. The spectres of the conjuror, too, however skilfully they may be raised, quickly lose their supernatural character; and even the most ignorant beholder regards the modern magician as but an ordinary man, who borrows from the sciences the best working implements of his art. But when, in the midst of solitude, and in situations where the mind is undisturbed by sublunary cares, we see our own image delineated in the air, and mimicking in gigantic perspective the tiny movements of humanity;—when we see troops in military array performing their evolutions on the very face of an almost inaccessible precipice—when, in the eye of day, a mountain seems to become transparent, and exhibits on one side of it a castle which we know to exist only on the other; when distant objects, concealed by the roundness of the earth, and beyond the cognisance of the telescope, are actually transferred over the intervening convexity and presented in distinct and magnified outline to our accurate examination;—when such varied and striking phantasms are seen also by all around us, and therefore appear in the character of real phenomena of nature, our impressions of supernatural agency can only be removed by a distinct and satisfactory knowledge of the causes which gave them birth.

It is only within the last forty years that science has brought these atmospherical spectres within the circle of her dominion; and not only are all their phenomena susceptible of distinct explanation, but we can even reproduce them on a small scale with the simplest elements of our optical apparatus.

In order to convey a general idea of the causes of these phenomena, let ABCD, Fig. 35, be a glass trough filled with water, and let a small ship be placed at S. An eye situated about E, will see the top-mast of the ship S, directly through the plate of glass BD. Fix a convex lens a of short focus upon the plate of glass BD, and a little above a straight line SE joining the ship and the eye; and immediately above the convex lens a place a concave one b. The eye will now see, through the convex lens a, an inverted image of the ship at S´, and through the concave lens b, an erect image of the ship at S´´, representing in a general way the phenomena shown in Fig. 33. But it will be asked, where are the lenses in nature to produce these effects? This question is easily answered. If we take a tin tube with glass plates at each end, and fill it with water, and if we cool it on the outside with ice, it will act like a concave lens when the cooling effect has reached the axis; and, on the other hand, if we heat the same tube filled with water, on the outside, it will act as a convex glass. In the first case the density of the water diminishes towards the centre, and in the second it increases towards the centre. The very same effects are produced in the air, only a greater tract of air is necessary for showing the effect produced, by heating and cooling it unequally. If we now remove the lenses a, b, and hold a heated iron horizontally above the water in the trough ABC, the heat will gradually descend, expanding or rendering rarer the upper portions of the fluid. If, when the heat has reached within a little of the bottom, we look through the trough at the ship S in the direction ES´, we shall see an inverted image at S´, and an erect one at S´´; and if we hide from the eye at E all the ship S, excepting the top-mast, we shall have an exact representation of the phenomenon in Fig. 33. The experiment will succeed better with oil in place of water; and the same result may be obtained without heat, by pouring clear syrup into the glass trough till it is nearly one-third full, and then filling it up with water. The water will gradually incorporate with the syrup, and produce, as Dr. Wollaston has shown, a regular gradation of density, diminishing from that of the pure syrup to that of the pure water. Similar effects may be obtained by using masses of transparent solids, such as glass, rock-salt, &c.

Now it is easy to conceive how the changes of density which we can thus produce artificially may be produced in nature. If, in serene weather, the surface of the sea is much colder than the air of the atmosphere, as it frequently is, and as it was to a very great degree during the phenomena described by Mr. Scoresby, the air next the sea will gradually become colder and colder, by giving out its heat to the water; and the air immediately above will give out its heat to the cooler air immediately below it, so that the air from the surface of the sea, to a considerable height upwards, will gradually diminish in density, and therefore must produce the very phenomena we have described.

The phenomenon of Dover Castle seen on the Ramsgate side of the hill, was produced by the air being more dense near the ground and above the sea than at greater heights, and hence the rays proceeding from the castle reached the eye in curve lines, and the cause of its occupying its natural position on the hill, and not being seen in the air, was that the top of the hill itself, in consequence of being so near the castle, suffered the same change from the varying density of the air, and therefore the castle and the hill were equally elevated and retained their relative positions. The reason why the image of the castle and hill appeared erect was, that the rays from the top and bottom of the castle had not crossed before they reached Ramsgate; but as they met at Ramsgate, an eye at a greater distance from the castle, and in the path of the rays, would have seen the image inverted. This will be better understood from the preceding diagram, which represents the actual progress of the rays, from a ship SP, concealed from the observer at E by the convexity of the earth PQE. A ray proceeding from the keel of the ship P is refracted into the curve line P c x c E, and a ray proceeding from the top-mast S, is refracted in the direction S d x d E, the two rays crossing at x, and proceeding to the eye E with the ray from the keel P uppermost; hence the ship must appear inverted as at s p. Now if the eye E of the observer had been placed nearer the ship as at x, before the rays crossed, as was the case at Ramsgate, it would have seen an erect image of the ship raised a little above the real ship SP. Rays S m, S n, proceeding higher up in the air, are refracted in the directions S m m E, S n n E, but do not cross before they reach the eye, and therefore they afford the erect image of the ship shown at s´ p´.

The aËrial troopers seen at Souterfell were produced by the very same process as the spectre of Dover Castle, having been brought by unequal refraction from one side of the hill to the other. It is not our business to discover how a troop of soldiers came to be performing their evolutions on the other side of Souterfell; but if there was then no road along which they could be marching, it is highly probable that they were troops exercising among the hills in secret, previously to the breaking out of the rebellion in 1745.

The image of the Genevese barque which was seen sailing at a distance from the real one, arose from the same cause as the images of ships in the air; with this difference only, that in this case the strata of equal density were vertical or perpendicular to the water, whereas, in the former cases they were horizontal or parallel to the water. The state of the air which produced the lateral image may be produced by a headland or island, or even rocks, near the surface, and covered with water. These headlands, islands, or sunken rocks being powerfully heated by the sun in the daytime, will heat the air immediately above them, while the adjacent air over the sea will retain its former coolness and density. Hence there will necessarily arise a gradation of density varying in the same horizontal direction, or where the lines of equal density are vertical. If we suppose the very same state of the air to exist in a horizontal plane which exists in a vertical plane, in Fig. 36, then the same images would be seen in a horizontal line, viz., an inverted one at s p, and an erect one at s´p´. In the case of the Genevese barque, the rays had not crossed before they reached the eye, and therefore the image was an erect one. Had the real Genevese barque been concealed by some promontory or other cause from the observation of Messrs. Jurine and Soret, they might have attached a supernatural character to the spectral image, especially if they had seen it gradually decay, and finally disappear on the still and unbroken surface of the lake. No similar fact had been previously observed, and there were no circumstances in the case to have excited the suspicion that it was the spectre of a real vessel produced by unequal refraction.

The spectre of the Brocken and other phenomena of the same kind, have essentially a different origin from those which arise from unequal refraction. They are merely shadows of the observer projected on dense vapour or thin fleecy clouds, which have the power of reflecting much light. They are seen most frequently at sunrise, because it is at that time that the vapours and clouds necessary for their production are most likely to be generated; and they can be seen only when the sun is throwing his rays horizontally, because the shadow of the observer would otherwise be thrown either up in the air, or down upon the ground. If there are two persons looking at the phenomenon, as when M. Haue and the landlord saw it together, each observer will see his own image most distinctly, and the head will be more distinct than the rest of the figure, because the rays of the sun will be more copiously reflected at a perpendicular incidence: and as, from this cause, the light reflected from the vapour or cloud becomes fainter farther from the shadow, the appearance of a halo round the head of the observer is frequently visible. M. Haue mentions the extraordinary circumstance of the two spectres of him and the landlord being joined by a third figure, but he unfortunately does not inform us which of the two figures was doubled, for it is impossible that a person could have joined their party unobserved. It is very probable that the new spectre forms a natural addition to the group, as we have represented it in Fig. 30; and, if this was the case, it could only have been produced by a duplication of one of the figures produced by unequal refraction.

The reflected spectre of Dr. Buchan standing upon the cliff at Brighton, arose from a cause to which we have not yet adverted. It was obviously no shadow, for it is certain, from the locality, that the rays of the sun fell upon the face of the cliff and upon his person at an angle of about 73° from the perpendicular, so as to illuminate them strongly. Now, there are two ways in which such an image may have been reflected, namely, either from strata of air of variable density, or from a vertical stratum of vapour, consisting of exceedingly minute globules of water. Whenever light suffers refraction, either in passing at once from one medium into another, or from one part of the same medium into another of different density, a portion of it suffers reflexion. If an object, therefore, were strongly illuminated, a sufficiently distinct image, or rather shadow of it, might be seen by reflexion from strata of air of different density. As the temperature at which moisture is deposited in the atmosphere varies with the density of the air, then at the same temperature moisture might be depositing in a stratum of one density, while no deposition is taking place in the adjacent stratum of a different density. Hence there would exist, as it were in the air, a vertical wall or stratum of minute globules of water, from the surface of which a sufficiently distinct image of a highly illuminated object might be reflected. That this is possible may be proved by breathing upon glass. If the particles deposited upon the glass are large, then no distinct reflection will take place; but if the particles be very small, we shall see a distinct image formed by the surface of the aqueous film.

The phenomena of the Fata Morgana have been too imperfectly described to enable us to offer a satisfactory explanation of them. The aËrial images are obviously those formed by unequal refraction. The pictures seen on the sea may be either the aËrial images reflected from its surface, or from a stratum of dense vapour, or they may be the direct reflexions from the objects themselves. The coloured images, as described by Minasi, have never been seen in any analogous phenomena, and require to be better described before they can be submitted to scientific examination.

The representation of ships in the air by unequal refraction has no doubt given rise in early times to those superstitions which have prevailed in different countries respecting “phantom ships,” as Mr. Washington Irving calls them, which always sail in the eye of the wind, and plough their way through the smooth sea, where there is not a breath of wind upon its surface. In his beautiful story of the storm ship, which makes its way up the Hudson against wind and tide, this elegant writer has finely embodied one of the most interesting superstitions of the early American colonists. The Flying Dutchman had, in all probability, a similar origin; and the wizard beacon-keeper of the Isle of France, who saw in the air the vessels bound to the island long before they appeared in the offing, must have derived his power from a diligent observation of the phenomena of nature.