On the other hand, an experiment is offered by a German Professor, of
the name of Milo, of this kind: If we look through a tube so
constructed as to have one side filled with spirits of wine and the
other with common air, the half of the object seen through the former
will be found to appear much larger to the eye than the other half
seen through the latter.
It is laid down, that, where extraordinary refraction takes place
laterally or vertically, the visual angle of the spectator is
singularly enlarged, and objects are magnified, as if seen through a
telescope. Dr. Scoresby, a celebrated meteorologist and navigator,
mentions some curious instances of the effects of refraction seen by
him in the Arctic Ocean.
Many remarkable phenomena attend this state of the atmosphere, known
as the Fata Morgana of Sicily, the Mirage of the Desert, the Spectre
of the Brocken, and the more common exhibitions of halos, coronae, and
mock suns. The Mountain House at Catskill has repeatedly been seen
brightly pictured on the clouds below. Rainbows are also due to this
condition of the atmosphere.
We might occupy the remainder of the space allowed us by enlarging on
various topics which belong to this part of our subject.
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