The weekly union record., 1865-01-21
0mens and Pertsnts.

made so great account are explained. or al
leas; some light is thrown upou them in the
following account, which usrrateS some curious
facts:
l The instances on record Of the appearance
OF comets before grand ca,astrophes are uumer-
Gus One was visible for IS days before the
Peloponnesiau wars; another before the Athe.
nians suffered such dreadful losses in Sicily
another before the breakup Of the Roman
empire; another previous to the destruction Of
COrinth and Thehes; and another before the
breaking ont of the civil war between Cesar
and Pompey. A comet in the shape Of horn
preceded the invasion Of Greece by Nerxes
one in the shape of sword hung over Jeruss.
lem for year previous TO its destruction by
Titus; and nobody will need 10 be reminded
Of the terrible wars that have followed the
appearance of the brilliant comet of four years
since.
Another class Of ouens, though never visible
10 us 10 these days, was to be found ia the
appearance of armies in the heavens Prodigies
of this kind were numerous during the siege
of Jerusalem. Besides the omen already alluded
to- one showed itself in the form of a brilliant
radiance round the altar aud the temple; an.
other was the opening Of The brass gate of the
interior sacrarium (which was 50 enormously
3
of twenty men 10 move III without being
touched by hands, Josephus mentions these
things as though there could be no difficulty 10
believing them; bat when he relates other
omens, capable of easy explanation, they appear
I to him SO much more wonderful that be thinks
necessary to adopt far more positive tone !:
For what" lie says, Il am going 10 reciie
would. am persuaded, appear monstrous aud
/ fabulous, was it not well attested BY persons
/ who were eye-wilnesSes; for there were seen
before sunset chariOts wheeling aloft in the air
all over the country, and armed companies
/ rushing through the clouds, aud throwing up
/ trenches round cities" Similar instances have
/ been observed repeatedly since.
/ Previous to the battle of Ivry. fought be-
/ tween the HGgueuots and the League, there
was such representation in the heavens. At
celebration of some religious ceremony. the
congregation was so surprised to perceive a
large red cross ia the air that they fell on their
knees and began to pray with unusual fervor
till somebody pointed out that it resembled and
was nothing more than reflection OF large
red cross beside them. The same thing, il
mistake not, occurred at Milan, where the
people adored what they conceived TO be an
angel of gigantic stature visible in the atmos
/ phere, till it was proved beyond doubt that
it was only the reflection of a statue
/ The spirit of the Hartz Mountains, which
used to be seen on the Brocken, was another
similar instance of reflection. DR.. Scoresby, in
! the Journal of his Voyage in the Arctic Regions,
relates that he was becoming anxious about his
companion ship, when it was suddenly seen in
the air, the hull and every rope and spar SO
perfect that she was Immediately recognized :;
and by sailing in the direction in which it was
seen, they came up with her, though at the
| time the image was visible. she was fifteen de-
grees below the horizon. | myself witnessed a
! like phenomenon when sailing 10 Chinese
barge through the pass Of Annoy, only instead
of being a vessel, it was building erected on
the summit of lofty bill. This explains the
/ appearance of armed men in the air, their
apparent movement being due to the motion Of
the rehecting surface it being, of course, the
same thing as regards appearances, whether
/ the object reflected move and the cloud remains
/ stationary, or rice ue1Sa.
The custom of placing figure heads in the
bows of our ships seems TO be derived from the
Greeks, who fixed at the head Of their vessels
certain talismanlc figures, which had nothing
/ to do with the images of their delties, these
| being placed at the stern Of the vessel. Many
of the neurological fables of the Greeks may
have taken their rise from this source, and, by
the adoption of this hypothesis, some of these
have been very ingeniously explained. Thus,
the fable of Jupiter, having carried of Europa
under The form of bull, may be explained by
i supposiug that the vessel which bore away the
young woman had a talisman at its PROV, made
under the constellation Taurus, and therefore
consisted Of metal plate, on which a bull was
engraved, while at the stern of the vessel stood
the statue Of Jupiter, worshipped by the sailors.