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681. [Exod. vi. 3. And God spake to Moses, and said to him, I am the LORD and I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, by the name of God Almighty] But by my name JEHOVAH was I not distinguished by them. (See Mr. PETER's Preface to his Critical Dissertations on the Book of Job.)—He appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, on the earth, as he afterwards appeared to Moses on Mount Sinai, and to Paul in the way to Damascus; but by his Name Jehovah-by his manifested IMAGE or apparent PRESENCE in the spiritual part of the atmosphere, where to the beholder He is to-day, was yesterday, and will be tomorrow; by such daily appearance was He not known to them, as He was afterwards, for forty years together, to the Israelites in the wilderness. Yet the appearance on Earth being but a secondary manifestation of the appearance above, the name Jehovah, after the daily APPEARANCE was known, became applicable to its occasional manifestations as above

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688.

Studies of Nature, vol. iv. p. 100.

Of all the different species of public exhibitions, the only one common at Cairo alone, is that of strollers who shew feats of strength like our rope-dancers, and tricks of slight-of-hand like our jugglers. We there sce some of them eating flints, others breathing flames, some cutting their arms, or perforating their noses, without receiving any hurt, and others devouring serpents. The people, from whom they carefully conceal the secrets of their art, entertain a sort of veneration for them, and call these extraordinary performances, which appear to have been very antient in those countries, by a name which signifies prodigy or miracle.

VOLNEY'S Trav. vol. ii. p. 415.

689. An extraordinary natural production has been discovered by Mr. BRIGGS, a passenger on board the Nelly, an East India Country Ship, which arrived. on the Malabar coast, after a trading voyage. Mr. Briggs was fortunate enough to take this rare and valuable production in a cavern near Macao, and by great attention it has been preserved. It is called the Animal Flower, and a good deal resembles the Passion Flower. It grows out of the rock without leaves, and the instant any object approaches within the distance of a foot, it suddenly contracts its blossom; and withdrawing itself into a sort of hollow stalk, something like the skin of a worm, it shrinks totally into the rock, with so quick a motion, that it is not easy to take them, especially as they grow under water, which is more than knee deep. It is kept alive by being constantly in clean water. -Those who have had opportunities of examining this extraordinary production, are convinced it has a share of animal life: It seems the link designed to connect the animal and vegetable creation.

Public Prints.

690. [Exod. vii. 11, 12.] At Tappanooly, an English settlement on the Island of Sumatra, I saw, says Mr. CHARLES MILLER (son of the late botanic gardener) what I find in Purchas's Pilgrim called the wonderful plant of Sombrero.The name by which it is known to the Malays is Calan-lout, that is, sea-grass. It is found in sandy bays, in shallow water, where it appears like a slender straight stick, but when you attempt to touch it, it immediately withdraws itself into the sand. I could never observe any tentacula: a broken piece, near a foot long, which after many unsuccessful attempts, I drew out, was perfectly straight and uniform, and resembled a worm drawn over a knitting needle; when dry it is a coral.

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THE PLAGUES OF EGYPT.

693. [Exod. vii. 20.] And Moses lifted up the rod, and smote the waters that were in the river, in the sight of Pharaoh, and in the sight of his servants: and all the waters that were in the river were turned to blood.

Such was the river (Nile) to the Egyptians but it was sweet and fit for drinking to the Hebrews, and no way different from what it naturally used to be. . JOSEPH. Antiq. b. ii. ch. xiv. § 1.

694. [Exod. vii. 21.] Neither this, nor any of the plagues sent on Egypt, affected the Israelites. See DODD.

695. [Exod. vii. 19.] As Moses turned all the waters throughout all the land of Egypt into blood, the Magicians could only, by a well-timed pretence, seem to effect on their part, what Moses alone was really doing by a divine power and authority. The like may be observed of the frogs which covered the land of Egypt.-The fact was, as soon as the magicians had taken to themselves the pure water belonging the Israelites, as theirs, it was immediately perverted: the effect produced by Aaron's rod, continued in force seven days, v. 25.

The insects that, at the time of their coition, for the most part discolour the waters, are the small insects of the shrimpkind, called by SWAMMERDAM, Pulex aquaticus arborescens. These I have often seen so numerous in stagnating waters in the summer months, that they have changed the color of the waters to a pale or deep red, sometimes a yellow, according to the color they were of. Of this he has a pretty story, told him by Dr. FLORENCE SCHUYL, viz. Se aliquando studiis intentum, magno quodam et horrifico rumore fuisse turbatum, et simul ad causam ejus inquirendam excitatum; verum se vix eum in finem surrexisse, cum ancilla cjus pæne exanimis adcurreret, et multo cum singultu referret, omnem Lugduni (Batavorum) aquam esse mutatam in sanguinem. The cause of which upon examination he found to be only from the numerous swarms of those Pulices. See Swam. Hist. Insect. p. 70.

DERHAM.

696. There was nothing which the Egyptian priests abhorred more than blood. With the least stain of gore they would have thought themselves deeply polluted. Hence this evil must have been by them severely felt, as there was blood throughout all the land of Egypt.

BRYANT, on the plagues of Egypt.

697. [Exod. vii. 17.] By the command of God, says JOSEPHUS, the river flowed bloody; and adds that it was

not only of a bloody color, but gave excruciating pains to those who would drink of it. (See Antiq. l. ii. ch. 14. § 1.) -According to Michaëlis, Dathe, Rosenmuller, and Hazel, the miracle consisted not in turning the waters into blood, or making them of a bloody color, which they have once every year in the month of June, when the Nile exundates; but in producing this phenomenon at an unusual season (in February or March), and in its being foreseen and foretold by Moses. See GEDDES' Critical Remarks, p. 185.

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701. [Exod. viii. 5.] And the LORD spake to Moses, Say to Aaron, Stretch forth thy hand with thy rod over the streams, over the rivers, and over the ponds, and cause frogs to come up upon the land of Egypt.

In

The things which correspond to malignant herbs and noxious animals are cadaverous, putrid, excrementitious and stercoraceous, rancid and urinous matters. places where these abound are produced, in the animal kingdom, serpents, scorpions, basilisks, crocodiles, dragons, owls, screechowls, mice, locusts, frogs, spiders; also flies, drones, Moths, lice, mites; in a word, those which consume grasses, leaves, fruits, seeds, meat and drink, and are noxious to beasts and men :-in the vegetable kingdom, all the malignant, virulent and poisonous herbs; also the pulse and shrubs of the same kind :—and, in the mineral kingdom, all the poisonous carths. Every one knows, that lakes, stagnant waters, dung, stinking earth, are full of such things; also that noxious insects fill the atmosphere like clouds, and noxious worms the earth like armies, consuming the herbs even to the roots. These testimonies of general experience are in favor of those

who say, that the very smells, exhalations and fumes issuing from herbs, earths, and stagnant waters, give origin to such creatures. That afterwards, when they are produced, they are propagated either by eggs or by gestation, disproves not their immediate origin; because every animal receives with its viscera the organs of generation and the means of propagation, while the subjects of the vegetable kingdom that originate immediately from hell are propagated also, mediately, by seeds, cuttings or grafts.

SWEDENBORG's Divine Love,

n. 341 to 347.

702. [Exod. viii. 2.] By dipping a ladle or bucket into the Nile, which is everywhere dark with mud, you take up swarms of animalculæ. Among these, tadpoles and young frogs are so numerous, that, rapid as the current flows, there is no part of the River where the water does not contain them. Dr. EDWARD DANIEL CLARKE's Trav. in Greece, Egypt, and the Holy Land.

703. [Exod. viii. 16.] The Egyptians told Herodotus, that particular species of animals were formed of the fermented mires of the Ocean, and of the Nile. St. PIERRE's Studies of Nature, vol. i. p. 268.

704. [Exod. viii. 16.] And the LORD said to Moses, Say to Aaron, Stretch out thy rod, and smite the dust of the land, that it may become lice throughout all the land of Egypt.

During summer, on each side of the Nile are rich fields of corn and rice, with such beautiful groves, seeming to rise out of the watery plains, and to shade innumerable settlements in the Delta, amidst never-ending plantations of melons and all kinds of garden vegetables, that, from the abundance of its produce, Egypt may be deemed the richest country in the world. But to strangers, and particularly to inhabitants of northern countries, where wholesome air and cleanliness are among the necessaries of life, Egypt is the most detestable region on earth. On the retiring of the Nile, the country is one vast swamp. An atmosphere, impregnated with every putrid and offensive exhalation, stagnates like the filthy pools over which it broods. Then the plague regularly begins, nor ceases until the waters return again. About the beginning of May, when intermitting fevers prevail, certain winds cover even the sands of the desert with the most disgusting vermin.-Lice and scorpions abound in all the sandy desert near Alexandria.

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Dr. EDWARD DANIEL CLARKE.Append. Month, Mag. July 1814.

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706. [Exod. viii. 18.] It appears from the mummies, &c., that the Egyptians were blacks: but the Hebrews were whites. Now, says Mr. LONG, the lice which infest the bodies of negroes are blacker, and generally larger, than those which are found on white people. And I have been informed, adds Dr. WHITE, by negroes born in North America, that those lice which infest the Europeans seem to refuse the negroes. Regular Gradation in Man, p. 79.

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707. [Exod. viii. 21.] I will send swarms of flies upon thee. In MAVOR'S account of Schouten and La Maire's voyage round the world, it is recorded, that at an island about 1510 leagues to the westward, from the coast of Peru, the Dutch were attacked by such swarms of flies, that they were perfectly covered from head to foot. Their very apparel seemed alive; and the deep black tinge of the flies gave them a most ghastly appearance. Even the boat and oars were covered with myriads of insects; and when the party, which had been on shore, returned, the plague of flies might be said to begin on board. Every person was employed in defending his face and eyes; and it was almost impossible to speak or eat without swallowing mouthfuls. This dreadful visitation lasted three or four days, by the expiration of which the flies were almost annihilated."

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with feathers, or flappers, to drive them away. Liquor could not be poured into a glass: the mode of drinking was, by keeping the mouth of every bottle covered until the moment it was applied to the lips; and instantly covering it with the palm of the hand, when removing it to offer to any one else. Dr. EDWARD DANIEL CLARKE'S Trav. in Greece, Egypt, and the Holy Land.

711.

The musquito, of the same species, size and shape as the English gnat, lays its eggs on the surface of the water; where, if there be no agitation to sink them, they are hatched in the course of a few days. While the egg is successively producing its grub, chrysalis and musquito; also at the moment the insect first spreads its wings, if the water be not perfectly still and the air calm, it is inevitably destroyed.-At Skenesborough in America, musquitoes are so large as to be able to bite through the thickest boot. Wherever they fix their sting, a small tumour or pustule usually arises, which, if imprudently rubbed, will cause a violent inflammation, and sometimes even the loss of a limb. WELD's Trav. in North America, vol. i. p. 285.

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714. [Exod. ix. 23.] Many would have us believe in Christendom, that it never rains in Egypt; but it rains much at Alexandria, and Rosetta also; though at Cairo, which stands higher, it rains less, and yet, says THEVENOT, I have seen it rain there very hard every year, for two days together, in the month of December; and at the same time it thundered so much that the eleventh or twelfth night of the said month, a man in the castle was killed by the lightning. It had never indeed been heard before, that lightning had killed any person at Cairo.

Trav. part i. P. 247.

715.

Thunder, says VOLNEY, is known in the Delta, as well as in Syria; but with this difference, that in the Delta and the plain of Palestine it is extremely rare in summer, and more frequent in winter, while in the mountains of Palestine it is more common in summer and very seldom heard in winter. In both these countries it happens oftenest in the rainy season, or about the time of the equinox, especially the autumnal one: it is further remarkable that it never comes on the land side, but always from the Mediterranean sea. 1 Kings xviii. 43, 44. Trav, vol. i. p. 352.

716.

VOLNEY adds, "on the 26th September, 1783, as night was coming on, a storm appeared in the southeast, which soon produced several claps of thunder, and ended by a violent fall of hail as large as the largest sort of pea. It continued ten or twelve minutes; and my companions and I had time enough to collect a quantity of hailstones, sufficient to fill two large glasses, and could say that we had drank iced water in Egypt.

It is proper to add, that this was at the time when the southerly monsoon begins to blow on the Red Sea.

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These storms in general happen either in the evening or norning, and rarely in the middle of the day they are accompanied with violent showers, and sometimes with hail, which in an hour's time render the country full of little lakes." || NORDEN says, "in Upper Egypt the air is always clear and serene: I have however experienced at Meschie, which is opposite Ackmim in Upper Egypt, many miles south of Cairo, a very violent rain accompanied with thunder for the space of a whole hour.

And at Komeride, which is many miles above Cairo, we had little wind and a great deal of rain.

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718.

Tres imbris torti radios, tres nubis aquosæ
Addiderant, rutuli tres ignis, et alitis Austri.

See St. PIERRE's Studies of Nature,
vol. iv. p. 56.

In the Savannahs of New Andalusia, flakes of fire rise to a considerable height: they are seen for hours together in the driest places; and it is asserted, that, on examining the ground which furnishes the inflammable matter, no crevice is to be found. This fire, which resembles the Will-o'-the-wisp of our marshes, does not burn the grass; because, no doubt, the column of gas, which developes itself, is mixed with azote, and carbonic acid, and does not burn at its basis.

HUMBOLDT'S Trav. in S. America.

719. [Rev. xvi. 21.] Mezeray, in his history of France, tells us of a terrible shower of hail, which happened in the year 1510, when the French monarch invaded Italy. There was, for a time, a horrid darkness, thicker than that of midnight, which continued till the terrors of mankind were changed to still more terrible objects, by thunder and lightning breaking the gloom, and bringing on such a shower of hail, as no history of human calamities could equal. These hail-stones were of a bluish color; and some of them weighed not less than a hundred pounds. A noisome vapor of sulphur attended the storm. All the birds and beasts of the country were entirely destroyed. Numbers of the human race suffered the same fate. But what is still more extraordinary, the fishes themselves found no protection from their native element, but were equal sufferers in the general calamity. GOLDSMITH'S Hist of the Earth, &c: vol. i. p. 375.

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