This delusive appearance
continued till the sun was so far sunk below the horizon, as to afford
no more light to illumine the object, and the image ceased when the rays
were no longer distinctly reflected.
CHAPTER XVII.
ELUCIDATION OF SOME ANCIENT PRODIGIES.
Many of the prodigies recorded by the ancients, admit of a natural
explanation; and an attentive examination will show that a small number
of causes, which may be discerned and developed, will serve for the
explanation of nearly the whole of them. There are two reasons for our
believing accounts of prodigies:--
1. The number and agreement of these accounts, and the confidence to
which the observers and witnesses are entitled.
2. The possibility of dissipating what is wonderful, by ascertaining any
one of the principal causes which might have given to a natural fact a
tinge of the marvellous.
Now, as regards the first reason, the ancients have recorded various
occurrences: for instance, a shower of quicksilver at Rome is mentioned
by Dion Cassius, in the year 197 of our era, and a similar event is
related under the reign of Aurelian.
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