Lecture on Artificial Flight Given by Request at the Academy of Natural Sciences

WALKING OUTDOORS POINTING AT THE RAINBOW THE RAINBOW. It was at this moment Julia looked around to admire the scenery, and beheld a Rainbow. "Look, look!" she said, "mamma, what a beautiful Rainbow! How wide it spreads! How many colours are there? Let me count them. One, two, three, four, five—" "My dear," said her mamma, "there are seven, and in the following order: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, and violet. These colours appear so much the more lively, according as the cloud behind is darker, and the drops of rain fall the closer. The Rainbow can last only while the rain continues. The sun must be behind us, and the rain opposite to us. The sun and rain must appear at the same time in order to form a Rainbow. It is caused by the rays of the sun reflected on drops of water, and is a picture the most beautifully coloured of any the Creator has given to us. The nearer the sun is to setting, the wider the arch extends. When the sun is at its greatest height, the bow appears the smallest. "Where do we read, my dear, in the Bible about the Rainbow?" asked Julia's mamma. "I think, mamma," replied Julia, "it was to Noah as a sign the world should not again be destroyed by water, and we read so in of Genesis." "Yes," answered her mamma, "my dear, you are right. How very fearful would Noah and his family have been whenever they saw dark clouds arise and an appearance of much rain, if God had not kindly said what he intended by the Rainbow! But he explained it by saying, 'I do set my bow in the clouds, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth. And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between me and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth