Chamberss Edinburgh Journal, No. 449 | Page 8

produce their pupil.
The sultan was led, by various considerations, to think that it would be
better to have the examination rather more private than the former one
had been; and, accordingly, at the time appointed, the rabbi and his
companions were brought into his private apartment. They had no hope
that the book and desk--which, however, they had taken care to
provide--would be wanted by their pupil; and indeed for some time past
their thoughts had been turned from any attempts at instruction, and
employed in framing an apology, in doing which they flattered
themselves that they had succeeded tolerably well.
The pupil, who had grown corpulent under his late course of treatment,
did not at first raise his lazy, half-shut eyes high enough from the
ground to see the desk and open book, which were clever imitations, if
not quite facsimiles of forms deeply impressed on his memory, and
calculated to produce very stimulating recollections. As soon as they
caught his eye, he seemed to be seized with sudden passion, dashed at
the book, and overthrew the whole concern. Fiercely did he thrust his
nose and paws between the leaves, and turn them, and tear them, and
trample them. At length, exhausted by his exertions--to say nothing of
his having previously had more exercise than usual--he waddled away
to his well-known rug, absolutely declined all invitations either to work
or play, and lay there watching the company through his half-shut eyes,
in a state of stupid repose, which those who had just watched his
effervescence did not care to interrupt.
'Well,' said the sultan to the rabbi and his friends, 'you are a strange set
of people. When I put my bear into your hands, he read fluently, and
con amore; and all you had to do, was to perfect his articulation.
Instead of that, you bring him back fat, stupid, and savage, and so far
from reading better, unable to read at all. It would serve you right, if I
were to hang the whole set of you, and confiscate all your goods; but I
am a merciful man, and will be content with banishment.'
So an order was immediately issued for banishing the Jews from the
dominions of the sultan; and they all made off as fast as they could, not
knowing that their own countryman had been at the bottom of all, or

having any idea of the explanation which is here laid before the reader.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] This is in substance a tradition still current among those Eastern
Christians who are 'dwellers in Mesopotamia.'

THE ZODIACAL LIGHT.
There is a certain degree of satisfaction to the inquiring mind in
knowing that, even in these days of aptness for discovering and
explaining everything, there yet remains something to be found out;
something to excite speculation and recompense research. Such a
subject is the zodiacal light, which, for nearly two centuries past, has at
different times occupied the attention of astronomers and other
observers of celestial phenomena, though it is only of late years that the
theories concerning it have acquired anything like a precise character.
Many ingenious hypotheses have been thrown out, which may perhaps
be accepted as steps towards a true explanation; and while waiting the
result of further inquiry, we shall endeavour to make our readers
acquainted with the interesting phenomenon.
The zodiacal light is a peculiar brightness, pyramidal or wedge-like in
form, seen at certain periods of the year in the eastern or western sky,
before sunrise and after sunset. Its direction is in the line of the zodiac,
whence its name--not perpendicular to the horizon, but at a varying
angle, being in the spring from 60 to 70 degrees. The base of the wedge,
which has a breadth generally of from 10 to 12 degrees, is below, and
the sides rise in a line, curving outwards, to the apex, but so vague and
diffuse as to be frequently indefinable. In our latitudes, it is best seen at
or just after the equinoxes; before sunrise in autumn, and after sunset in
spring; and becomes invisible as twilight increases, or if the moon
shines; the light even of Venus and Jupiter is sufficient to render its
discovery difficult. It is brightest at the base, and grows fainter the
further it stretches from the horizon, vanishing entirely at the point.
Unpractised observers would be apt to overlook it altogether, and those

accustomed to watch the heavens are at times obliged to fix one eye on
a dark space of sky, while they search for the light with the other, and
discover it only by the contrast. A stratum of black cloud resting on the
horizon often affords a means of detection, as the light can then be seen
shooting from it with comparative distinctness. The