Note 55 — Chapter VI
Reading edition
The phenomena of dew have constantly engaged the attention of man. Aristotle, in his book De Mundo, puts forth some just notions on its nature. An opinion has almost always prevailed that dew falls. Gersten appears to have been the first who opposed this motion. He was followed by Musschenbroek, and then by Du Fay. The researches of Leslie were of a far more exact character. Dr. Wilson, in the Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, 1st vol., published a Memoir on Hoar Frost of much interest; but the questions involved remained unsettled until the researches of Dr. Wells, which were published in his Essay on Dew.