The Matter of Winds according to Aristotle is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A Dry and Fumid Exhalation wee have his Sentiments more particularly in the second book of Meteors 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 On which Text the succeeding Peripatetics seem to ground their Doctrine that neverthelesse may admit of a farre greater Latitude then the Modern Schooles allow For he never altogether excluded moist Bodys as is expressy declar'd in the same Chapter though the Degrees of Siccity were always to be most Prevalent 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. I acknowledge that Winds may sometimes consist of Hot dry Exhalations but the Humid Aqueous are much better adjusted to the design For this reason rain is the usuall Prognostick of Winds because the plenty of moisture then floating upon the superficies of the Earth is afterwards dilated and put in motion by the heat of the Sun as Lucretius instances in wet clothes and Aristotle in moist wood that emit greater quantityes of steams and wreke more then Dry for although the Fumid and Terrene concretions especially those Earths and Salts in the Caverns and spiracles under Ground being Agitated by the Subterraneall fires require a farre intenser heat to resolve them into Winds being of much more tenacious figures then Water and other liquids which hang loosely together and are sooner expanded into larger dimensions VVherefore the definition of Metrodorus in Plutarch seems to excell That VVind is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aquosi anhelitus aestus And though Aristotle declares they confist of Hot dry exhalations at least the Earthy parts to be always most predominant yet by travelling or'e lakes or snowy Mountains he allows they may become moist or cold wee find that almost any stirring or Ventilation of the Air do's refrigerate Neither did the Stagirite himself so strictly confine his Hypothesis to the Hot and terrestriall Exhalations For in the 2d booke of his Meteors he acknowledges the Etesians to be generated from the colliquation of ice snow in the Polar regions 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Quibus à sole colliquatis flare soliti sunt But why should I longer dispute their materials and propertys Winds are hot dry cold have the greatest diversitys of qualitys accidents They may consist of almost infinite variety of salts spirits juyces and minerals Subterraneous damps agitated Air dissolv'd Snows broken and dissipated Clouds rarify'd vapors and what not For most bodys being sufficiently dilated and put in motion are convertible into Wind. Next as to their Limits and Seasons Some spread many thousand leagues and others not above 2 or 3 miles from their Fountains I call That the Country or Fountain of VVind where are those Caverns or other Locall Origin's which gave them birth Wee cannot easily determine of their Altitude My Lord Bacon delivers his sense that they not only aspire to the Confines of the Middle Region but soar above the generallity of Clouds as wee oftentimes observe the Clouds move a gentle breath fanning the top branches of trees and yet not the least Brise of Wind stirring neer the surface of the Earth which shows they sometimes prevayle most in the Lower and otherwhile in the remoter stations of the Air and so accordingly mount higher or descend as they happen to be more or lesse depres'd by the Gravity of the Atmosphere Varenius perceiv'd the smoake issuing from the top of mount Aetna to be Agitated and tost up and down as from the tunnells of chimnys which though it lifts up its snowy head into the Second Region yet it is not altogether exempt from the incursions of Winds However Acosta travelling o're the Peruvian hils discover'd no violent motion of the Air but rather an Aether so subtilis'd and ignite that it caus'd heavings convulsions in animals so that they were forc't to thicken it with spunges to prevent immediate suffocation In like manner the highest eminency or peak of Tenariffe is always at peace nor expos'd to those storms which sometimes infest the lower parts or neck of the Mountain The Alps and Pyreneans or whatever hils beside that are cover'd with perennial snows are also lyable to VVinds from their resolution in the Summer but the Peruvian and some others which may be reckon'd as the Extravagancys of Nature that threaten the sky and overlook the Clouds with their prodigious height are I suppose never disturb'd by tempests though I question whether any of our European world can pretend to this priviledge yet the Grecian historians who took all opportunitys to advance the miracles of their country relate of the Macedonian Athos That it was Customary when they sacrific'd on the top of of the mountain to inscribe their names in the ashes and the characters are said to have remain'd all the yeer round without being in the least defac'd by the VVinds. The Spring and Autumn especially about the time of either Aequinox are the most Flatulent seasons of the yeere It 's observable the complexion of the Air is generally more silent at Midday and in Soultry Weather when the Exhalations are too much attenuated to constitute Winds which require a very considerable density and refrigeration For this reason the South Winds usually blow in the Night the Air being over much refin'd in that quarter by the heat of the Day till it condense again by the moderate cold of the night The Spring is generally more Windy then the Violent heats of Summer both from the liquefaction of snows and because the pores of the Earth are then loosen'd and the Vaporous effluxions releast from their former imprisonment during the Frost and therefore those VVinters which have least frost and the Vapors suffer'd freely to transpire are expos'd to the most boystrous Winds as for example the last in the yeere 1670. Likewise in Autumn wee have commonly very blustring weather most about the other Aequinox when the Sun principally dilating the Air between the Tropiques causes a more violent protrusion towards the Poles of the VVorld Shall wee say that the luxuriant Rains which fall at that time of the yeare affor'd more plentifull materials for VVind Or is it by reason the reservs of the Summer Vapors are condens'd by the Autumnall cold when the heat of the Summer too much refines and dissipates the exhalations the inclemency of the Winter rather thickens them into Snow or Clouds So that a just and moderate condensation is necessary to the constitution of VVinds if it be too much they degenerate into rain c. if too little they become Stagnant Air. But from their Limits and Seasons I descend to the more remarkable Species As the Generall or Tropicall VVind the Provinciall the Land and Sea Brises the severall sorts of Etesians and Monsoons in the Indian Seas c. and shall from thence proceed to their Qualitys and Prognostiques The Generall or Trade VVind continues all the yeare round with little variation It is likewise call'd the Tropicall Levantine
that immense distance from the Earth It would be tedious to recite the dissents of the Greek interpreters with the Latines how many nauseating and frivolous contests arose upon this Argument between Theophrastus Aphrodisaeus the School of Alexandria and in the more flourishing raign of Peripatetisme how strangely did Albertus Magnus Thomas Aquinas Cajetan and Contarenus with many others of the Seraphic and Angelicall Doctors torture their wits either to find out some new Salvo for the Hypothesis of Aristotle or invent a worse of their own Bonaventure writ a whole book wherein he treats of little else beside the severall opinions concerning the Transverse motion of Wind. And we must needs esteeme it a great effect of their leisure who have employd so much time in such empty and jejune speculations Yet not only the Peripatetiques have fail'd in their attempts but we have as little satisfaction from Epicurus or the severe Porch may as justly question whether the Theories which shall be started hereafter must hope for any better successe Yet I think wee may thus farr rationally conclude that as the causes of Winds are various so the reason of their Transverse Motions is not always one and the same I have frequently observed that not only the North but most other Winds seem many times rather somewhat to descend then blow in an exact Perpendicular line to the Horizon yet wee must acknowledge that even those which relapse from the Middle Region or are generated by the Rarefaction of Vapors in the Intermediate space between the Earth and Clouds have for the most part an oblique or Semicircular Motion for though their Ingenit weight would rather Praecipitate them to the Earth yet they are either born up and repel'd by the continuall Effluxions of ascending Steams or at least can descend no lower then where they come to the just counterpoise of the Air. So that if the Flatulent Vapors have gravity enough especially after they are Condens'd in the Colder Region to invite them Downward and yet the resistence of the Atmosphere sufficient in a great measure to check and retard their descent this must necessarily divert them from their Precipice inclining them rather to a mixt and Collaterall Motion For though Winds are generally heavyer then the Air below yet they are supported in it during their Career till by degrees falling downwards to the Earth they at length cease or languish in their Course Wee must note likewise that the whole body of the Air settles about the Earth in a sphericall Figure so that the protrusion is made from all parts to the Center that the Winds being resisted by the Pressure of the Atmosphere above and the Earth or Sea below move as in a Channell between both wherefore they soare highest in a Serene Skye when the depression of the Air and Winds is much lesse then in Cloudy weather And the reason why they blow Obliquely or which is all one perpendicularly to the Horizon is not to be suppos'd because the Vapors are naturally determin'd to any such particular species of Agitation but that being dilated by the Sun they require a larger space and find the Medium most dispos'd to admit of their Motions in that manner Lastly those VVinds which emerge from the Caverns under Ground may sometimes have that Tranverse Motion impres'd on them from their Fountains at the time of their Eruption For those Volatile spirits or Salts being once mov'd in the Hollows of the Earth by the Subterraneall warmth are still roving up and down and restlesse till they get vent and after their release protrude the Contiguous Air and propagate the same kind of Agitation in whatever bodys occurre in the way and then all Auxiliary Vapors will be sure to have Immediate recourse whither the strongest current bends But beside these Primitive and Originall there are other Secundary causes and Affections of VVinds as their Undulation Repercussion from Promontorys Opposition c. VVee have thus farre enquir'd into the Progressive but the Undulating Motions are no lesse considerable in VVinds for they blow not in one constant fluor or streame but in gusts that have their starts and intervals intermitting like our pulse which is call'd the Undulation of VVind or Air from the resemblance it bears to the wavings and fluctuation of VVaters Some of them are Indigenae or Natives and others Adventitious to the places where they blow yet the question still recurrs for those which are Externs and either come from beyond Sea or rove from farre countrys have the same Locall Origine with the rest though remoter from our observation The motions of VVinds as indeed all other bodys whatever are propagated in right lines if nothing intervene to check and retard their course but usually so many impediments occurre that are able to make resistence in the way that they seldome proceed in one uninterrupted Perpendicular from their fountains Especially in moutanous places Forrests and other Eminencys and inequalitys of Ground but they are repuls'd and recoyl back again and being sometimes imprison'd in the straits or Creeks of promontorys they are tost and banded to and fro like Tennis balls till they find their passage out so that after severall diversions it may happen at last that a VVind may bee distracted to a quite different point of the compasse and otherwhile so far befreinded by the advantageous situations of the places where they blow that they run streaming between two Mountains as in a Channell or trough and are guarded on all sides from the inroads of other Exotique VVinds and Air. Upon this account it s no very unusuall thing to have one VVind blow on the Top of a Mountain and a quite contrary in the Vally below In the main Sea they keep the same quarter a long time when nothing occurrs that can controle them but neer mountainous Islands or shoares they whiffle up and down and shift from one point of the Compasse to another by severall repercussions from the promontorys or hills and these our Seamen call Eddy Winds For as Water once dismis'd from the Fountains head is not only tinctur'd with the qualities it receiv'd from thence but must afterwards conform to the course of the Channell or banks through which it glides so the VVinds which are Torrents or Rivulets of Air have their Maeanders and deflections in their Journy and are in a great measure obnoxious to the situation of the Country 's in which they blow They also meet with frequent opposition from the repletion of the Atmosphere with multitudes of fresh Exhalations that check and crosse them in their way but especially by their Rancounters with Contrary Winds which must necessarily Engage and strive for mastery till one overcomes So that from two contrary VVinds there sometimes results a Third compounded of both Extremes and otherwhile if they meet in the Eye of each other from Diametrically opposite points of the Compasse they ballance one another and there ensues a calme
that some of the Vertuosi who pretend to great skill in ordering of Cidar find by experience that certain Winds set it a fermenting more then others and render it turbid and thick so that when they perceive them coming to such a Point of the compasse they critically observe the just time for botling it to prevent these inconveniences Rules have been prescrib'd to Drudgsters and Apothecarys upon this account for the preserving their Medicines and happily some remarks might be taken from Cabinet-makers joyners and other Mechanicall Artists in the drying and seasoning their Materials that might conduce a fuller History of VVinds. Lastly it would be no lesse beneficiall to the Advancement of Naturall knowledge to detect the Falsity of those Assertions which have been long receiv'd in the world from the great reputation of their Authors As for example those which are set down by Aristotle in the second of his Meteors and in the book of Problems where he endeavours to explicate severall Phaenomena of the Air and Winds as in the first Section Probl. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 19. 23. and in the Twenty sixth Section Prob. 3. 9. 13. 14. 15. 16. 18. 21. 22. 25. 37. 38. 40. 42. 48. 49. 56. 58. which I mention more particularly because I find My Lord Bacon in his Chapter concerning the Qualities of VVinds follows exactly the traces of Aristotle and the generallity of Peripatetique writers have made it their Non Ultra daring to adventure no further in these enquiries then was prescrib'd to them by that Great Genius of Nature So likewise the sentiments of Theophrastus deliver'd in his Book of VVinds and the rest of the Ancient Placits ought to be more thoroughly examin'd before we receive them for infallible many things in Pliny that relate to this Argument might be considerable were they not suspected to be generally false But since the too great Veneration of Antiquity has impos'd so many Vulgar Errors on the credulous world it will be the most generous design first to free our minds from those prejudices we have taken up from Tradition and upon this foundation to superstruct a more Reall and Experimentall Philosophy I have only mention'd some few observations of that infinite Variety with which this fruitfull Argument will entertain the Curious And so from their Causes and Qualities proceed to the Prognostiques of Winds First we might enquire what the radiant sanguine pallid nubilous or other Appearances of the Sun signify to the predictions of VVinds. What the Age or Eclipse of the Moon the picked or obtuse figure the greater resplendency of the Lunar Horns or the Conjunction of it with other Planets likewise Halos about the Sun or Moon the shooting or twinkling of Starrs c. whether these may be accounted Prognostiques of VVinds In like manner if the Sun seem bigger then ordinary or dart more refulgent Beams or if it rise in a Cloud of the same Colour c. All these different Appearances of the Heavenly Bodys proceed chiefly from refraction the visual rays being distorted by the Density of the Medium and the collection of those rorid and nebulous vapors in the Air that cause these unusuall perceptions in our sense may first generate Halos and afterward descend in Tempests or VVinds. Some prognosticate from Comets and Eclipses and it would be farther worth our remarque what connexion there is between certain species of Thunder or Lightnings and Wind what predictions may be taken from the colours motion and as it were Severall storys and ranges of Clouds or the suddain appearance of any Single one above the Horizon in an extraordinary serene and peacefull sky as wee observe in Tornados Others have been no lesse superstitious from the suddain palenes of Fires from the roaring of the Sea from the resounding of Echos or a noise heard from the shoars which happens many times before the Levants blow in the Mediterranean or if there be a Murmur in the Mountains or Clouds without Thunder or if the Sea seeme to rise or swell in those places where there is no sensible VVind to irritate it Some have employ'd their curiosity in making praedictions from Birds and Water-Fowle from Ravens and Crows the playing of Porpuses and Dolphins the spinning of Spiders the leaping of Fishes above the water c. Innumerable of this nature may be had from Aristotle Paduanius Petrus de Medina Ricciolus Fournier though for the most part fallible and uncertain we might offer at the Philosophicall reasons of some Prognostiques but those which have any evident connexion between the causes effects may be solu'd from the former Discourses But as I before noted the great Inequalities in the superficies of the Earth the severall obstacles and repercussions from mountains the different Situations of the places and Medium's in which they blow the distance of those Countries from the Poles of the World Their respects to the course of the Sun whether they comply with or resist the Naturall Motion of the Air from East to West c have so many intricate nice speculations that it will be hard to lay down any perfect Theory of Winds Yet certain it is that most mutations which happen in the Air either as to heat cold or such like qualities are chiefly occasion'd by the diversities of Winds which for the time they blow are the Soveraign Lords of the Atmosphere and influence and dispose of it as they please Beside this they help to sustaine or dissolve the clouds they ventilate and purifie the Stagnant Air preserving it from Putrefaction and by this means are the greatest Benefactors to Mankind Their Number and Distribution has been very different in the time of Homer only 4 of Strabo 6 of Andronicus Chyrrestes 8 though in strictness we may suppose as many severall sorts of Winds as points in the whole Horizontall Arch. The Romans came to 12 others have very aptly multiply'd their number to 16 4 answering to the Cardinall points of the Heaven and 3 Collaterall between every Cardinall Wind But the Moderns since the encrease of Navigation have divided their Compass into 32 points known in these Parts by the Dutch or German names and by the Italian in the Mediterranean Seas A Prosecution of the former discourses concerning Whirlewinds in generall with an Historicall Account of the Tornados Hurracanes and other Tempestuous Winds THe Peripatetique Philosophy constitutes no considerable difference between Lightning and Whirlewinds only that the matter of the first is more tenuous and rare and the other made up of grosser and Heterogeneous parts VVe might explicate this Phaenomenon more advantagiously if we suppose a Spirit like that of Nitre to be discharg'd with a very violent Collision or Displosion from one Cloud which meeting with another suffers a repulse so causes that Rotation which Aristotle styles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Third of his Meteorologics assigns this cause for it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so that the spirit or VVind being
the first place to be throughly informed concerning all matters of Fact and afterward consider to what Hypothesis they may best relate and because That must be the result of long experience and observation I can only commend this Province to those curious Persons who have leisure either to make such new Discoveries of their own or detect the Vulgar Errors of former Times It should first be examin'd what influences they have upon Human Bodies in relation to their Sickness or Health and those who are inclin'd to Gowts Catarrhes infirmities in the Sight distempers of the Lungs Epilepsies Deafness c. might be able to collect observations of this nature what inconvenience they are sensible of from any sort of VVinds. Those celebrated Aphorisms of Hippocrates concerning their Medicinall Qualities ought to be considered how farr they are found Experimentally true and consonant to the observations of the Moderns For if we rightly understood the different Temperatures of the Air and VVinds and how to apply this remedy to many distempers it might possibly prove the most succesfull part of Physick Next as to the Diversities which arise from the Quarters whence they blow whether the East and North betray not in these Countries continuall Symptoms of Siccity and Cold and the South and West of Heat and Moisture Likewise as to their effects upon Animals Since the South has a thousand Malignant influences and according to our English Proverb The Wind at East is neither good for man nor beast Then which of them are most agreable or inauspicious to the Vegetable life what observations of this nature can be drawn from Agriculture and Gardening which are those VVinds that are most favourable to the Sowing and ripening of Corn or most pernicious for breeding worms in plants or for blasting and destroying their fruits VVhat directions this Doctrine might afford to Architects in choosing the Situations of Dwellings whether the Air of many houses might not be meliorated by giving a freer admission to the Winds since it has been observ'd that severall Dwellings here in England which were environ'd with huge woods or sometimes had only a clump of trees standing towards such a Quarter have been always obnoxious to sicknes till they happen'd to be cut down and the places render'd pervious to the Winds Sometimes only the changing of a window or door from the South and exposing it to the North has done as great a cure It is well observ'd in the Relation of my Lord Howards voyage to Constantinople that at Vienna they have frequent Winds which if they cease long in the Summer the plague often ensues so that it is now grown into a Proverb that if Austria be not Windy it 's subject to Contagion In the next place what advancement might be expected from hence to the Art of Navigation Since I am confident that more ships perish by our ignorance of the Winds Currents then by any other Disaster which happens on the Seas If the Masters of ships were oblig'd to give in Journals of their voyages to all parts of the world and these for many years compar'd with each other we should not only be able to collect a Complete History of the Trade Winds and Monsoons and their variations in the severall Latitudes and Meridians which would be of very great importance but should find that there are many Anniversary Tempests which might be very certainly foretold by the Seasons of the yeare and Provision made accordingly Beside other usefull Circumstances of the Annuall Motions and Reversions of the Seas according to the Declination of the Sun which hitherto most of our Seamen have thought to proceed purely from chance might be reducible to so regular observations that beside the great improvements which would redound from hence to Philosophy all Naturall Knowledge it would be of no small advantage to the interest of Trade and Navigation This noble Art is worthy of Philosophers and Mathematicians and the Mechanical part ought to be esteem'd the least that should accomplish a skilfull Seaman So that men of letters ought not to dispise this as a rude and illiberall profession to which we must be beholding for the most considerable Discoveries of Nature Then as to their Continuance or Succession It has been noted that if the VVinds change conformably to the Motion of the Sun as from the East to the South from the South to the West c. they seldome return thither again at least for no long time But if their changes happen in a contrary manner to the course of the Sun as from West to South from South to East c. they usually revert back again to the former points before they complete the whole Circuit of the Compasse We have this remarque in my Lord Bacon and he disdain'd not to borrow severall observations of this kind from Husbandmen and Sheapheards who are lesse within doors and more concern'd in all the vicissitudes of the yeare whether or no they are like to expect kind seasons for their Corn and flocks It might likewise be enquir'd into what Prognostiques the Seamen have of the weather in all parts of the world where they have different sorts of Tempests I am inform'd that they also commonly observe when the VVind has been long in one Quarter if it passe into a Quarter of the like Quality it is seldome constant but reverts to the former as suppose the East if it change to the North it frequently returns but if it passe by the South and follow the Sun the weather probably changes for some continuance and not per Saltum as if it should skip from the East to the West or from the North to the South for then it 's seldome holding It is not my design to multiply instances of this nature I only offer at some few to compare the Mutations of the Weather with those of the wind questionlesse in a long tract of time they might be reduc'd to some more certain rules then those in Aristotle or Pliny at least better calculated for an Island which being invaded on all sides by the Sea-vapors and Winds seldome enjoys the same serene Face of the Heavens for any long time together but is generally farre more obnoxious to all changes of weather then the Continent Next what certainty there is in any Astrologicall Predictions as by the Age or Phasis of the Moon Appearance or Conjunction of the Starrs c. The Rise of the Orion is more particulariz'd in Authors but seems to be rather a Concomitant of other causes then of it selfe the Efficient of VVinds. So likewise what information we might receive from all sorts of Trades of what concernment it might be for Vintners to have their Cellar-VVindows expos'd to this or that VVind since Michael Angelus Blondus in his book of Navigation affirms that the Easterly and Paduanus in his Treatise of VVinds that the Southerly have a very sensible operation on the VVines in the Cask I have heard