and Pestilentiall but to certain African Provinces healthfull and Pleasant The Northerly are coldest in our European World and the Southerly on the other side of the Aequinoctiall For the Arctick and Antarctick VVinds must needs be of the same nature blowing from either of the Poles where the cold is equally predominant So that the Qualitys of many VVinds seeme not so much to respect the Points of the compasse as the Course of the Sun The Eastern Winds according to Aristotle are hot and dry nor is their Siccity only remarkable in Greece Palestine Asia the Lesse and most parts of Africk where they make long marches over the parcht and barren sands but likewise in the more temperate climes of Holland and France by reason they passe through Poland Germany other vast tracts of Land and lastly arriving at our Isle they can suffer no considerable alteration in their qualitys by so small a passage over the Narrow Seas They are no very welcome guests to us in England being ominous to our Gardens Fields by blasting the corn and fruits I have known strange destruction done in one Night when they come late in the spring Sometimes they not only blite the leaves and blossoms but kill the Trees with their poysonous breath They bring after them swarms of Caterpillers and other devouring insects or those dry and tabid mists which corrupt the lungs and cause Epilepsys Consumptions c. whether by driving before them the putrid Air from Holland or however they contract that malignity in their natures Nevertheless wee can make no Generall conclusions of their propertys from hence which are chang'd by innumerable acidents For though in these Countrys of Great Britain they are inauspicious both to animals and plants yet in the West Indies the Eastern Brise is refreshing and healthfull above all other VVinds. In Arabia and those Asiatique regions they are exceedingly dry by travelling for many thousand leagues over the sandy desarts yet Blondus observes them to be rather humid in Italy and to occasion a relenting in the Air where they blow immediately from the Adriatique Seas In relation to their degrees of heat though Aristotle declares they are much hotter then the Westerly wee find by experience that with us in England the Easterly are at certain Seasons of the yeare exceeding cold and very often the most freesing winds especially if they hang somewhat towards the North. I need assign no other cause for the frigidity of the Easterly Winds then that they have their first rise from the Continent where the Midland Air is much colder then the Maritime The South Winds are generally reputed Hot and Moist on this side the Line being heated in their entry through the Torrid Zone or because they consist not of melted Snows as the Northern but of the Tepid and Sulphury steams from Africk and other Sunburn'd climes They passe over no Seas of any large extent just crossing the Mediterranean and British yet they moisten and relax the Air and cause wet weather by dissolving the Clouds into rain which are rather dissipated and blown over by the impetuous Norths Yet I think it very irrationall to conclude that all the Southerly should have their rise from the Torrid or the Northerly VVinds from the Frigid Zones Since it is not unknown to the Curious that in part of Italy and Provence they have very often Northerly VVinds rising as is suppos'd from some places about the Alps whereof they are not at all sensible in other Countrys of France through which they must of necessity passe if they came so farre North. In like manner at Marseilles and in the Mediterranean they have oftentimes Southerly VVinds when they blow from contrary points on the African Continent which lyes more to the South I believe very few of the South Winds here in England ever took a longer flight then from the Mediterranean Sea or the lower parts of France and it can scarce be suppos'd that the same Numericall Exhalations could ever travell from between the Tropiques and not be spent in the way long er'e they arrive at the British Coasts yet happily by protruding the Ambient Air and that successively the Contiguous to it the motion may at length be Propagated many hundreds of Miles beyond the reach of those vapors which caus'd the first Agitation So that it is not impossible but that a VVind which began neer the Aequinoctiall may by this means be continued even to the Poles of the VVorld However I shall make no longer digressions concerning their Extent but proceed to the Qualitys which are vulgarly ascrib'd to the Southerly VVinds. They are laxative stupefactive and pestilentiall They cause Epilepsies and pains in the head and were therefore styld 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by the Grecians They render men Shaagrin and melancholy and in some of the Azores Islands the children are said to sit dejected and leave their playing when they blow For first they open the pores of our bodys by their heat and then insinuate the malignant influences and the parts being pointed and volatile have not only an easy ingression into our blood but thaw and unloose the textures of ice and snow Nay it 's most certain that iron it selfe takes the file much better when the South Wind blows then at other times They many times cause a farre rougher Sea then the most Tempestuous Winds from the North Happily because they blow more obliquely and rake the Surface of the Water when as the Northerly oftentimes descend as from a precipice downwards which immediately deads and weakens their force They magnify visible objects As our Seamen observe their ships to appeare bigger at a distance either in misty weather or when the South Wind blows For the humid and nebulous vapors of which they consist distort the visual beams and by refracting them to the Perpendicular cause more rays of light to enter into the eye which makes the object seeme larger then otherwise would arrive at it in strait lines Many who are naturally inclin'd to Stammering in their speech do find their infirmity evidently worse when the Wind is toward the South Probably because the moisture of the Air causeth a greater relaxation of the Nervs and thereby a tremulous and unstable motion of the muscles at that time Which perhaps hath more power upon the Vocall muscles then others because they lye in the Road and are more expos'd to the invasions of whatever is breath'd in at the mouth or nostrills then others are Whence also wee find the tongue more apt to falter though somewhat in a different manner whensoever it is overmuch bedew'd with strong and vaporous liquors Smells are said to be most Fragrant in these Winds when the Air is humid and lax to convey the odoriferous particles They anticipate the Spring and cause the trees to blossome and bud forth before their time and by this means exhaust their spirits and nutritive juyce They damp linnen and paper though never
Sun 71. Where to be expected on this side the Tropique 78. The Variation thereof in severall Longitudes 79. Why the Westerly Winds blow most commonly without the Tropiques 86. The Provinciall Winds 90. A discourse concerning the Terrheinos and Viracoins or the Land and Sea-Brises 92. Their History and Cause 93. c. When they come in or cease in the Straights on the Coasts of Guiny the East and West-Indies and what Accidents hasten or retard their approach from p. 99. to 110. Of the Etesian or Anniversary Winds their severall species 111. 112. c. Of the Anniversary Winds in the way to the East-Indies which they call the Monsoons 119. How many months they continue the same Course on the Coasts of Africk and India 121. The Changing or Breaking up of the Monsoons 122. A Discourse concerning the Qualities of Wind p. 131. deriv'd from their Constituent Parts or the Medium through which they passe 131. Some Tryalls for the Explication of this Phaenomenon 133. 134. c. The Great incertainty of these observations and the diversities of their Qualities in severall Climates 138. The Properties of Easterly Winds Vnwholesome in most parts of Europe and yet in America very agreeable and pleasant 141. Of the South Winds 142. Why they magnify Visible objects and cause a stammering in the speech 147. Of the Westerly Winds their exceeding violence in the Isle of Jersy and Coast of Cornwall 150. Of the North Winds their wonderfull impetuosity in Norwey and Island 161. The great Caution to be us'd and what Circumstances are to be consider'd in judging the Qualities of Winds 172. 173. The causes of Hot Winds 174. 175. The Extremity of their Heat toward the Persian Gulf and severall instances of other Scorching Winds in Afric and Arabia where they blow off from the Sands 178. 179. The causes of Cold Winds 181. 182. The Sea-Winds in the Temperate Zones hotter then those which blow over the Land 187. Instances of this Nature in Great Britain the Isle of Jersy Virginia Florida and several other places 188. 189. c. Yet in the Torrid Zone the Sea-Brises cooling and pleasant examples thereof in America 191. Some Unusuall Qualities of Wind. 194. Of the Harmetans in Guiny 195. 196. The Virulent and Destructive Qualities of certain Winds in the West-Indies 201. Some Proposals for a more Accurate Discovery of the Nature and Qualities of Winds in relation to Architecture Navigation and severall Trades and Mechanicall Arts from 209. to 222. Diverse Prognostiques of Wind. 223. Of Whirlwinds in Generall 229. Their severall species 231. Concerning the Tornados a Description of their Nature 236. 237. How many degrees they are to be expected on this side the Aequinoctiall and at what time of the year 246. Most towards the Coasts of Guiny 247. The Tempests near the Cape Bon Esperance 245. The Cause of the Tornados 249. The Presters or Fiery Whirlwinds Examples thereof 251. 254. Hurricanes Some conjectures concerning their cause 257. The Places where they happen 265. 266. Their Prognostiques and Description in diverse Historicall Relations from 269. to 292. c. THe Origines of Winds are no lesse Various then their Motions we ought not to determine positively concerning those Appearances in nature which may be rationally explicated severall ways Though we consult the Placits of the learned Ancients consider also what we owe to the improvements of latter times yet I question whether any Theory was ever yet started on this Argument which will adequately resolve the whole Phaenomenon of VVinds and we must never expect to confine their Originall to any one determinate Cause Most of the Graecian Philosophers agreed in the same Definition of Wind till the Prince of the Peripatetiques was not only ambitious to establish a New Hypothesis of his own but likewise undertook the confutation of his Master Plato the rest of his Predecessors The Philosophicall Monarch thought he could never raign securely in the minds of men unlesse like the Family of the Ottomans he destroy'd all his Bretheren first I have no intention to disparage the Authority of the Ancients but I cannot be so injurious to the many noble productions of our present Age to think that all Science is only to be sought for in the Urns of the Dead we have a more intimate converse with Nature then heretofore which displays her beautifull Bosome and every day affords new Discoveries of usefull knowledge and further conducing to the Benefit of Human life If we consider the successe that Philosophy has met with in the VVorld we shall find that those Opinions which obtain'd most in one Age had their Fatall Periods were as much exploded decry'd in the next it 's as impossible that any one Hypothesis should be calculated to the Gusto of all persons when the sentiments of men are different as their complexions I have therefore taken a larger compasse then the Generallity of writers and deriv'd the Origines of Winds from severall Causes which I rather endeavour to prove from Accounts of our Sea-Voyages and relations of Matters of Fact then to refine on them by any nice speculations of my own For this Philosophy is not to be had in Colleges or Books but must be fetch 't frō both Indies we must traverse the wide Seas be tost to as many points of the Compasse as Columbus or Drake we must climb into the Regions of the Air descend into the Caverns of the Earth to detect the innumerable Causes Qualities of VVinds They are diffus'd like the Universall mind and it requires a kind of ubiquity to understand them How small a portion is it of the vast system of the World that we inhabit and how much lesse of it that we comprehend How Extravagant are the Phaenomena of the large American tracts their Tydes VVinds and other Aeriall impressions how different and irreconcileable to Ours How many noble discoverys have been made in these Countries which the Athenian Sages could never think of in their narrow Porches Gardens They might spin fine webs out of their own bowels but for want of a closer inspection into Nature their Texture Materials are slight And we must acknowledge that even the Stagirite himself has left us no very perfect Theory of VVinds though this Province of late years has been more succesfully undertaken by the Lord Verulam Galileo De Cartes and other illustrious Moderns Aristotle constitutes two species of Exhalations the one vapid or moist the other 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Fumid or Terrene and as the first is employ'd in Rain Hail or Snow c. So the other furnishes materials for Winds c. The Ancients understand no more by wind then a Motion of the Air Anaximander in Plutarch styles it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and some others 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to which that of Seneca may allude Ventus est Aer Fluens But neither the Prince of the Peripatetics ever supposed
Terraqueous Globe were of one uniforme superficies as wee may perceive that in wide Seas their motions are farr less irregular then by Land since the great diversity of Climates Mountains and Lakes varies them exceedingly I have thus farr discours'd of the 4 Principall the Collaterall or Intermediate VVinds if any right judgment could be made of their natures from the Quarters whence they blow might be suppos'd Hot Dry Moist c. as they are farther remov'd or hang nearer towards the Cardinal Point But we are like to expect little satisfaction from the generality of writers concerning the temperature of VVinds For who can with patience hear the impertinence of those Notionall men that enquire no further but declare That the South Wind is allways Hot and Moist the North Cold and Dry the West c. which obliges us in the following discourses to offer at some more accurate account of their Qualitys and the most Universall causes from whence they proceed First VVinds are Moist either because their Constituent parts are made up of Vapid and Aqueous corpuscles such as rain dews watry Clouds or by reason they make long Voyages by Sea or over great Lakes Morish Countrys Fenns and so are tainted with the Qualitys of the Medium through which they passe Those which proceed from Melted Snows have some small allay of the Terrene but approach neerer the Moist The Siccity of VVinds is from their Saline and Terrestriall parts or that arriving from those Parc'ht and Torrid regions neer the Line they are exsiccated as they travell by the Ways of the Sun I shall not dispute whether this has been cautiously enough minded by most writers How many nice circumstances are to be consider'd in judging the Qualitys of VVinds and how difficult it is to make a just Estimate of their severall degrees of Heat and Cold. For there must not only be especiall regard had to the Temperament of our Senses but to the Climes in which they blow and seasons of the year Since those which would seem hot at Christmas comparatively to the winter Cold should the same happen in July when wee had been long accustom'd to a different temperature of our Organs and the Ambient Air would undoubtedly appeare exceedingly Cold. Then wee denominate VVinds either Gelid or Hot in respect of those that usually blow in such Climats as the Southern Blasts with us here in England though they are Colder then the Ambient Air may be reputed Hot comparatively to the N. or N. E. which are much more refrigerative in these parts of the VVorld Thus wee ought not rashly to make judgment of their Qualitys but first consider what Symptoms of Heat they betray in relation to Weather-glasses or the Winds that commonly blow in such Countrys as likewise what mutations happen by them in the Temperature of the Air And afterwards compare all these Circumstances with the present disposition of our Organs least wee determine concerning the positive Qualitys of VVinds from only the Prejudices and Hallucinations of Sense There are severall Causes Productive of Heat As their passage through Hot Regions Or because they consist of the ignite and suffocating Air which infests the Burning Zone where the whole Masse is corrupted with such intolerable heats that the Winds which are either generated therein or only pervade the Torrid regions must needs for some time retain their temperament and Qualitys till at length they loose them in long voyages and the calorifique particles languish and dwindle away by degrees being oppres'd with multitudes of Heterogeneous exhalations in their course Then I think it not improbable but that the Solar rays or whatever parcells beside of the Subtil and Aetheriall matter may by mingling with them actually advance the heat of VVinds. And Lastly The ignite Damps such as wee sometimes discover in Colepits and Mines and all other of the Minerall and Metalline Kingdomes that finding no Vent cause Earthquakes in the Bowells thereof if they escape through the Pores of the Earth occasion Presters and Hot VVinds And those fiery eruptions which in many places of Calabria and Sicily are continually breathing out from the Subterraneall Regions must needs diffuse the seminals of heat through the whole body of the Air and VVinds especially such as come reaking from under Burning Mountains or at least are the results of those Calorifique mixtures by which some Mineralls and salts fermenting together in the Cavitys of the Earth emit Hot fumes Like severall Chymicall preparations such as Oyl of Tartar and spirit of Vitriol which cause a strange Ebullition and Heat by their commistion only And if wee suppose any thing Analogous to these under ground where Nature in her own Elaboratory often exceeds the greatest Sagacity of Art why may not the Tepid Steams and Vapors that ascend from thence be able to produce so considerable a degree of Heat in the Air that might occasion Scorching Winds And happily the Rancounters of Certain Mineralls with each other in those Passages where the VVaters flow may likewise by their mutuall ferments be the most probable cause of many Hot Baths Springs Neverthelesse Fromundus some other Naturalists of late in the Number of which wee may reckon our Countryman Mr. Hobs affirme that all VVinds whatever doe actually refrigerate and oftentimes so intensly that they prove the fittest instruments for the Congelation of Liquids And I must confesse it seldome falls under our observation that in any parts of Europe the VVinds are comparatively hotter then our Sensories or the Ambient Air yet in many Provinces of Afric Arabia but most of all near the Persian Gulf where they come just off from the Burning Sands they are intolerably hot and suffocating as appears from the Relations of the Portugalls first Voyages to the East Indies where they felt Gales of the E. and N. E. Wind so Hot that the Air seem'd to be inflam'd and scorching like fire So likewise Gasparo Balbi in his Travells speaks of four persons that weary'd in their Journy sat down near the Banks of Euphrates to refresh themselves a while and were all stifled by one of these Hot Winds And wee have a more surprising Narrative from Marcus Polo that when the King of Chermain sent an Army of 16 Hundred horse and 5 thousand foot against the Lord of Ormus for not paying his Tribute they all perisht by these Suffocating Blasts But if wee distrust the integrity of these writers Olearius in his Voyage to Persia describes the intemperature of the Air in those Countrys to be such that with the North or East Wind they felt a Cold which depriv'd them of their Limbs and on the Contrary the S. Winds were ready to choak them with the extremity of heat But Della Valle a Nobleman of Rome whose Curiosity led him through most of the Eastern Kingdomes reports that towards Arabia there was a VVind so scorching and Dry that it left behind it like marks of Fire wherever it came
W. throughout all India from noon till 12 at night and coming out of the Sea towards the Land are therefore call'd Viracoins or Sea Winds They often stay late and blow but slowly Nearer the Coasts of China you have the Terreinhos out of the West and N. W. S. E. and E. N. E. Being in the North they change to the South and then ensues a calme till the Terreinhos come in The Brises in the Straights begin about 9 or 10 in the Morning blowing freshest at noon and so gradually declining till 4 or 5 at last cease in a Calme which lasts till 10 11 or 12 at night VVhen begins the Land Brise till 5 or 6 and then Calme till the Sea Brise comes in This account I receiv'd from a Sea Captain well vers'd in all parts of the Levant having serv'd under the Venetians severall years in those Seas At the river of Constantinople the VVinds commonly blow thorough but in exceeding fair VVeather you shall have both the Land and Sea Brises as in the Straights If either the Easterly or VVesterly VVinds blow fresh they hinder both the Land and Sea Brises in the Mediterranean of which wee must note They are always the more languid and weaker the later they come in In very hot days and when no other VVinds are stirring you may sometimes observe this alternation between the Land and Sea Brises on the Coasts of England but scarce with any certainty beyond the Latitude of Portugal Brises of all sorts are more constant in Summer then Winter and between the Tropiques then in the Temperate Zones The Etesians or Anniversary VVinds are those which blow constantly at certain seasons of the yeare The most remarkable species begin in Summer about the rise of the Dog starre and last 40 days being preceded by their Prodromi or Fore-runners 8 or 10 days The account of Pliny is not much different from Aristotle as he computes their Etesians in the 2 d book of his Naturall History Not only the Stagirite and Theophrastus but of late De Cartes and many other Moderns derive their Origine from the colliquated snows and ice in the Northerly regions For the long continuance of the Sun neer 6 months together above their Horizon at last overcomes the obstinacy of the cold and dissolves the snows which being attenuated into VVinds make long marches towards the South where they find the Air more yielding and pure then the Foggs and grosse vapors of the North. They were call'd the Sleepy VVinds Venti Delicati Somniculares by reason they intermit in the night time and rise again with the Sun happily because the vapors were then only sufficiently dilated by the celestiall beams though in the night time they subside and hover neare the Earth being too refrigerate and dense to constitute VVinds till they are again quicken'd put in motion by the approaches of the Sun I am willing to acquiesce in the aforesaid cause and I believe wee in England or France might owe our Etesians to Groenland and other parts of the Frozen Zones because wee have no constant visible Fountains of any such VVinds in our own dominions but if the Etesians of Greece according to the sentiments of Aristotle doe allways depend on the resolution of snows in the North they would certainly take Russia Poland or Germany in the way which lye neerer the Artick Pole before they arrive at Greece and yet on the other side of the Taurican hills they are said to have Southerly VVinds about the time of the Graecian Etesians VVee may better make judgement of these Winds that being most Peculiar to this Country they were no Forreigners in their Originall but sprung from particular Fountains within it selfe such as the hills of Macedon and Thrace that have perennial Snows of their own and these being master'd by the scorching heats of Summer may give birth to their Etesian Winds which has this advantage over the other opinion that it clears the difficulty why they are silent in the night and blow with fresher Gusts at Midday when the Sun mounts highest in the Northern Hemisphere I shall only adde not to mention severall others of the modern Naturallists that even * Cabeus himselfe who was a person sufficiently Zealous in asserting the Peripatetique Hypothesis dissents from the opinion of Aristotle will scarce allow the Etesians of Greece a remoter Origine then the neighboring Alps. I shall not insist upon the mistake for which some of his own interpreters have severely enough reflected upon Aristotle That he should first deduce the Origine of these VVinds from the Frozen Zones and afterward assign the reason why they blow stronger in the Day time because the liquefaction of the Snows is interrupted by the Nocturnall Cold when it 's Notorious that in those Countrys the Sun for many Months together is never depres'd below their Horizon Towards the Adriatique and many parts of Asia they have Set Winds which arrive from the N. and N. E. Yet all these which were reputed the Venti Stati blow not from the Northerly Points for in Gascony about the same time with the Etesians of Greece they have rather Southerly Winds which Scaliger who was best able to judge of his own Country observes to be unwholesome and Pestilentiall At Madrid for the most part of the Summer they have a Brise from the Pyreneans or the Adjacent Guadarama which extremely allays the excesse of heat You shall have different sorts of Winds from the same Snowy mountain blowing to severall quarters according to the situation of the Countrys As was observ'd in those Countrys by the foremention'd Cabeus Saepe nobis Boreas Borealibus Auster Spirat It being not unusuall for them in Lombardy to feel a Northerly and at Tirol which is situate on the contrary side of the Alps a Southerly Wind at the same time In Italy they can never fail of Etesians from their own Appennines and so happily on the shoare of Guzarat and the Indian Ocean from mount Caucasus And where ever great Chains or ridges of Hills run along as the Caucasean or Appennine this very often renders an account of most Etesians there about Yet I question whether many Authors may not ascribe too much to this one cause for in some places they have Anniversary Winds that can never possibly have their rise from the Resolution of Snows And I believe it would prove extremely difficult to lay down any tolerable Hypothesis of the Monsoons on the Coasts of Afric and India from the best discoverys wee have yet been able to make of those Parts There are other Stated or Anniversary Winds which they call'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Avicular and White-South Winds either because they were so friendly to the procreation of birds or rather that they return'd with Nightingales or Swallows in the spring beginning to blow after the Summer Solstice by the computation of Aristotle 70 days about the beginning
dyes of Scarlet are not only soon faded in a showre of rain but it has been observ'd that they suffer prejudice and loose somewhat of their lustre if they be worne much in misty weather and so possibly certain species of Air or Winds may be able to make the like kind of impressions on those Florentine silks VVee find by experience that some VVinds produce very odd effects in many sorts of Animals and Plants and others convey into the Air spirits so subtil and penetrating which dissolve the hardest of Metals That inquisitive Jesuit in his Naturall History of the West Indies gives us an account of the iron grates which in those parts were so much rusted and consum'd with the Winds that by only pressing them between your fingers they dissolv'd into Powder VVhich has likewise been observ'd of the Air about London whether from those Corrosive salts or the great quantity of Sulphur contain'd in the Sea-coale that it does not only spoyl Tapistrys and beds tarnish the most polisht silver plate fowl linnen and paper and sully all sorts of Household-stuffe with it's Fuliginous steams but has a very sensible operation on the Iron or Brasse in their Chimnies and Windows which it corrupts and causes to rust much sooner then in the Country I shall not undertake to Philosophise concerning the cause of the former Phaenomenon unlesse wee were better acquainted with the situations of those places in the West Indies Only wee are sufficiently inform'd that in some of the American Kingdomes the Earth exhales very noxious vapours that occasion a strange contagion in the Air though impartiall Nature has recompenc'd this inconvenience with many blessings which the Old World did never enjoy In the plains of Peru they have a VVind which kills men if wee may give credit to the Spanish writers without the least sense of pain and afterwards by it's extreme Subtlety and cold preserves them from Putrefaction Since the first discovery of Almagro great numbers of persons have been found dead in those Desarts some lost their feet and hands that were rotted by these Virulent Blasts which happend to the Generall Costilla and many others of the Christians who travelled into those parts Insomuch that the Spanyards who formerly us'd to passe over the Plains between Peru and Chile rather undertake a laborious voyage by the Sea-side then hazard the disasters which they might otherwise expect from these VVinds. But I insist not upon instances for which wee have no further evidence of truth then the credit of the relators yet we must suppose that there is quite another Face of Nature in those remote Climates therefore wee ought not to explode all things as false that are only different from such observations to which we have been accustom'd in these parts of the world The Winds neare Serra di Lyone where the Neighbouring Mountains abound with many putrid Sulphureous exhalations breath out in such venemous Blasts that they breed Pestilentiall Feavers and other diseases in the inhabitants So very considerable are their influences not only in other regards but to the benefit or prejudice of Human life For a kind Temperature of the Heavens Serene Air and wholesome VVinds which is the Atmosphericall dyet are full as necessary to the Health welfare of Mankind as good meat or Drinke Those likewise which have their Origines from such Subterraneall Caverns that exhale noxious Fumes like the Killing Damps in deep pits or Mines must needs by this means mingle a great allay and adulterate the purity of the Air when the virulent particles are carry'd and disperst by the Winds what can wee expect but a Mortall and unwholesome vapour from such places as the Denne of Charon near Naples where the deadly venom transpires insensibly through the pores of the Earth and suffocates all Animals that enter at the mouth of the Cave Empedocles by stopping up one of these Poisonous Caverns and hindring the Eruption of the Winds from thence is said to have cur'd an Epidemick sicknes which they had occasion'd in all the Citys thereabout whereupon in Plutarch he was afterward styl'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And in all other recesses under ground where the Pregnant womb of the Earth is stor'd with so many severall sorts of Minerals Salts if they ascend from thence they must needs fill the Atmosphere with as great diversity of vapours And therefore those VVinds which are generated in the Sulphureous soil of Puteoli smell of brimstone a great distance from thence those which come from infected places propagate the contagion and bring death along with the infectious Air. Thus wee see VVinds are not all vested with the same Qualities nor alike friendly or injurious to Human life but they sometimes are replete with those Arsenicall and Deleterious Corpuscles that convey into our blood the seeds of diseases and otherwhile with such agreable juices that recreate and cherish our spirits and contribute to longevity and Health But the wonderfull effects of Winds are more obvious to reason then perceptible by the justest criteriums of sense since the invisible Agents are diffus'd every where and the Air is as the common Vehicle or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of all things where so many different sorts of Saline and Minerall spirits are continually Floating and driven to and fro in the Atmosphere So that I believe much of that Naturall Magic by which distant Bodys act upon each other though wee usually ascribe it to Occult Qualities or certain Sympathies and Antipathies in matter to proceed from no other cause then the secret operations of Winds For they are the Carriers of the Universe and transport from one place to another odors diseases fertilising Salts the seeds of Animals and Plants and most other things of which wee can give no account how they came there as vegetables that spring on the tops of houses or those which are observ'd to grow on the walls of Castles Ancient Theaters nay sometimes whole Groves and vast Forrests have at first had no other Planters then the VVinds. But to attempt a full collection of all their Properties and Effects must be the work of Posterity which possibly may require many ages e're it be brought to Perfection And to complete the many Desiderata of this Phaenomenon in an Universall History of VVinds For we have only the Out-lines of this vast Design in Sir Francis Bacon it would be adviseable to make an exact Table or Ephemeris for many years together and so dayly compare the observations of their Prognostiques the Quarters whence they blow their Duration and Properties how farre they agree or differ from what has been already delivered in Books Many of this nature are set down by the Lord Verulam but for the most part collected out of Aristotle and Pliny though with lesse improvement then might have been expected from that illustrious person However since the Learned World has been so long impos'd on by Tradition we ought in