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
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
and the excessive Heat forc'd them to keep their legs naked which became so red and inflam'd that without the greatest Torment they could not endure to set them on the ground In some places of the Country these Soultry Gales last from 9 in the morning till noon which are ready to stifle the inhabitants and blowing immediately from the Scorching Sands the people many times lye in the water to rescue themselves from the intolerable Heats Della Valle says that they are call'd in the Annalls of Persia Bad Semum i. e. Burning and Venemous VVinds. I have heard the like relations from many of our Sea Captains who trade on the Arabian or African Coasts so that I think Mr. Hobs or any other of the Modern Naturallists had little reason to question the Heat of some Winds though in these parts of the world where they travell not over such Sandy Desarts and are more remov'd from the ways of the Sun they are more sensibly Cold. By Gelid Winds I understand those which are colder then our Sensories or the Ambient Air. This Frigidity may happily proceed from the Nitrous particles of which they consist or whatever body else wee reckon to be the Primum Frigidum Or because they have their Origine in those Caverns under the Earth where the Sun beams never penetrate and no Subterraneall warmth is to be found Monsieur De Cartes averrs that all Boistrous Winds from whatever point of the Compasse they blow are Universally Cold and Dry and wee find that any sort of Air violently mov'd by a Fanne or Bellows does refrigerate so that the Cold of Winds may somewhat depend on their motion or manner of affecting our Senses And since the Cartesians will allow Cold to be no positive Quality of it self but a mere Privation of Heat then either the absence of their Subtil matter may cause the Frigidity of Winds or else the occasion thereof must be this that they passe thorough the Gelid Regions which are never visited by the Sun Beams For as Those which come from Aethiopia and other parts of the Torrid Zone doe imbibe the Heat and Sympathise with the nature of the places from whence they come so questionlesse the other that consist of or drive before them the grosse and Frigorifique Air from Groenland and other Northern Climates must needs have considerable allays of the Mediums through which they passe And within the Polar Circles the absence of the Solar rays for so many Months do's sufficiently conduce to the Production of Cold since the Sun which us'd to correct the rigour and inclemency of the weather is now banisht from their Horizon and the Air become Chill and Torpid by the long Predominance of the Cold. So that the VVinds must of necessity admit of very considerable alterations in their passage and whether or no they consist of Frigorifique particles yet by their commerce and enterfering with the Gelid Regions they may draw I know not what Contagion from thence As appear'd in the foremention'd Experiment how much the mixture of Snow and Ice only by applying it to the outside of the bellows did soon infrigidate the Transient VVinds. For I am not sufficiently convinc'd that Cold VVinds proceed always from Nitre Sal Armaniac or other Frigorifique Corpuscles But sometimes only appeare so to us by their particular Motions on our Sensories As wee see any Air Ventilated from Fanns or Bellows or our own breath darted with a very vehement impulse from the Mouth appears Frigid which if wee exhale gaping and in another position of the lips is rather sensibly Hot. Thus if VVinds may be styl'd Cold from a simple Privation of Heat and if only the want of some Subtil Matter the absence of the Sun or other Calorifique Corpuscles will resolve the severall Phaenomena wee commonly ascribe to cold this will be sufficient to constitute the Refrigerative Winds which may better be explain'd in this manner then by the Positive Qualitie of the Peripatetiques or the Nitrous and other Frigorifique particles of the Atomists and Corpuscularian Philosophers I shall only add one circumstance out of the Honourable Mr. Boyl concerning the causes of cold Winds I have supected some Winds may be Cold only by consisting of or driving before them those higher parts of the Air that by reason of the longuid reflexion of the Sun beams in the Upper Region is for the most part Cold. Yet as I before declar'd wee often commensurate the Qualities of Winds not only from their Constituent Particles or their just degrees of Frigidity or Heat but sometimes because they are warmer then the Ambient Air or the Winds that usually blow in such Climats or at leastwise then those membranes or Sensorys by which wee judge them The VVinds which blow off from Sea are farre Hotter then those which come from Land May not the Collucent Salts which create such a sparkling and Coruscation in Tempests or other vehement Collision of the waves be able to produce some heat in the Air and VVinds being either actuall Flames or at least making those impressions on our Sensory's as if they were Neverthelesse since wee find by experience that these kind of Salts with which the Sea water is impregnated doe neither rise up in vapors nor being mingled with liquids any way advance their Heat May there not be other Calorifick Effluviums like the hot Steams in Colepits and Mines that ascend from the bottome of the Sea yet cannot so easily perspire through the solider Superficies of the Earth which renders the Maritime Regions and VVinds hotter then the Midland But whatever be the cause it is most evident that all over Europe the winters are generally milder in Islands then many places in the Continent which lye nearer the Sun As in England then France nay Scotland though it be situate so farre North has seldome more keen and piercing Frosts then Paris or some Citys of Italy which are infested with Terrestriall Winds So likewise part of Asia as in China where it runs to the Southwards of Spain the winters are most excessively cold in the 42 degree of Latitude they have ice which lasts 3 or 4 Months together by reason of the Land Winds For this cause New England though it lyes not so farre distant from the Aequator is incomparably colder then any parts of Great Britain And at Virginia as I have been inform'd the Land Winds oftentimes surprise them with such an Exceding sharp Air that one would think it impossible there should be those extreames of Heat and Cold in the same day So on the Coasts of Carolina and Florida where they have for the most part Midland Winds the Colds are intolerable considering their no great distance from the Sun When as the Sea-Brise in most parts of Europe is temperate and mild I have heard that in the Isle of Jersy the Myrtles will live abroad all winter being cherisht on every side with the tepid vapors from the Sea and