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
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
in the Air. But among innumerable Examples I could produce of this Nature one out of the Philosophicall Transactions quadrates exactly to our purpose Numb 26. pag. 481. anno 1667. It was then given in to the Royall Society as the result of twenty yeers experience from a Person well vers'd in Minerall affaires He affirm'd If in digging under ground the workmen meet with Water they never want Air or Wind But if they misse it they are destitute of convenient Air either to breath in or make their Candles burn Sometimes there bappens to be a great quantity of Winters standing Water in their Mines but as soon as the levell is made and any part of the Water begins to run away the men must secure themselves as well as they can For the included Air or Wind breaks forth with violence to carry all before it They have Burning Mountains in China that are said to raise Tempests The same Accounts wee have of the Grottos in Calabria Sicily and many places about the Alps. And I think it not lesse considerable what the learned Peter Gassendus assures us of a Mountaine in Provence which had a Visto thorough it like Pausilyponeer Naples from whence a Northerly Wind on one side and a Southerly on the other have been observ'd to break forth at the same time I have heard that in Cornwall they have so sure Prognosticks of Storms at Sea from their Mines that the Fishermen never Presume to tarry out when the signal is given by the Eruption of certain Meteors which immediately Presage a Tempest There are almost as many instanof this kind as wee find Cranies or receptacles of Air under ground Questionlesse these Cavernous retreats are very often the Locall origin's of Wind where the Poets faign the Kingdome of Aeolus not Unphilosophically alluding to the mode of their Production Winds that are generated in the Cloysters of the Earth are for the generality made up of Waters dilated by the Subterraneall Fires Kircher among many other Romantick Suggestions on this Argument adds that colliquated Snows and Raine sinking into the ground doe sometimes expell and force out the Winds and Air. Yet not only Water but most bodys will be mov'd and Volatilis'd by Heat Especially the Nitrosulphureous and other Minerall or Metallic Concretes that are easily resolvible into Fumes either by Rarefaction from some Intestine Vulcano or by that glowing and Potentiall Heat which is no where wanting in the bowels of the Earth If you mingle together Nitre Sal Armoniac crude Antimony c. and macerating them all in salt Water set the vessel over the Fire the Fumes will issue out much after the manner of our Aeolipiles which shows what may be likewise effected when the same causes concurre in the Subterraneall World Some also haue conjectur'd that Winds oftentimes break from under the Ocean because the waves are observ'd to rise and gently to curle and furrow the Seas on that side whence it is next to blow Or if the included spirit be in greater plenty it sometimes dashes the waves against the rocks with so great violence that the noise may be heard in some places no lesse then 8 or 10 leagues I am credibly inform'd that in St. Owens Bay belonging to the Isle of Jersey the Sea is often strangly disturb'd before the Western storms even when the Air is very calme and though no Wind be stirring yet the roaring of the waves may be heard not only over the whole Isle but into France about 30 miles distance which is the certain Prognostique of an ensuing tempest And those suddain tumors which happen in the rivers of Garonne or Dourdongn neer Bourdeaux seem to be the effects of intestine winds swelling them into ridges mountains of water which they call Mascarets are so terrible to them that sayl in the river that when they perceive them coming the people cry out Garde le Mascaret Garde le Mascaret and then the watermen immediatly make to the shoare to save their lives for it inevitably threatens the overturning their boats It happens only in Summer and in the greatest tranquillity of the Air but is often follow'd by wind Something like these Mascarets though from a different cause are the suddain turgences of the river Severn which they call'd Higram Scaliger in his Exercit. speaks of a Sea towards the Gulfe of Lions which is frequently so raging when there is no sensible Wind to irritate it that the Adjacent Countrys might justly fear a deluge the waves seeming to rise above the shoars In like manner the Italian Benacus or Lago de Garda and more especially that neer Geneva is oftentimes troubled in the calmest days which is questionless nothing but an Included Spirit or Wind though the inhabitants ignorantly impute it to witch-craft This Sub-marine Tempest is by some called Procella Caeca and by the Portugals La Manca when they see it break out in a Cloud or Mist from under the VVater I supersede many remarks from our Sea voyages and some others out of Beregard and Kircher and shall instance only in two The one recited by Fromundus from the testimony of the Learned Fienus who in a calme and serene day diverting himself on the Belgique shoare perceived a dense mist suddainly to rise from the Ocean which though very inconsiderable in the begining he saw it encrease and diffuse it self by degrees till it covered the face of the Heaven and ended in a most Dreadfull tempest at last and what can be more Admirable in the whole history of Nature then that so small a Vapo'r should fill the spacious Atmosphere swell the Seas into Mountains and mingle all things with horro'r and night The other is set down by Mr. Boyle to whom the learned world is so much obliged for his curiosity in all Naturall inquiries and I shall insert it from the pen of the Honourable Author Some years since neer the strong fortress of Duncannon where divers of the ships Royall of England lying at Anchor in a place where they apprehended no danger from the Wind there seemed suddainly to ascend out of the water not farr from them a black Cloud in shape and bigness not much unlike a barrell which was not long after followed as the most experienc'd Pilot foretold by so hideous a storme as forc'd those shipps to goe to Sea again and had like to have cast them away and this account was written by the principall Officers to their Superiors in England c. We can by no means distrust the matter of fact which had almost as many witnesses to confirme it as there were men in the Navall Army and we are sufficiently informed from this memorable event how farr the Sub marine eruptions may be concern'd in the production of stormy winds I proceed to the 3d Generall Cause which is their Descension or Repercussion from the middle Region of the Air. This opinion seems most a justed to the vulgar hypothesis though the Prince
the straights of Magellan which renders the Passage so very difficult into the South Seas But were the whole Sublunary Globe of the same equall and uniforme superficies wee should have VVinds in most places no lesse constant then the Monsoons and as regularly govern'd by the course of the Sun It will be no hard matter to explicate the cause of the Easterly Monsoons this being the perpetuall course of the Trade-wind all the year round between the Tropiques But that they afterward revert to the VVest may possibly be occasion'd from the great Magazine of vapors lodgd about the Island of Madagascar and the Coasts thereabout which are reflected from thence by the Advent of the Sun into the Tropique of Capricorne for VVinds are both the result of rarefaction and condensation also and the rarify'd vapors not only cause a more vehement Protrusion of the Air after their dilatation but being over much compress'd in one quarter as often by the Elasticall power thereof beget a Reverse VVind in retiring to their former places So that there can scarce be a moments rest in the Universe the Atmosphere being as one continued scene of Action and Passion that I believe the Air even in the calmest days is almost every where Agitated at least by some insensible Wind. But thus farre of their distinct Species and particularly of the Monsoons In relation to their Qualities I before rejected the Hot and Dry Exhalations as too narrow and insufficient to resolve the innumerable Phaenomena of VVinds for they consist no lesse of Omnigenous Vapors Salts and Mineralls with other different species of matter and we must expect their Qualities to be Various as they have greater or lesse Allays of such Bodys Some of them are Corrosive others Suffocating and Pestilentiall they are sometimes Hot and then Cold from the same Quarter and so successively capable of all Qualities and Extremes according to the Diversity of their Constituent parts or Mediums in which they blow This might appear from many obvious Experiments Let them pass thorough a Tunnell or Pipe of a convenient length but much wider at one end then the other that it may give free admission to the Air in the cavity of which strew severall sorts of Aromatics and odorous herbs such as Thyme Roses Violets c. then let it be stuck in the wall of some house expos'd to the open fields with the larger end obverted to the VVinds and the lesser so plac'd to conveigh them into the house somewhat after the manner of the Italian Ventiducts and you shall have the whole roome perfumed with a pleasant and agreable smell but instead of these if you put in herbs or mineralls with Virulent Deleterious Qualities you shall have some complaining of their heads others seas'd with Lipothymies and inclin'd to sleepe when the stupefactive fumes enter together with the VVinds and surprise the Spirits The same we may conclude of all such whose component particles are either noxious in themselves or make their entry through unwholesome places which are stord with Antimony Mercury or other Putrid and Arsenicall vapors I made diverse tryalls of this nature instead of common Water I fill'd the Aeolipile with water distill'd from roses which generated VVinds with a very gratefull Perfume afterwards I experimented the same with severall sorts of liquids I likewise cast in Camphire and then small shavings of Juniper Wood into the Aeolipile that sent out flatulent steams according to the nature of the bodys injected which makes it evident that the Qualitys of VVinds are oftentimes deriv'd from their Constituent particles But as to the Medium through which they passe I judg'd the use of the Aeolipile by no means suitable to my design in discovering their degrees of heat or cold the Winds generated therein being actually hot before so I caus'd to be made a Tinne pipe about 4 foot long which I fitted to the nose of a pair of bellows and covering it with a mixture of snow and ice perceiv'd the. VVind which pass'd through the pipe to be very excessively cold but because our Organs are not all ways equally dispos'd nor indeed are they sufficient Criteria to be rely'd on in such nice cases I therefore made use of an Hermetically-Seal'd VVeather-glasse and blowing thereon found a very visible alteration in the liquor of the Weather-glasse which being ventilated from the same bellows wrought no such effect before the Frigorific mixture was apply'd I afterward heated the Pipe in the Fire through which the Winds should passe and there came forth an exceeding Hot blast So farre upon all accounts may the Disposition of the Medium influence the Transient Winds If wee further enquire upon what account Winds thus farre sympathize with their Mediums wee must acknowledge it to be no dreame of the Epicureans that continuall effluviums doe issue from all materiall concretes And the Winds not only bear off with them those particles which are already disengag'd from their textures but help to loosen others that ther 's scarce any Body so solid which pays them not some tribute as they passe Those which have made no farre excursions from their Fountains cannot be much adulterated in the way and so preserve their first Qualitys entire But the Travelling Winds that arrive from remote Countrys and drive before them different species of Air and mingle with other Heterogeneous exhalations in their passage they are at last quite overcome by them and so farre influenc'd by their long entercourse with the medium that they almost Universally borrow their Temperament and Propertys from thence The Winds in Italy which blow over the groves of Myrtle doe often perfume the Air for many miles and in those Countrys where the Rosemary grows wild in the fields the smell thereof has been carry'd a considerable distance from their Coasts The Levants are accounted Soultry and troublesome in Spain yet on the shoars of Murcia where they come off the Mediterranean they are agreable and pleasant The Tramontanas at Rome are often more piercing then the sharpest North Winds either in England or France because they blow from the Snowy mountains And I might instance in a remarque out of Captain James The Southerly Wind was then coldest the reason I conceive to be for that it did blow off the Main Land which was all cover'd with Snow and the N. Winds came out of the Bay which was hitherto open I conclude that VVinds have more frequently their Qualitys from the Places or Mediums through which they passe or at least from the Fountains that gave them birth then from the Quarters which are reputed Hot or Cold or otherwise qualify'd for producing such Winds As in Holland and the lower parts of Germany they have very often colder weather with the Midland VVinds though from the South then with the N. or N. E. which passe over the Sea and mingle with the tepid vapors of the Ocean The Southern Blasts to us here in England are accounted noxious
so carefully guarded from the Air cause flesh to rot and upon all accounts hasten putrefaction in bodys The Western have been Counted the mildest most Auspicious of all others and were so highly in favour with the Poets that they thought them worthy of the Golden Age and to refresh the Elysian groves They are indeed cherishing to Animals they cause fertility in the Earth and paint the flowry meades with all the verdant beautys of the spring But though the Breathing Zephyrs are so much celebrated in Poems and Romances and happily were kinder to the delicious Countrys of Italy Greece yet wee find no lesse malignity in their natures from particular accidents and climats then what wee have observ'd of other Winds In the Isle of Jersy as I was lately inform'd by an ingenious Gentleman of that place they Taint and Blast all the plants and trees except the white poplar which flourishes best in those Winds and suffer nothing to grow a good distance from the Western shoare when the Midland of the Country and all other parts even to the Brink of the Ocean is very fruitfull and universally planted They have an observation there when it rises on a suddain instorms it continu's for 9 days or thereabout They blow in this Isle the greatest part of the year but chiefly about the Aequinoxes and particularly in Autumn when they are very boystrous having nothing to checque their rage between that and America and these they call the Michaelmas storms Beside what is said of this Island the same effects are known in Normandy and many parts of our British Coasts especially towards Cornwal and the Lands End but they render the Norman shoare inhabitable by reason of the sand they blow over it where are few or no Trees to be seen neer the Sea and those very shrubs When they take a point of the North they are worst but not long lasting The greatest VVinds which have been known of late years were either Westerly or from the Collaterall points between the West and North. One about the Death of Oliver Cromwell And another famous for demolishing so many houses and buildings which in diverse places it levell'd to the ground It did considerable Damage to most of the Colleges in Oxon blew down two and twenty Elms in the Grove of Trin. Coll. and severall of the strongest Fabricks in England Scap't not without some marks of it's violence For many of those houses which either by their strength or situation were able to resist it's furious assaults lost their roofs or had their chimnys and barns blown down But that which makes it still memorable in most parts of the Kingdome was the great numbers of Trees and sturdy Oaks that fell in this Tempest You might see the Spoiles of the Villages and woods all the Country round An event scarce to be paralleld in the former Age and which would require a large History to transmit all the particulars thereof to posterity The Westerly Winds are oftentimes thus Tempestuous in England and Flanders which receive their first efforts from the wide Seas where they bring terrible storms sometimes Snow and then in large Flakes but usually in the spring time rain especially the S. W. which are the most Humid and Pluvious because they travell by Sea many thousand miles and must needs wet their wings in so long a flight or'e the Western Ocean By some writers they are esteem'd Gelid and Moist but with us they are warmer then the East or North either because they consist of the tepid vapors and Air which are heated by the declining Sun or that being Sea-Winds they are therefore generally hotter in the Temperate Zones then those which blow off the Land Lastly the Northerly Winds in these parts of Europe are accounted Cold and Dry by reason they arrive from the Frigid climats of the North and consist for the most part of resolv'd snows and ice They cause a sude and serene sky dispersing the Clouds wherefore Boreas in Homer is styl'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Serenator Boreas yet in Africa they cause rain and are moyster then the South which according to the complexion of those Countrys has a greater degree of siccity and heat In some places of Holland Flanders where they gather the vapors from the German or Scotish Seas the N. Winds often bring with them Cloudy and wet weather And wee have known as great falls of rain here in England the VVind being at N. and N. E. but then it usually continued at S. or S. W. for some days before So I have supected that those vapors Clouds which were gather'd and blown over by the Southerly were afterward reduc'd back again by the Northerly VVinds. They render the Northern men vegete and healthfull to extreme old age by hindring the exilition of the spirits when as the Africans are old at 40 where the continuall heat opens the pores and suffers the vitall flame to transpire That which makes the Fortunate Islands truly so is the kind salute from the Northern VVinds after they have been somewhat heated in their progresse towards the South The gates of Citys in the opinion of the wisest Architects ought always to be directed towards the North and the situation of Tornay in Flanders is celebrated by Fromundus upon that account Hippocrates prescrib'd the N. Wind as the greatest Antidote against the plague in Greece and Varro is said to have preserv'd his whole family during the raging plague at Corcyra by stoping up the windows towards the South and giving free admission to the Northern Air. Yet one of the Ancient Phycitians gives a worse Character of the Northerly Winds That they cause acute pains and defluxions from the head to the Stomack Breed the Stone and stop the passages of the Ureters hinder the Transpiration of those peccant juyces which nature endeavours to throw off from the Blood and produce many more distempers which are reckon'd the effects of Siccity or cold They are searching and Astringent scarce to be endur'd by those who have infirme habits of body and yet agreable to healthfull and robust constitutions Sir Walter Raleigh in his voyage to Guiana takes notice that neer the Coast of Brasil they had one half of the yeare Northerly and in the other part Southerly VVinds And further towards the South in the Kingdomes of Magellana and Chili they have them the whole year round Southerly which raign most in the Tropique of Capricorn as the North Winds at Island and those Countrys which lye neere the North Pole especially in the VVinter so that the Hollanders which winter'd in Nova Zembla during the whole time had Northerly Winds Thus the Sun as he approaches either of the Tropiques subtiliseth the Air driving away the grosser Exhalations into the Frigid Zones where they are laid up in vast Magazines till winter but then the spaces being able to contain no more they Circulate again to the middle of the World For the Solar
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
that little ice they have is soon gone It 's also observable neare the Sea side here in England as in the County of Cornwall that the Snow is generaly melted in lesse then a weeks space and the Frosts not so lasting as elsewhere Shall wee say the acrimony of the Sea vapors soon dissolves the textures of the ice and Snow or that they choak up and repell those Frigorifique Corpuscles which are as the Coagulum to cement and knit together the parts of liquids So likewise on the Coasts of Ireland the Complexion of the Air is much Hotter then in many other places of the same Latitude and were it not environ'd with the Ocean who would think Island inhabitable that lyes directly under the Polar Circle Yet this holds good only in the Temperate Zones for in the Torrid the Sea-Brise is refrigerative and abating the excesse of heat And contrariwise on the African Continent the Land-Winds which travell o're the Burning Sands allmost suffocate the miserable inhabitants which are roasted into Skeletons and sometimes loose their Hearing and Sight by the immoderate Heat Yet in part of Guiny where the Neighbouring mountains defend them from the Easterly Winds suffer the cool Sea-Brise to blow upon their Coasts how wonderfully are their Spirits reviv'd with the delightfull gale But though the Levants are so pernicious when they come reaking off from the Sandy VVilderness yet being Refrigerated in a long passage o're the Pacifique Ocean at the Caribbes and the American Continent they become the coolest of all VVinds and the greatest blessing which Providence could ever bestow on the New World to allay the otherwise insufferable heats of the Torrid Zone Only part of Peru though the Soyl be of it selfe fertile and enrich't with all the bountys of Nature yet on this side the Mountains the Land-Winds render it sterill and unfruitfull when as Brasile enjoys a more Temperate Heaven being bedew'd with the reflreshing Brise from the Adjacent Ocean From these severall instances it appears that the Land-Winds must needs be more intensely Heated between the Tropiques then in these parts of the VVorld that lye so farre distant from the course of the Sun And the Earth being a dense body retaines the Calorifique impressions when as the volutation of the waves so often changes the Superficies of the water that the same parts of the Ocean are not always expos'd to the Celestiall Beams And though it must be acknowledg'd that neare the Aequinoctiall the Surface of the Earth and consequently the Winds that blow over it are much warmer then in the Neighbourhood of the Poles yet without dispute the Ocean also is proportionably as much Hotter then our Seas And though the Sea-Winds seeme Refrigerative with them which rather betray very great Symptoms of Heat in these Countrys yet I question whether this in some measure may not be understood Comparatively to the disposition of our Sensories and that of the Ambient Air. For their Blood and Spirits being farre more agitated then ours and also accustom'd to a Climate excessively Hot they must of necessity have different Perceptions from us who live in the Colder Regions of the VVorld But beside these Vulgar or Elementary Qualities of VVinds they have almost infinite Variety in their Natures according to the severall Subjects they can operate upon and their Propertys are various as the different impressions which they make upon other Bodys For those which are Corrosive in reference to iron or stone may prove Pestilentiall to men and one and the same Quality have one denomination as it relates to Beasts a second to Birds and a third to Insects according to the different Capacities of the Recipient Some Winds are observed to raise strange disturbances and as it were Convulsions in Swine And those who keep Silk-worms are said to shut their Windows and protect them from the South-Wind which causes their sicknes and death but readily expose them to the North which conduces as much to their vigour and health So that we can never pretend to a perfect knowledge of their Qualities unless we understood their relations to all other bodies in the World But among the wonders of Winds we must not pass by the Harmatans of Guiny which for the time they blow cause Wainscoats and Planks to open and gape making wide chasms in the most solid and imporous wood I could insert many testimonies of this nature from credible persons severall who lived in those Countries and not a few of our Seamen have been witnesses of their strange effects I shall instance in one relation which was communicated to me by Captain Peachy who was long employd in the African Trade by the Royall Company The Harmetan VVinds so called by the Natives come but once a year constantly in December about Christmas and bring a very unwholsome Vapour Their arrivall is for the most part at the East and they go no farther then the E. N. E. their continuance is 4 or 5 days not blowing hard but with an easy gale the Natives are full of Aches and Pains in these times and care not for stirring out of doors The Trees that are standing during their continuance will open that you may put in your knife and sheath so will the boards of the floors when as before there was nothing seen and after they are gone they close up again to their wonted place This may proceed from their extreme Siccity when they blow off the Sands in that exceeding Hot Climate as wee see boards chop and gape that are kept over dry and more in Chambers or Cock-lofts then lower rooms and so likewise most sorts of wood by lying long in the Sun which exhausts their moysture The known remedy in such cases is to soak them thoroughly in water by which means they oftentimes swell again into their former dimensions so possibly may the trees and planks in Guiny when the Harmetans are gone and some Moyster VVind succeeds which brings with it a more Humid and relenting Air. VVee have observ'd effects of this nature in some of our very Drying March-VVinds and therefore the workers of Musicall Instruments commonly chuse to dry their materials at that time of the yeare which as they think renders them more resounding harmonious I have not as yet had sufficient opportunity to satisfy my selfe in one Curious enquiry which belongs to the History of VVinds only thus much I have heard that when a certain VVind blows at Florence the weavers of the finest silks leave off their work finding by experience that it quite spoyles the Oriency Brightness of their Colours so that they can by no diligence or invention seclude it out of their work-houses to hinder the ill effects thereof It is a cold Wind perhaps blowing off from the Snowy Hills where it gathers those corroding Salts which alter the texture of the superficiall parts and by causing new modifications of light change the colours of silks As the richest and most florid