in about 130 Foot The other Day two Gentlemen belonging to the Province of New-Hampshire in New-England whence they came not long since and imployed by that Colony to his Majesty here answer'd me that in the Winter the coldest Wind that blows in their Country is the North-West and being ask'd again what was their hottest Wind in Summer they told me it was likewise the North-West At which Answer being surprized I ask'd them whether they could give any Reason of so odd a Phenomenon Whereto they answered that they ascribed it to the large Tract of the Continent and the great Woods that lay to the North-West which Woods they said in the Winter had their Branches through which the Wind past all laden with Snow And in the Summer they said the close Air of the Vallies and the thick Steams that fill'd it would conceive so intense an Heat that sometimes in the Heat of Summer when a sudden Puff of Wind blew upon their Faces from those sultry Vales it seem'd to them as if it came out of the Mouth of a Furnace and would be ready to overcome them with the Faintness produced by the Heat and Vapours it brought along with it De montibus ad Bavariam stantibus mira est Alberti Chanow â—â— nostri narratio post Bergreichensteinam oppidum fodinis hodie quae nobile esse montes non tam situ alii enim ad septentrionem alii ad meridiem latus obvertunt quam Coelo temporibus adversantes callibus latissimis montes illos dirimentibus monstri instar est quod se vidisse Anno 1639 in rem praesentem venisse religiosissimus ille Apostolicus vir asserit in altero monte saepius aestatem in altero apposito hiemem dominari ita ille siccus aestivat hic altissimis nivibus obsitus à viatore superari non potest ob eamque causam Messes ipsae variant dum in montibus ad nos obversis demessa sunt omnia altera Montium parte seges virescit Mirius illud quod in Biessinensibus Czachroviensibus Agris in tractu Plsnensi contiguis quos unus tantum sulcus dirimit ac dividit deprehenditur Czachrovienses adhuc hibernant cum in Biessinensi Coelum ardeat ibi caput attollit humo â—â—â—â—mentum cum Czachroviiadolescit in culmum elemento quoque dispari illud riget hoc tepet fervet eâque ex causâ dum Czachrovienses bene pelliti ingrediuntur Biessinenses pellibus onerari se sentiunt villosque deponunt Aliquid tale Anno 1652. mihi quoque accidisse memini nam cum Glacio Zambergam in Bohemia contenderem Glacio ob nives altissimas certum vehiculi genus quod trabas dicimus sumpsissem superatis montibus qui comitatum Glacensem à Bohemia dividunt subitò alia rerum facies apparuit altero enim montium latere viridia omnia reperimus sic ut Trahae nulli jam rei usui essent currum petere cogeremur nisi in luto natare placuisset at accolae montium illorum quotannis id sibi accidere confirmabant ut unum latus montium profundissimae nives contegerent quando alterum latus lectissimos flores proferret cum ibi omnia ventis verti viderentur apud se e floribus suavissimos odores efflari I learned by Inquiry of an ingenious Gentleman who several times went down into the Hungarian Gold-Mine at Cremnitz that when he was drawn up out of the deep Pit or perpendicular Groove whose Depth exceeded 100 Feer when he had ascended above half the way he found the Air sensibly warm and so it continued till he came by many Foot nearer the Day as the Workmen call the Orifice of the Pit And when I ask'd whether this notable and suddain Heat did not proceed from some Mineral through which he passed in that Region of the Earth or part of the Groove He answered me that he believed it did in regard he was there surrounded with a Vein or Bed of native Vitriol some of one Colour some of another which he found to be soft under Ground though it soon after harden'd in the Air and of these differingly colour'd sorts of Vitriol he brought up thence several Pieces some of which he presented me And when I ask'd whether the new Heat he found in that Part of the Mine did not proceed from its being much nearer than the lower Part to the Air which at that time was hot and whether he found the Heat to increase as he came nearer the Day He answered in the Negative and told me that after he had in his Ascent left beneath him that warm Region he found himself cold again in the superiour Part of the Groove to which the Vitriolate Region did not reach I remember on this occasion that asking an intelligent Person who had more than once crossed the Torrid Zone what Expedient they used in his Ship to keep their Beer and other Liquors cool enough to be drinkable in those sultry Climates He answered that their way was to take the Bottle they mean to use and wrap it about with a course Linnen Cloth dipp'd in the Sea-water and then in some convenient Place of the Ship hang it in the Wind which beating freely and uncessantly upon it would in no long time cool it to be potable enough And this Gentleman who was an observing Person added farther that having sometimes for Curiosity sake taken away a Bottle before it had been exposed above half the usual time he was able to find by the Taste that part of the Beer or Wine that was next the sides of the Bottle to be refrigerated whilst the more inward Parts of the Liquor did yet continue hot The Czar's chief Physician confirmed to me that in the Year 1664 or 63 extraordinary dry and great Scopes of Land were set on Fire and miserably wasted by the great Heat of the Sun And he added that the very last Year he found the like to have happened in Norway particularly in a Place call'd by us Bear-haven where having seen the Ruine of divers Wood-houses burnt and inquiring into the Cause he was answered that the Weather being very dry and hot not only the Grass and other Vegetables were scorch'd up but those wooden Houses among others were set on Fire which was confirmed to him by the Governor of the Place and countenanced by this Circumstance that he saw the Country covered with a fresh and verdent Livery of new Grass brought up instead of that which was burnt by some Rains that fell a while before A Traveller and Scholar being ask'd by me whether at Mozambique which is thought the hottest Place in the known World he had never observed the Houses to be set on Fire with the mere Heat of the Sun He answered me that in the three Months he stayed there he saw no such thing but the Inhabitants affirmed it not to be very unfrequent and as he passed to and fro shewed him
it to free the purely Nitrous from the other saline Particles I am prone to suspect that in very many Places especially maritime ones the Effluvia of common Salt do at least as plentifully as those of Salt-peter abound in or impregnate the Air which Conjecture might be favoured by divers things if I had leisure to insist on them That in some Places that abound with Marchasites there is a kind of fretting Vitriolate Salt copiously dispersed through the Air I have been inclin'd to think partly by other Inducements and partly by the Answers made me by a very observing Man who liv'd in a Place that I remember I visited where being forced to reside a good while he found the Hangings of his Chamber and the Curtains of his Bed rotted by the Vitriolate Steams expir'd by the Soil whose Effluvia had also very manifest and unwelcome Effects on divers other things that were kept near that Place tho on the opposite Side of the River in a Town that is not half a Mile distant from this Place neither I at my being there heard any such thing complain'd of nor the Relator who had often occasion to repair thither observ'd any such mischievous Effects the Soil of this latter Place being chalky whereas the other above mentioned is vitriolate insomuch that he observ'd that when the moist and blackish Mould had been beaten upon by the Sun that here and there the superficial Parts would be as 't were besprinkled with a somewhat whitish saline Efflorescence Besides the hitherto-mention'd kinds of Salts it seems not improbable to me that the Air especially about great Towns and some other particular Places may be impregnated with volatile Salts that are of a Nature contrary to Acids For that there may be Places in the Earth even at a good Depth under Ground that lodg such Salts I have been induced to think by the Experience of an Acquaintance of mine who hoping to find in the Salt of what he supposed to be Virgin-Earth the true Receptacle of an universal Spirit from which he promised himself great and profitable Matters caused to be dug up a great deal of a certain Clay in a Place abounding with Minerals and obtain'd thence by mere Distillation no inconsiderable Quantities of Spirit and Salt which in divers Qualities as Smell Taste c. I judg'd to be near of kin to the Spirit of Urine or Hartshorn And yet this Earth was dug up at the Depth of many Feet not to say Yards beneath the Surface of the Ground as an ingenious Potter from whom the Chymist had the Clay assur'd me upon the Place it self which I once visited to see some other choice Minerals that innobled that Soil whence I would have got a Quantity of the above-mentioned Clay but that it being then the midst of Winter the Rain had as the Workmen speak drowned 〈◊〉 Pit In great Cities and also Towns where much Wood is burnt 't is probable that numerous Particles of volatile Salt may be dispersed through the neighbouring Air. For as I have elsewhere shewn the Soot of burn'd Wood which is but that small part of the Smoak which chances in its passage upwards to stick to the Chimny does very much abound in a volatile saline Spirit which by many Trials are found to have so much Affinity to that of Urine and of Hartshorn as not to be easily but by the Smell distinguished from it Besides in several Places the Putrefaction of Substances that once were Parts of animal Bodies may furnish the Air with volatile Salts as I have elsewhere mentioned that I found that Urine without Distillation will by bare Putrefaction afford saline and spirituous Parts that whilst they yet swim in the copious Phlegm that makes up the Body of the Liquor will manifestly discover themselves to be volatile not only by their Smell but by their hissing with acid Spirits and by their dissolving some Bodies and precipitating others according to the manner of volatile sulphureous Salts as those that abound in Spirit of Hartshorn Blood c. And I am apt to think that 't is not only in the parts of Animals but also in those of many Vegetables that Putrefaction may either extricate or produce volatile Salts And I remember I have observ'd in some succulent Vegetables that chancing to lie in a Heap together in a convenient Season of the Year to make them rot I observ'd I say when the Putrefaction was come to a certain Point that the Stink did so resemble that of Carrion that 't was not easy for me to believe it came from Cadaverous Plants not Animals And that 't is not impossible for a Vegetable to afford without the Help of an Additament a volatile Salt even in forma sicca may be gathered from what I elsewhere relate of my having distill'd such a Salt from a certain spirituous Seed though I freely confess I never obtained any without previous Incineration from above two or three Vegetables But of this enough in this Place I shall now add that besides the more simple Salts hitherto enumerated 't is not unlikely that in some Places the Air may sometimes contain compounded Salts For I have elsewhere shewn that some sorts of saline Spirits meeting one another in the Air may there convene And I elsewhere teach how to order a couple of Liquors so that one will never of it self afford any thing in a dry form and yet the spirituous Effluvia of this Liquor meeting with those of the other will exhibite a volatile and saline Body in a dry form though the Liquors themselves being mingled will not afford any such Substance What I have elsewhere delivered concerning subterraneal Steams may make it probable that at least now and then and in some Places there may be sent up from under Ground into the Air among other Effluvia store of saline ones which needs not be supposed all of them to be of an uncompounded Nature With which that agrees very well that was related to me by a very intelligent Acquaintance of mine that liv'd long in Parts of America where there was a Vulcan which he and some others having the Curiosity to visit told me that before they came any thing near the Fire or were offended by the Heat not only the Skin of his Face was almost corroded by the Sharpness of the Exhalations but the Colour of his Hair was alter'd by it which kept him from prosecuting his intended Discovery 'T is a known thing and I have received Information of it from more than one Eye-witness that about Mount Vesuvius the ascending Exhalations that issue out at some of the Holes are of so saline and sulphureous a Nature that part of them stick about the Orifices of those Vents in the form of Flower of Brimstone of which a learned Acquaintance of mine brought away some Quantity And I have had brought me from some of those Vulcans a Stone whose Caveties abounded with a white Salt which by fit
Side there was no Snow though on the North Side there were much They stayed about two Hours on the Top of the Sugar-Loaf and then returned to that Part of the Hill where they had lodg'd the Night before I ask'd Mr. Sydenham what was the Estimate made by the most knowing Persons of the Island of the Height of the Hill and he told me that the Guides accounted it to be one and twenty Miles high from the Town which as was noted before is seated three Miles above the Sea And he added that a Sea-man with great Confidence affirming himself to have accurately enough measur'd by Observations made in a Ship and to have found the Perpendicular Height of the Hill to be about seven Miles I asked him also from what Distance the Top of the Sugar-Loaf could be seen at Sea according to the common Opinion of Sea-men He answer'd that the Distance was wont to be reckoned threescore Sea-Leagues of three Miles to a League adding that he himself had seen it above forty Leagues off and yet it appeared exceeding high and like a blewish Pyramide manifestly a great deal higher than the Clouds And he also told me that sometimes Men could from thence see the Island of Madera though distant from it 70 Leagues and that the great Canary though 18 Leagues off seem'd to be very near them as if they might leap down upon it He told me that the higher Part of the Region of Snow was two Miles or two Miles and a half lower than the Foot of the Sugar-Loaf and that on the upper part of the Hill they felt no Wind. Mr. Sydenham told me that being at the Top of the Sugar-Loaf drinking the King's Health he indeavoured to shoot off a Birding-Piece he had carried up with him but though he snap'd it above twenty times he could not make it go off whereas when he came down into the ordinary Air the first time he tried to shoot it went readily off I ask'd him whether he had taken notice that the Flint struck out any Sparks of Fire or no at the Top of the Hill and whether he had mended and alter'd the Flint coming downwards To the first he answered he did not remember to the other that he remembred he did not He also told me that having carried up a Borracha of Sack when they came to the Top of the Mountain they drank divers Healths very freely but could not find themselves heated or sensibly discomposed by the Wine whereas when they were come down into a thicker Air they manifestly felt the heady Operation of the Liquor which then made their Guide and one of their Company drunk He described the Sugar-Loaf to be in the midst of a barren Plain in the upper Part of the Mountain and to be exceeding steep The Top of the Sugar-Loaf is made shelving inward almost like a Dish But in many Places of it there appear little Holes regularly placed as it were so many little Vents to a great Fire burning in or below the Bowels of the Mountain He told me that the Guide disswaded him from going to the middle of this shelving Top affirming it to be exceeding dangerous but he ventur'd to thrust the scowring Stick of his Gun somewhat deep and rudely into one of those Holes from whence there arose a hot Steam which had like to have killed him and hindred him from further Trials He added that the Top of the Mountain seem'd to be little else than Stones and Sulphur and that there were great Store of Pieces of Brimstone which are guessed to be sublimed up from the internal Parts of the Hill Being asked whether he was sick or no in the Ascent he said that both he and all his Company which were about a dozen Men were sick for three or four Hours when they came into the subtile and piercing Air of the upper Part of the Mountain but as they went down again they were not sick And being asked what kind of Sickness it was they felt he said it was like Sea-sickness He told me that the Sack they carried up with them to refresh themselves seem'd to them at the Top of the Mountain so very cold that they were not able to drink above two or three Drops at a Draught by reason of the Operation of the excessive Cold upon their Teeth He added upon my Inquiry that his Feet were not more than ordinarily warm and yet one of the two Pair of Pumps he carried up with him were burnt off his Feet by the Brimstone When I asked him about the Difference of Seasons at the same time in the same Mountain he told me that he passed over one of them by Name On the one Side of which it was excessively hot near the Top or Ridg as well though not quite so much as in the lower Regions on the Side of the Mountain but within a Mile or two on the other Side of the Ridg he found Winter-Weather as to Cold and Storminess and yet there was Snow as well on the other Side as on this To what Depth the Water will be frozen in hard Winters To what Depth the Earth will be frozen in that Season Whether Muscovian Ice be considerably or at least sensibly harder than English Ice Whether by casting up Water or by spitting the Liquor will freeze before it comes to touch the Ground Whether Brandy Sack c. will freeze in Russia Whether Instruments of Iron and Steel be much more brittle there than here Of the cracking of the Timber in wooden Houses and the Causes of it Of the Preservation of Flesh Fish Herbs Eggs c. in hard Weather Of the curing of those whose Nose Cheeks c. are frozen Of the Symptoms of those that are frozen to Death Of the keeping of dead Bodies TITLE XX. Of the Air in reference to Light its Perspicuity Opacity Reflections Refractions Colours Light and Lightning A Very learned Traveller affirmed to me that having occasion to reside sometimes on the Riviera or Coast of Genoua he had often observed that from a high Place he could both Morning and Evening clearly discern the Island of Corsica and sometimes also other Places in that Sea though he could not see them at Noon how fair and clear so ever the Weather was when the Sun was in or near the Meridian His late Majesty K. Charles the Second doing me one Day the Honour to discourse about several Marine Observations was pleased among other things to acquaint me with this rare Phaenomenon He was one Day walking upon the Beach on the Strand not far from Dover to injoy the fresh Air and the Prospect of the Sea when casually looking forwards to the Verge of the visible Horizon he was very much surprized to discover there a new Coast with rising and falling Grounds newly as it were emerged out of the Ocean in a Place where no such thing had been seen before The Strangeness of this unlook'd-for Apparition made Him suspect
and forthwith laying it to Iron when it freezes hard by its immediate Adhesion even in the Moment of touching it would make some way for the Affirmative That same Month returning back from Warsaw I saw upon my Journey the Sun rise with a large Pillar coloured like a Rain-bow perpendicular over it out of a clear Horizon and I remember Monsieur Hevelius told me he observed it once set with the like N. In Cornwall they observe in their driving home Levels or Sink the Waters do also manifestly partake of the Minerals for in some Mines they are Sanative where Iron is observed and in others apt to cause Wounds to fester and rankle As the first was most manifest at Karne Key the latter at Relistian both famous Tin-Works Asking of a Chymist that travelled with a famous Virtuoso of my Acquaintance over part of the Alpes that is said to be much subject to Thunders divers Questions about Thunder I had among other Answers this That he and my Friend being together at the Top of a forked Mountain between whose Parts there lay a Valley that seem'd almost cover'd with a thick Cloud and though the Weather were clear at both the Tops he observed that the subjacent Cloud being big with Thunder the Lightning appeared quite through it and seem'd to lie deep in it so that casting his Eyes down upon the Cloud he fancied that what he saw was to use his own Comparison as if a shining Fish were moving to and fro very swiftly in a somewhat troubled Water If I had seasonably had the Relation I had enquired of my Friend about it but I was the more inclined to believe it because I remember that passing over a part of the Alpes less high than that where the recited Observation was made though it was very fair Weather and a clear Sky at the Top of the Mountain where we were yet a great way beneath us we saw dark Clouds through part of which we afterwards in our Descent were obliged to pass though then whether part of the Matter had been in the mean while discussed I examine not it seemed to us little different from a thick Fog which when we had passed thorow we found the Weather fair and clear enough to the Foot of the Mountain Meeting with an inquisitive Noble-man that liv'd long at Naples I asked him whether he had ever seen any of those famous Apparitions that are said sometimes to shew themselves in or near the Sicilian Strait and is known by the Name if I mistake not of Morgane To this he answered me that during the Spring-time he had once the Curiosity to try whether this Tradition had so much Ground as was commonly believed and that accordingly on several fair Mornings he rose before the Sun and look'd solicitously along the Coast without seeing any thing that answered his Expectation But not being discouraged by these Disappointments he one Morning perceived as he thought two Steeples in a Neighbouring Town where he knew there was but one which Phaenomenon inviting him to continue his Curiosity he chose the first fair and cloudless Morning to rise early on and casting his Eyes towards the lately mentioned Town and the Coast it was not remote from he was surprized with a delightful Prospect of a new Town beyond the other and incomparably greater than it and furnish'd as it seem'd to him and a Doctor of Physick that accompanied him with Walls and Towers and Steeples and Houses and other things that were delightful as well as wonderful to behold But he answer'd me that the Colours were not near so lively as the Figures being for the most part somewhat dim though adorned here and there with some Redness but this odd Spectacle as it was not invariable during the whole time it lasted did not continue very long for when the Sun was gotten up to such a Height above the Horizon as made his Beams powerful they quickly confounded all these Airy Structures in a kind of Chaos and made the fantastick City vanish Moist Vapours are not the only Cause or Sign of the Opacity of the Air since that dry blighting East Wind which from the Effects Country People call a red Wind makes the Air at a Distance seem blewish and thick This is the Wind which these two Years last past has been so pernicious to Apples and indeed to all sorts of Trees not only to blast the Fruit but the very Leaves of such Trees as it met withal just in the Tender as the Woodmen call it i. e. when they are newly expanded out of the Buds Mr. J. T. That Air is sometimes more clear and transparent and sometimes more dark and as it were muddy being clogg'd and opacated with terrestrial Steams is every Man's Observation But there are some Phaenomena that depend upon the Density Diaphancity c. of the Air that are not so vulgarly taken notice of For besides those that require Skill in the Doctrine of Refractions on which therefore I shall not now insist there are some others that may be worth your notice which I shall give a Taste of Considering the differing Accounts that are given by good Authors of the number of the Fixed Stars and comparing them with some Observations of our own I was thereby and upon some other Grounds induced to suspect that the differing and unheeded Constitutions of the Air might occasion a Difference in assigning the Number of the Stars which made me inquire of several Navigators and Travellers some into the torrid Zone and others into the frigid ones what Difference they found in contemplating the Stars in those Climates and in ours and by this Inquiry I learned that in some Places where the Air is very pure Celestial Observations may be more happily made And particularly because I supposed that intense Cold by precipitating the darkning Vapours out of the Air may probably make it more defecate and clear I desired an ingenious Physician that travelled in Muscovy to take notice of any thing that should favour or disfavour this Conjecture In Compliance with which Request of mine he informed me that travelling one Night in a Sled in the more mediterranean Parts of Russia the Weather being extraordinary cold he was invited to quit his Sled a little to consider the Sky where he saw so many Stars and so much brighter than he had ever seen before that he was almost as much surprized as delighted with so glorious a Spectacle which he shewed to some of his Fellow-Travellers that shared in his Wonder And this brought into my Mind that remembring that the ingenious Capt. James being forc'd to winter in Charlton-Island which though but of the Latitude almost of Cambridg is but little if at all less cold than Nova Zembla it self I should probably find something pertinent to our present Subject in so diligent an Observer I resorted to his Voyage where I met with these notable Observations January 30 and 31 there appeared in the
Air destroying or introducing other less obvious Qualities into Animal Substances  TITLE XXXVII Of the Air destroying or introducing other less obvious Qualities into Vegetable Substances AN intelligent Gentleman that staid a Year in Guinea related to me that he and his Company found the great Heat and Moisture of the Air to dispose Bodies so to Putrefaction that he observed the white Sugar to be sometimes full of Maggots and found that divers Drugs Salves and other medicinal things that were brought with him had quite lost their Virtue and some of them especially Ointments were verminous And he added that in the Island St. Jago one of those of Cabo-verde they laid store of Sweet-Meats upon Tables to the Heat of the Sun to dry up the superfluous Moisture which in strange Abundance they had contracted the preceding Night which otherwise would quite spoil the Sweet-Meats and bring them to putrify Oxford though seated for the most part of it on a gravelly Hill I have known to be very disagreeable to some moist Splenetick and Valetudinary Bodies who I have heard complain that they could not be so well there as elsewhere especially in the Spring so that I take the Air of that Place to be generally moist Mr. J. T. Air too dry though sufficiently hot is not favourable for the Production of divers Insects for I have observed these two last dry Springs that there has been no soft Garden-Snails to be found abroad and very few Fleas bred in the House which I impute to extraordinary long Driness of the Air for want of moist Vapors to nourish them since in wet Summers we always swarm with Snails Gnats Fleas c. whereas this Year we have few or none TITLE XXXVIII Of the Air destroying or introducing other less obvious Qualities into Mineral Substances OBservandum etiam quod Antimonium Diaphoreticum quocunque modo sive cum solo Nitro aut addito etiam Tartaro paratum sit tractu temporis aeri expositum pravam quasi malignam induat naturam sumptumque intra corpus cordis angustias cardialgias lipothymias vomitusque similia prava Symptomata procreet quae facilè tamen evitabimus si vel singulis diebus vel tribus mensibus recenter illud conficiamus vel jam paratum Antimonium diaphoreticum vetustum additâ portiunculâ Nitri aut etiam absque Nitro per unam vel alteram horam Vulcano tradamus penitusque igniamus iterumque si Nitrum additum fuerit edulcoremus parumper reverberemus To prove that it proceedeth from a natural Cause this one though strange yet true Experiment will suffice Take of the Earth of Egypt adjoining to the River and preserve it carefully that it neither come to be wet nor wasted weigh it daily and you shall find it neither more nor loss heavy until the 17th of June at which Day it beginneth to grow more ponderous and augmenteth with the Augmentation of the River whereby they have an infallible Knowledg of the State of the Deluge proceeding without doubt from the Humidity of the Air which having a Recourse through all passible Places and mixing therewith increaseth the same as it increaseth in Moisture A learned Physician of the Colledg of London confessed to me that he found by his own Observation that Antimonium Diaphoreticum being kept some Years though in a cover'd Vessel acquir'd a Vomitive Quality which it had not before and that having long kept in a stopp'd Glass a Parcel of his own Ceruss of Antimony of which he used to give 12 15 or more Grains without finding it Emetick he found that in process of time it was so degenerated that when he gave four or five Grains it would cause Vomits Earth laid up together in the Air for four five or six Years does make far better Pots for Closeness and holding of the Fire than that which has lain but one Season above Ground though that it self be much better than that which is newly dug up which will be very apt to crack in the Fire or when it comes to wet as also those Bricks that lie at the Top of the Furnace and therefore are not so thick covered as they burn and are apt to deceive Builders when they come to be exposed to the Rain and Weather TITLE XXXIX Of the Air in reference to the Propagation and Vegetation of Plants AN ingenious Traveller that frequented the Pyrenean Mountains especially that which many count the highest of them and is known by the Name of Pic de Midi affirmed to me that he as well as several others had manifestly observed a scarce credible Difference between that Side of those Mountains that regards France and that which reaches to Spain for at the same time the former was verdant and flourishing and yeilded a delightful Prospect to the Traveller as well as plentiful Provisions to the Inhabitants the Spanish Side of the Hills was parch'd and russet and barren and look'd dismally like a Wilderness Which great Difference of Countries observable in the same Hills at the same time of the Year he imputed to the fierce Parching and sometimes blasting Winds beat upon the Spanish Side and made that look so squallid whilst the Hills that suffer'd this Mischief on one side did by their Height check these hurtful Winds and skreening from them the French Side of the Mountains left them to injoy Advantages that the Soil and Climate furnished them with TITLE XL. Of the Air in reference to the Generation Life and Health of Animals DE vita igitur ac morte iis pene omnibus quae huic considerationi affinia sunt dictum est Desanitate verò morboque non solum medici sed Physiciest causas quadantenus referre Quatenus verò hi differant quatenus diversa contemplantur ignorare non convenit Equidem quòd confinis sit quadantenus haec Medici Physicique Tractatio res ipsa testatur Nam Medici quicunque paulò elegantiores diligentiores sunt de natura dicunt artis sua principia inde sumere dignantur Physici omnes fere qui concinnitatis aliquid habent tractationem naturae usque ad medicinam persequuntur August 13. The Temperature of the Air both as to Salubrity and other Regards may be deriv'd as well from the subterraneal Steams as the superficial Effluviums of the Earth and both these sorts of Steams being variously transported and shuffled and compounded by the Winds and other Motions of the Air upon the Mixtures of them the local Qualities of the Air in differing Places may be supposed to result About three Months before the late great Plague began in London in the Year 1665 there came to Dr. M. a Patient of his to desire his Advice for her Husband and the Doctor having inquired what ail'd him she answered that his chief Distemper was a Swelling in his Groin and upon that occasion added that her Husband assured her of his being confident that the next Summer the