CHAPTER XXXXIII.
Section 232. WHOEVER consults Antiquity,[54] or is acquainted with modern Mèteorism, will ascent to the Truth of the Facts there recited, viz. That the Storms of dispersion called Prester-John, and Ox-Eye over Table Bay at the Cape of Good-Hope (not to mention those of collection, as Whirlwinds[55] and Waterspouts;) descend on Sea and Land from the middle Regions of the Air, often perpendicularly downwards: and then blow violently from a Center, to all Parts of the Compass at once: a necessary Consequence of their beating forcibly upon the Land or Water.
The Ancients maintained that the Origin, of Wind was a mere Depression and Percussion from the Cold of the middle Region: and it shoud be remarked that their Observations were made on the Continent, and in warm Climates.
Now what is seen to Excess in the hottest and coldest Climates;[56] most probably takes Place, in a less Degree, in temperate ones.
Therefore, on a Change of Weather, the upper Atmosphere descends: whether its Effects are Cold, as in Winter; Warmth, as in Spring; Wind or Wet; at the proper Seasons of the Year.
233. The Balloon, with which Dicker Junior ascended at Bristol, April 19, 1784, on a windy Day, proved the Truth of the Conjecture: for tho’ the Aironaut threw out most of his Ballast; yet after each Ascent and Recovery, he was repeatedly darted downwards even with the Ground.[57]
234. A similar Event happened to Crosbie, in his Passage over the Sea from Dublin to England; for, tho’ he too discharged his Ballast, the Wind kept him down and even with the Water.
The Weather at that Time seems to have been an Εκνέφιας, Procella, Percussion, Squall, or Tornado, i. e. a Storm of depression, and dispersion.
235. The Eknèfiai Winds come from cool Points on each Side the North.
Bacon also observes that all boisterous Winds, as Procella, Typho, and Turbo, have the evident Direction of a Precipice, or Projection downwards, more than other Winds: they seem to rush down like a Torrent or Cascade: and are then reverberated or beat back from the Earth, in all Directions.
Stubble, Corn, or Hay in the Meadows are raised, and spread around in the Form of an extended canopy, (inverted Cone, elliptic Solid, and hyperbolic Curve.) See “Bacon’s Historia Ventorum”, Pag. 43, ad Articulum 10.[58]
236. If then it be allowed to reason from that Analogy which took Place in most of the Cases already mentioned; the gentler Depression. of Balloons over Water in milder Weather, may be owing to a Cause somewhat similar, tho’ not so evidently an immediate Object of the Senses, viz. an actual tho’ invisible Descent of Air upon the Water.
237. Blanchard in his Passage over the Sea from Dover to Bologne in France, when near the Middle of the Channel, suffered an unexpected Depression, and at the same Time was nearly becalmed.
A calm also took Place on the Irish Sea: which must have prevented Crosbie from landing,—without Wings, or some propulsive Machinery, connected with the Balloon.
238. Lunardi rose from Liverpool when the Wind blew boisterously: yet was becalmed twenty Minutes over the broad Turn of the Mersey near Ince, when above the Level of the Wind: and, descending into the same Stream of Wind, was hurried along towards Beeston-Castle in Cheshire.
