Of the Winds[a].
To pass by other Considerations, whereby I might demonstrate the Winds to be the infinite Creator’s Contrivance, I shall insist only upon their great usefulness to the World. And so great is their Use, and of such absolute Necessity are they to the Salubrity of the Atmosphere, that all the World would be poisoned without those Agitations thereof. We find how putrid, fetid, and unfit for Respiration, as well as Health and Pleasure, a stagnating, confined, pent up Air is. And if the whole Mass of Air and Vapours was always at Rest, and without Motion, instead of refreshing and animating, it would suffocate and poison all the World: But the perpetual Commotions it receives from the Gales and Storms, keep it pure and healthful[].
Neither are those Ventilations beneficial only to the Health, but to the Pleasure also of the Inhabitants of the Terraqueous Globe; witness the Gales which fan us in the heat of Summer; without which, even in this our temperate Zone, Men are scarce able to perform the Labours of their Calling, or not without Danger of Health and Life[c]. But especially, witness the perpetual Gales which throughout the whole Year do fan the Torrid Zone, and make that Climate an healthful and pleasant Habitation, which would otherwise be scarce habitable.
To these I might add many other great Conveniencies of the Winds in various Engines, and various Businesses. I might particularly insist upon its great Use to transport Men to the farthest distant Regions of the World[d] and I might particularly speak of the general and coasting Trade-Winds, the Sea, and the Land-Breezes;[e] the one serving to carry the Mariner in long Voyages from East to West; the other serving to waft him to particular Places; the one serving to carry him into his Harbour, the other to bring him out. But I should go too far to take notice of all Particulars[f]. Leaving therefore the Winds, I proceed in the next Place to the Clouds and Rain.
FOOTNOTES:
[a] Ventus est aer fluens, is Seneca’s Definition, Na. Qu. l. 5. And as Wind is a Current of the Air, so that which excites or alters its Currents may be justly said to be the Cause of the Winds. An Æquipoise of the Atmosphere produceth a Calm; but if that Æquipoise be more or less taken off, a Stream of Air, or Wind, is thereby accordingly produced either stronger or weaker, swifter or slower. And divers things there are that may make such Alterations in the Æquipoise or Balance of the Atmosphere, viz. Eruptions of Vapours from Sea or Land; Rarefactions and Condensations in one Place more than another; the falling of Rain, pressure of the Clouds, &c. Pliny, l. 2. c. 45. tells us of a certain Cavern in Dalmatia, called Senta, in quem, saith he, dejecto levi pondere, quamvis tranquillo die, turbini similis emicat procella. But as to Caves it is observed, that they often emit Winds more or less. Dr. Connor, taking notice of this matter, specifies these, In regno Neapolitano ex immani Cumanæ Sibyllæ antro tenuem ventum effluentem percepi. The like he observed at the Caves at Baiæ, and in some of the Mines of Germany, and in the large Salt-Mines of Cracow in Poland. Ubi, saith he, opifices, & ipse fodinæ dominus Andreas Morstin, Nob. Polonus, mihi asseruerunt, quòd tanta aliquando Ventorum tempestas ex ambagiosis hujus fodinæ recessibus surgere solebat, quod laborantes fossores humi prosternebat, nec non portas & domiciliæ (quæ sibi in hâc fodinâ artifices exstruunt) penitùs evertebat. Bern. Connor. Dissert. Med. Phys. p. 33. Artic. 3.
And as great Caves, so great Lakes sometimes send forth Winds. So Gassendus saith the Lacus Legnius doth, E quo dum exoritur fumus, nubes haud dubiê creanda est, quæ sit brevi in tempestatem sævissimam exoneranda. Gassend. Vit. Peiresk. l. 5. P. 417.
But the most universal and constant Alterations of the Balance of the Atmosphere are from Heat and Cold. This is manifest in the General Trade-Winds, blowing all the Year between the Tropicks from East to West: if the Cause thereof be (as some ingenious Men imagine) the Sun’s daily Progress round that part of the Globe, and by his Heat rarefying one part of the Air, whilst the cooler and heavier Air behind presseth after. So the Sea and Land Breezes in [Note (d).] And so in our Climate, the Northerly and Southerly Winds (commonly esteemed the Causes of cold and warm Weather), are really the Effects of the Cold or Warmth of the Atmosphere: Of which I have had so many Confirmations, that I have no doubt of it. As for Instance, it is not uncommon to see a warm Southerly Wind, suddenly changed to the North, by the fall of Snow or Hail; to see the Wind in a frosty, cold Morning North, and when the Sun hath well warmed the Earth and Air, you may observe it to wheel about towards the Southerly Quarters; and again to turn Northerly or Easterly in the cold Evening. It is from hence also, that in Thunder-Showers the Wind and Clouds are oftentimes contrary to one another, (especially if Hail falls) the sultry Weather below directing the Wind one way; and the Cold above the Clouds another way. I took Notice upon March the 10ᵗʰ 1710/1, (and divers such like Instances I have had before and since) that the Morning was warm, and what Wind stirred was West-South-West, but the Clouds were thick and black (as generally they are when Snow ensues): A little before Noon the Wind veered about to North by West, and sometimes to other Points, the Clouds at the same time flying some North by West, some South-West: About one of the Clock it rained apace, the Clouds flying sometimes North-East, then North, and at last both Wind and Clouds settled North by West; At which time Sleet fell plentifully, and it grew very cold. From all which I observe, 1. That although our Region below was warm, the Region of the Clouds was cold, as the black, snowy Clouds shewed. 2. That the struggle between the warmth of ours, and the cold of the cloudy Region, stopped the airy Currents of both Regions. 3. That the falling of the Snow through our warmer Air melted into Rain at first; but that it became Sleet after the superiour Cold had conquered the inferiour Warmth. 4. That, as that Cold prevailed by Degrees, so by Degrees it wheeled about both the Winds and Clouds from the Northwards towards the South.
Hippocrates, l. 2. De Vict. Orat. Omnes Ventos vel à nive, glacie, vehementi gelu, fluminibus, &c. spirare necesse judicat, Bartholin. de usu Nivis, c. 1.
[] It is well observed in my Lord Howards Voyage to Constantinople, that at Vienna they have frequent Winds, which if they cease long in Summer, the Plague often ensues: So that it is now grown into a Proverb, that if Austria be not windy, it is subject to Contagion. Bohun of Wind, p. 213.