f^^^frnrV*^- '/f: ^ V. ,«. ■#l^^ ^•^r /^ 1^ % ALUMNI LIBRARY, | % THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY, f *" 1 % PRINCETON, N. J. ^ ^ Case, ^iv''''^'^...,^^ ._- _ 111 n^^ 1^ ~.v 4^ V ^^^nyfeiiM THE Philofophical W^orks of the HON^OURABLE robert'botleu^. Abridged, methodized, and difpofed under the General Heads OF Physics, )C Natural History, Statics, qChymist r y, and Pneumatics, jC Medicine. The whole illuftrated with Notes, containing the Impro've- ments made in the feveral Tarts of natural and experimentaL Knowledge fince his time. VOL. III. By T ET E ^ S HAW^ M. D. L 0 K T> 0 N: Printed for W. and J. Innys, at the Weft-End of St. Vniitsi- and J. O s B o K Ny and T. L o n g m a n^ in Tater-Nofter-Row- M. DCG. XXV. Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2011 with funding from Princeton Theological Seminary Library http://www.archive.org/details/philosophicalwor03boyl T O The Right Honourable TheLordVifcoimt^/j/^/w'o^. MY LO RV, UCH was the merit of the Honou- rable Mr. "Boyle, fuch his abilities and public fpirit, that, perhaps, no man ever deferved a greater, or bore a fairer charafter. The honour he refleds upon his noble family and your Lordfhip, is worthy of that he derives from thence. Never were a polite education and a philofophical genius improved more to the advantage of mankind, to private fatisfadlion and true glory, than by the great Mr. "Boj/le • that noble example for the imitation of men of plentiful for- tunes, and a philofophical talle, in ftudy^ ing their own and the public advantage. Vol. III. 'ne DEDICATION. And whence moye frequently arife, or whence can with more juflice be ex- pected, liich bright examples, than from your Lordihips noble family, which inherits the virtues that have rendered the name of Mr. "Boyle fo delervedly famous ? The two former volumes of the abridgment of his incomparable philo- fophical writings being put und€r the protection of very able judges ^ this third begs your Lordfhip's acceptance ^ that the whole may be fubmitted to fuch as know to fet a juft value upon philofophicai merit, and have a natural and tenaer regard for the original author. I am, May ii plcafc your Lordfiiip, %ur LordJJotps moU humMc^, moit obedient^ Jvd most devoted Servant^ Peter Snaw THE CONTENTS OF THE Third Volume. Natural History.' EADS for the natu- ral Hiftory of a Coun- try. 1 . T!he heavens^ pag. 3 . 2, The aify ibid. The water ^ ibid. The earthy 6 Inhabit ant s^ ibid. Vegetabkfy ibid. Minerals^ ibid. 8. Traditions^ ibid. 9. Inquiries for the fea^ 7 lodnqiiirics for mines ^ 8 1 1 .Inquiries^ particularly about Cold^ for Poland, and the more northern countries^ 1 3 Vol. hi. 3- 4- 5- 6. 7 Memoirs for a general Hiftory of the Air. 1. Heads for a general hijtory of the air^ i $ 2 . T)efinition of the air^ 1 6 3. Ingredients of the air, 17 4. T^^ fpring, of the air^ 1 8 '^.Generation and definition of air ^ 21 6. Experiments about the pro- dnaion of air^ and the exa- mination of it propofed^ 25 7. The drynefs and moijiure of the air^, ibid. 8. Clouds and mi ft s^ 2$ 9. Terrejirial ft earns in the air^ ibid. I o. The atmofphere a . Qjieries forKvi'^m^ 57 3 o. The air conflderd with re- gard to lights ibid, ^ J. If he effeUs of the air on fei:eral bodies^ 61 32. Jir conjiderd with regard to fiamcy 53 33. Experime7its to he made about the airy ibid,.. 34. An experiment to Jhew the efeEi of the air in fermen- tationy i^-^^^ 35. The operation of the air on the odours and tafles of bodies y TT 7 . ^4 3 6. Upon their colotirs and tex- ^^^^^^y ibid. 37. Lefs ob'vmis qualities intro-- duccd into bodies by the air 2,h. Airy as it regards 'vegeta- tion, generation, life ajid deathy ^g 39. The effe^ of rainy and a prognofiic thereof y 74^ 40. Large hail, y^ 4 1 . Aflwwer offifloy ibi d . Sufpicions about fome hidden qualities in the air. Sect. I. 1 . Subterraneous ejfitwia In the air, 75. 2. Celeflial ejSlii'via in the air, . 11 3. effluvia from the opera- . tions of the air, ibid. 4. The growth of falts in bo- dies cxpofed to the air, 79,. 5. A I'ital fub fiance in the air, ^ 8 1 6. Seminal ccrpufclcs in the airy^ 82 7' A: of the Third Volume. in 7. J Uxhions property in the 8. J power in the air to change the texture of metals^ ibid. 9. Changes of colour introduced by the air^ 84 10. A power in the air^ both of dijjohing and coagulating the fame body^ ibid. 1 1 . Contagious difeafcs occa- fiond by the air^ 8 5 12. TJfes of this dotlrine of/ub- tcrraneal and celejliale^wvia in the air^ '^6 Sect. IL I'^.Celcftial and aerial mag^ nets, 88 i/^.Ohfer'rations to he made on colcothar^ ^9 15. J great effeU of the air in producing colours^ 9 1 1 6. 'Experiments to manifcft fome latent qualities in the air^ 9 2 17. 1' he growth of metals^ ex- pofed to the air in their ore^ iZ. The growth of tin J ibid. 19. The growth of lead^ 95 2 o . The growth of iron, 9 7 2 1 . The growth of fiker^ ibid. 2 2 . The growth vf gold^ ibid. The Origin and Virtues of Gems. Sect. I. I. Gems were once fluid ^ and have their mrtues from mi^ 7ieral matter ^ 99 2. That gems were once fluids argued from their tranjpa- rency^ 100 3. Figuration^ ibid. /^. Internal texture y 103 ^. Their colours beings proba- bly^ ad'ventitious^ 10 j 6. Heterogeneous matter hav- ing been found in their fiih- fiance^ no 7. And metalline^ or mineral matter mixd with their fmalkfi parts ^ 1 1 2 8 : Whether gems are fafJoiond by fome feminal or plafiic power ^ ibid. 9. A greater fpecific gra'vity in gems^ argues their metal- line or mineral nature ^ 1 1 8 10. Metals and minerals may he extraUcd from gems^ 1 19 S E c T. II. I I . Mineral produ'cficns exceed^ ing numerous in the bowels of the earthy 122 12, Various menflrua in the earthy 1 2 3 a 2 13. The CONTENTS 13. 'the formation of gems^ 1 23 14. ^beJr: 'viTitues.^ wbemcy 124 i>. Whether gems ha^ve^ really ^ any medicinal mrtties^ ibid. 'kS' Animal and 'vegetable fiih^ fcances petrified^ whilfi their forms, appear d nnalterd^ 128 17.- Opake fimtes examind hy~ d-rojiatically y and thence Jloewn to he mixed with mi- nsral fuhjiancesj 129 i^^The manner wherein gems andfiones are found tagrow^ " 130 T9» Wheiue it is that fiones of 'various kinds^ petrified ani- mals^ &c. are found in dry places J folid rocks y dec. 134. 20. the tintlttres and fo hit ions of ftcnesy ahound in metalline or mineral particles^ 137 21. 'Ez'en the lighter ft ones may he mixd with metalline mat- ter^ 138 2.2. the matter of medicinal ftones^ may^ whilft fluids rc~ cei've lirtues^ and a colour from [uUerranepus exhaja- tionsy 13P 23. And cD.m when more [olid ^ 140 24. Some ingredients cf opake^ gems^ and medicinal ft ones ^ may^ before they receicd this, f or m^ ha've been ccm^ pleie minerals^ ibid. 2 5- Whence ft ones of the fame kind ha'vc different qualifi^ cations y i^^ 16' Various earths may he pc- trifiedy and contain fur priz- ing, fiibtiley and medicinal ^^^"tK 142 Natural Pkosphort.. 1. Tromifcuous obfer'vatiDns upon diamonds, 144 2. Whether gems are, cfthem- fehes, luminous y 148 3. Whether the turquoife ftone may lofe its hftrc upon the ftcknefs or death of the per- fin who wears it, 150 4. O-bfer^^ations upon a dia-r mond, thatwoiidfloine, re- markably, in the dark, 1 5 % 5. the light of rotten wood^ ex- tinguifoed in vacuo, ibid. 6. Shining fifJ:f in vacuo, -J. The light cf rotten wood', compared with that of a glowing coal, 1 55^ 8 . Qbfer.'vations upon floining fteA 1681 Arti- of the Third Volume. Artificial Phosphor:. Sect. I. J . T!he fever al kinds of artifi- cicil phofphoriy 173 2. I'be origin of the aerial no^ihicay 174 3 . T'he tifei of phofphori^ 175 4. Ohfcr3 12. Light fttddenly produced, in common water ^ hy the help of a liquor not ImmmuSj 195, Expc^- \l, Afirange fuhtilty of parts in the glacial noUilucay 1 97 14. l^he injlammahility of the noUiluca it felf 201 15. Experiments about hurni72g other bodies with the noBi- luca^ 202 1 6. Whether the folid noBikca be an alkali or an acid^ ex- amindj 204 17. Phenomena of this phofpho- rus in glajfes hermetically fealedy ibid. 18. In water J 206 19. In a glafs of a peculiar co- lour ^ 207 20. In oil of mace y ibid. 2 1 . Aflual fire and flame pro- duced in the folid no'iiiluca^ ibid. 22. The way of preparing the aerial noBihicay of turpentine y 2 1 1 28. With two bodies a'cinallf cold i fal-armoniac aiul oil of 'vitriol J. ibid,. VI CONTENTS Experiments and Obfervations upon the laltncfs of the fca. I. T^hc faltnefs of the fea^ whence^ 214 2. Whether the fca le falter at the tcp than at the bottom^ 215 3. T'hat fprings of frefh water may rife at the bottom of the fea, 217 4. Ilkftrated and proved hy experiments^ ibid. 5. ne true canfe of faltnefs in the fea^ 2 1 8 6. To make fea-water frefi hy d iff illation^ 2 1 9 7. Liqnors difiilT d from fen- water:, chymicaUy examind^ 220 8. The caife of the hitterncfs in fea-water^ 221 ^. Par ions degrees of faltnefs in different parts of the fea^ 223 I o. Experiments to difco'ver the weight of fea-water^ 224 II. To examine the frefhnefs of waters^ 22 The temperature of the fub- tcrranean and fubmarine regions, as to heat and cold. Sect. I. I , T)ifrereut regions below the fur f ice of the earthy 232 2. The firfi region of the earth is c^ery 'variable^ both as to bounds and temperature^ 233 3. The fecond region of the earth Jeems to be generally cold^ in comparifon of the other two^ 234 4. In fe'veral places^ which ^ by reafon of their diftance from the fiirface of the earthy might be referfd to the middle region of it ^ the tefuperatttre of the air is 'Very different, at the fame feafons of di^erent years^ . 235 5. The third region of the earth has been obfer^'ed to be confiantly and fenfibly^ but not uniformly warm^ being in feme places confide- r ably hot ^ 235 Sect. II. 6» Two different regions below the furface of the fea, 240 7. 'Relations about the tempe- rature of the fea^ 241 8. 'Relations about the bottom of the fea^ 243 ^. The inequality of its -floor, 'ibid. 10. The prejfiire at the bet torn of the fe a. 245 1 1 . The tranquility of the wa- ter at great depths, ibid. 12. Tlants of the Third Vokime, Vll 1 2. T^ldnts growing at the bot- tom of the fea^ 248 Chymisty. The Sceptical Chymift: orcon- fiderations upon the experi- ments ufually produced in favour of the four elements, and the three chymical principles of mixed bodies. Sect. I. 1. T^he niimher of the Peripa- tetic elements^ and chymical principles dotthtfiil^ 261 2. 'Ekmmts and principles^ what^ ibid. 3. Arguments for the four elements confiderdy 262 4. l^he matter of all bodies^ originally dimded int 0 fmall particles of different Jloapes and fizes^ 2 53 5. T^hefe particles might unite into jmall parcels , not eafily fep arable again ^ ibid. 6. A great 'variety of com- pounds may arije from a few ingredients^ 265 7. Various fuhfiances obtain- able from bodies by fire^ 266 8 . Whether fire be the proper infrimicnt for analyfmg mix- ed bodies^ ibid. S E C T. 11. 9. That feme things obtained from, a body by fire^ were not its proper ingredients^ 282 I o. That all compound bodies differ only in fome mecha- nical properties^ ibid. 11. Argued from the growth of plants^ ibid. 1 2 . And water being the prin- ciple of all things^ 284 13. The ffre alfo compounds the parts of bodies after a new manner :i 287 14. The nature of mixture con- Jtderdy 285^! Sect. III. ly. No precife number of ele- ments fix dy 294 \6. To make a fhew of produc- ing a metalline mercury, ibid, 1 7. More than three principles afforded by fome bodies^ 298 18. "Earth and water to be: reckon d among the chymicaV principles^ 300 I p. And at leaft one certain ' alkaline^ if not alfo an acid ipirit^ ibid,. S EC T. IV. 20. T^he ambiguity of clo^micah wi iters ccnfurcd^ . 302- 2jfB0^~ YUl CONTENTS 21. 2^0 dies feemingly homoge- neous not elementary^ 3 04 .22. Fire may compound^ as well as dijfipate the parts of bodies^ 307 i^.T'hat the chymical princi' pies are dijjimilar in their nature ^fisewn in falts^ 3 1 3 24. /;; fulphursy or chymical oils^ 31^ 25. /// mercuries or fpirits^-^ig 26. And alfo in phlegm and earth:, 322 Sect. V. 27. Whether the Jit' e principles flj02td he rejeUed^ Jor not heing homogeneous^ 323 2%. Whence the notion of five chymical principles^ 324 20' Whether fire he necejjary in the ccmpofition of hodies^ 30. The imp erf efi ions of the chymical doBrine of three principles J 327 3 1 . With the adt'antages there- of confiderd^ 328 Sect. VI. 32. Whether there he any ele- ments at ally 3 3 (5 33. That bodies are not ccm- pofed fro7n all the mere ■elements y fiewn in the growth of cegetahks arid animals y 337 3 4. Jndof minerals andmetalsy 33S 35. The fame Jl:iewn alfo from the analyfis of bodies^ 341 3 5. Ihe Tria prima fecm to be produUionsofthefire^ 343 37. Thlegm not an tmiifpofition to diffoke in water^ 4^^ I o. Jnd to freeze and be frozen^ 45^ 11. I'be oils of human bloody ibid. 1 2 . Fixed falt^ ^^j 13. Caput mortuum, ibid, 1 4. The proportions of its prijt- ciples , upon a chymical aiialyfis^ 45 §. Sect. II, 15. Obfer^^ations upon the ferum of human bloody ^so 1 6. Its proportion to the red ' P^rt, ibid, 1 7 • Its fpecifc ^ra'vity^ 45 1 18. Thefertim of human bloody mixed with various fubjian-' 19. Expofed to the air^ 453 20. Jnalyfed by the fire ^ ibid. 21. With additions^ 454 22. The ferum of human bloody long kept hermetically feafd up^ , 446 23. And. of the Third Volame. XI 25 J And afterwards diftiltd^ 446 24. An attempt to turn the feriim red^ 467 z'). How ferum is affeUed hy alkalies and acids ^ ibid. i6. How hy congelation^ ibid. 27. And how made to ferve for invijlbk inky 458 Sect. III. 28. Siihordinate heads , for the hi ft or y of the fpirit of human bloody ^69 29. The fe'veral ways of diftil- ling human bloody 470 '30. Whether human hlood may afford y by dijiillation^ a fpirit urinous or mnousy before the phlegm^ 47 2 3 1 . Whether fpirit of human hlood be any thing hut the fait and phlegm united^ ^7^ 32. The [pedes of j aline bodies ^ to which this fpirit is re~ ferabkj ibid. 33. Whether it differs from fpirit of urine^ and other ml at He alkalies ^ 474 34. The quantity of fpirit con^ taind in hu7nan bloody accom- panied with its ferumy or driedy 47 % 35. The confiftence and fpecific gra^'ity of the fpirit of human bloody 47 6 3 6. Its fubtilty and aBi^ity^ ibid. 37. Its heat and' coldnefs^ 477 '^%. Its fohiti^e power y and hal~ famic 'virtue y 478 "^9* What tinctures may he drawn with fpirit of human- bloody 480 40. The coagulating power oj ity 481 4 1 . // J- precipitating power y^ 482 42. The affifiity between fpirit of human bloody fome chymi-- cal oilsy and mnous fpirit Sy 482 43 . The relation between fpirit of human blood and the air^ 484 44. The hojtility of this fpirit with acids ^ in the form of liquors and fumes ^ ^%6 45. The medicinal virtues of fpirit of human bloody exter- nally applied y 488 46. The internal medicinal mrtues thercofy /:\.9 1 , 47. Heads for the natural hifio- ry of human uriney emitted by healthy meny 493 Memoirs for the natural hiflo-^ ry of mineral waters. Sect. I. 1 . The difficulty of determining the nature of mineral waters^ 2. The neceffity there is for ity ^96 b 2 Sect, CONTENTS Sect. II. 3. Heads for the natural hi- fi or y of a mineral water ^ confiderd in its channel^ or receptacle^ ^91 '4. ihe effeils of rain upon a mineral fpringy 498 Sect. IIL 5.. Mineral waters confiderd out of their fpringy ^99 6' The heat or coldnefs of a mineral water , what it denotes^ and ho-w it is to he efiimatedy 500 7. The advantages of knowing the fpecific gravity of a mi- neral water y ibid. 3. T'he method of determining it fhewdhy examples^ ibid. 9. ihe natural precipitate of a mineral water^ to what difcoveries it may lead^ 502 10. Microfcopical ohfervations to he made upon mineral waters^ ibid. i.i. Various odours ohfervahle in different mineral waters^ ibid. 11. The alterations, caufed in mineral waters y hy tranfpor- tation^ and heing expofed to the air^ 503 33. Kcinarks upon the common mi^ethods of examining miiie- r.al waters hy galls ^ 504. 14. The common method of examining mAneral waters improved^ ^07 15. To difcover whether a 7nineral water he arfenicaly 509 16. Common fait contain d in mineral waters^ 5 1 o i^^ Acidity no common quality in them J ^ j ^ 18. To find what falts predo- minate in particular mine^ ral waters^ ji^ I p. T>iffercnt quantities of Ca- put mortuum, afforded hy different mineral waters^ 514 2Q. Artificial Spsiw-water^ $iy Sect. IV, 2 1 . Heads for the natural hi^ fiory of a mineral water^^ confiidefd as a medicine^ 518 Caufes of the wholefomnefs and iinwholefomnefs of ths air. 1. The healthy or unhealtht fiate of the air^ greatly depends upon fahterraneal effluvia^ 5,2 1 2. 'Endcmical difeafes may depend upon the ffhivia of the air^ 525 3,. Many. of the Third Volume. Kill 3. M^ny epidemical difeafes may he produced by fubter- raneal efflima^ ^29 4. I'he propagation^ effe^s^ and phenomena of the plague^ 533 5. Moft new difeafes cattjed ly the fiihterraneal JieamSj 542 The notion of fpecific Re- medies, prov'd agreeable to mechanical philofophy : with the advantages of iimple remedies confider'd, and their ufe recommended. E c T. L 1. Specific qualities what^ 545 2. Whether there he really any jpecific virtue in medicines^ 3. Arguments for the exifience of fpecific remedies^ 547 4. ne rcafons urged againfi fpecific s confider d^ 549 5. Whether the notion of fpe~ cificSj may he accommodated to the mechanical philofophy^ 5^51 6. One 9ruinner wherein a fpe- cific may cure a difeafe^ 55^2 7* Another^ 555 8. J third manner^ 559 9. J fourth^ 561 JcJffth, 56$ 11. J fixth manner wherein fpecijjcs may aUy 568 Sect. II. 1 2. The ufe offimple medicines recommended^ 5 y 5 s 1 3 . From the advantage of fore- feeing their effeUs^ ibid. 14. Their heing more fafe^ 577 15. Commodious for exhibition^ 1 6* jEafily procurable^ 580 17. And likely to imprci'e the knowledge of the Materia medica, 582 18. That chymical remedies alfo flooud be fimple^ 584 19. JVloether Jimp le remedies may cure complex diflcmpersy 5S9 Some uncommon obfervations upon vitiated fight. 'ir.fVhite objeUs the moji vifihh to a dim fight ^ 595. 2. Cataratls in the eyes^ ibid. 3. ObjeUs appearing dark and- dctible^ 5 9 5.. ^» CataraUs happily couched^ ibid. 5. ^oth eyes concerned in real vifiion^ ibid. 6^ The parts of the eye cap able < of great dilatation without prejudice:, 597 7.. A- XIV CONTENTS 7. A dimnefs of fight in the day-time^ 598 8. l^he appearance of fire pajfing before the eyes, ibid. 9. Colours appearing different to diforderd organs^ $99 I o. J great dilatation of the pup ill a in the dark^ 600 A colledion of Remedies, gain'd from particular expe- riments^ made in the cura- tive part of medicine. 1 . T'he nature and defign of this colleUion, 601 2. Kerne dies for aches y do 3 3 . Acidities^ 604 . 4. After-hirthy ibid. 5. Agnes y ibid. (5. Anafarca^ 60 j 7. Apoplexy, ibid. 8 . Appetite deprac^ed^ ibid. 9. Afthma, ibid. 10. ^loodyfuXy 608 1 1 . ^lood to purify^ 61 o 1 2. Slood to refohe when extra- z'afated, ibid. i'^. 'Bowels to frengt hen y ibid. 14. Breafts^ their diforders to cure, ibid. i^.BrnifeSy 611 16- Btir7is, 612 i-j* Cancers, 613 18. Cankers, ibid. 19' Chilblains, 614 2 o . Colds and Cough s^ ibid. 'i.i^Uhe colic y 61$ 2 2 . Confumptions, 6 1 8 23. Con'vulfionsy ibid. 2/\.Corns, 619 2'S.CoJirJcnefs, 520 26. Cramp, ^ii 27. T>iabcteSy ibid. 28. ©r^/^/y, ibid. 29''Erffipelas, 622 3 o . Excoriations, i bi d . 3 1 . Remedies for diforders in the eyes, 62^ 32. For the falling-ftchiefs, 6s s 33. Feeders, 634 S/\.. Fifula's, ess 3 5. Furor uterinus, 63 (J 3 6. Falling of the fundament^ ibid. 37. Gangreiics, ibid. 3 8 . Gonorrhoea, 63 7 39. T^i?^ gra^^ely ibid. ^o. The gouty ibid. ^i. Gripes, 639 42. T)iforders in the gums fi>'id, 43. Gtin-powder marks, 640 44. Hemorrhages, ibid. 45. Head-ach, 642 45. Hearing diforderd, ibid. 47. Heart-burn, 6^3 48. Hoarfcnefs, ibid. 49. Hyjierical diforders, ibid. 50. T/^^ jaundice, ibid. •) I. Inflammations, 645 52. j^i/^j /'^ ?;2^/(^^ rf/?^5 ibid. 53. Jijr ?Z7^ /Yr-^j ibid. 54. For diforders in the kidneys, 6j.6 5 5 . Kings-Etily ibid. 55. Helmont'j" Laudanum, <^ general remedy, 648 of the Third Volume. XV 57- 58. 59' do. 61. 63. 64. 65. 66. 67. 68. 69* 70. 71- 72. 73- 74- 75. 7^. 77. 78. 7^. F^r /Z'^ kprofy^ 648 Limbs paindj 6^9 Loofenefsy ibid. Menfes fupprefsd^ 650 ilf///^ f^ increafs^ ibid. Ner'ves diforderd^ ibid. Ohftni'ctions^ ibid, Ihepalfy^ 651 J'he plezirifVy ibid. 21^^ /?/■/iforders in ths- Jlomach^ ibid. 80. The Jione^ djp 8 1 . Strains^ 55^ 82. T'enefmtiSy 66^ 83. Tettars, ibid. 84. Tooth-ach^ and other difor- ders in the teeth, 666 ^5' 'Throat diforderd^ 658 85. T>^^ thrtijhy 670 87. Ttimotirs^ 671 SS, Vapours, ibid. 8p. Venereal difeafe^ 67 2 ^o. Vertigo, ibid. 9 1 . Veficatories to mah^ ibid. 92 'Ulcers, ibid. 9 1- Vomiting, 67^ 94* T>iforders from the urine, 675 95* For warts, 676 96. The whites^ ibid. 97' Whitlows, 677 98. Womb-medicine, ibid. 9^« Remedies for worms, 578 ICO. i
■> V O L. III. B THE PREFACE l^JJtnral hiftory feems at prefent to lie under fome difgrace^ L \ upon account of the [mall benefit that is prefimed to arife from the ftudy of it, And^ indeed^ if a notion he for- med of the whole thereof^ from a few of its pans which ha've heen dryly treated by fome mrtuoji^ a rigid philofopher might he apt to condemn it as trifling and almoji ufelefs to mankind* A real philofophic genius^ bent upon its own improvement^ fees with indignation^ the life of a 'virtuofo fpent among JJoells and infeUs i and wifoes the fame time and application laid out to nobler piirpofes. T^hefe things^ however^ ha've their ufe ,- and we ought not to dcfpife all that we our fehes ha've no rcliflj fon T^here will^ and 'tis necejfary there fhould be men of various tafies i and 'tis happy for the world that no part of philofophy remains uncultivated. "But if any man has a defpicahle opini- on of natural hiftory in general^ let him look upon it in that view wherein Mr. Boyle confiderd it ^ for here^ as in every thing elfe^ our excellent aiithor has regarded ifefulnefs and the benefit of mankind. Natural hiftor% as managed by him^ has no fuperfluous branches ^ nothing that barely amifes the mind^ without gratifying and delighting it ,• nothing that entertains the fancy ^ without being ferviceahle in life : and his hiftory of the air^ his way of m.aki7ig (alt-water frefJj^ &c. are eminent inftances of it. "But natural hiftory^ in its extent^ ho found to be a very large feldy that required a great number of hands to B 2 h& P R E F A C E. le employ' d in it ,♦ and therefore^ to render it "as nfeful and corn^ plete as pojjihle^ he endeavoured to engage many of his friends in the Jludy thereof '\twas his cujiom to dijiribute all fiich large undertakings under prober heads ^ and fo difpofe of thofe heads feparately to perfons ijohom he rejpeEli'vely knew well qualified to culti'vate and imprcDe them, "But he found few fiich diligent fearchers into nature as himfelf; and therefore recei'ved little affiftance in this way from his friends. Hence fe'veral parts of his fchemes of titles remain unfpoken to; and this is particularly the cafe in the following hiftory of the air. Mr. Boyle, hcwever^ performed wmiders ofhimfelfi his inquifi- tii'e genius lead him to abundance cf particulars which efcape the knowledge of others j and thefc he generoujly communicates. JVere this praUice encouraged^ and were more heads and hands employ d after the fame manner^ the world might in time fee what Mr. Boyle has here laid the foundation of a complete na- tural hifiory ; by means whereof philofophy it felf woud^ at^ lengthy be completed alfp. H EADS HEADS FOR THE NATURAL HISTORY O F A c o u TRY. TH E general heads for the natural hiftory of a country will refpeS: the heavens, the air, the water, and the earth. To the firft belong the longitude and latitude of the The heavens. place, and confequently the length of the longeft and fliorteft days, the climate, parallels, and the vifible fix'd ftars ^ with the conftellations whereto 'tis faid to be fubjeO:. Of the air may be obferved its temper, as to heat, drynefs and The air, moifture, with the meafures of them •, its weight, cleamefs, refradive power, fubtilty or grofsnefs, its abounding with, or wanting an efurine lalt j its variation according to the feveral feafons of the year, and the times of the day : how long the feveral kinds of weather continue ; what fort of meteors the air moft commonly breeds ^ in what order they are generated, and how long they ufually lafl : to what winds 'tis liable ^ whether any of them be ftated, ordinary, c^c. What difeafes are epidemical, that are fuppos'd to arife from the air : to what other difeafes the country is fubjeO;, in the produftion whereof the air is concerned. What is the ufual ftate of the air as to the health of the inhabitants j and with what conflitutions it agrees better or worfe than others. The gravity of the air is to be learnt by the ba- rometer. With regard to the water are to be confider'd the fea, its depth, fpeclfic jhe water. gravity, dilference of faltnefs in different places, the plants, infefts, and fifhes to be found in it, tides, with refpeft to the adjacent lands, cur- rents, whirl-pools, c^c. rivers, their bignefs, courie, inundations, tafte^ 6 Heads for the natural Hifiory KAT.HisT.tafte, lubterraneous pafTages, fruitfulnefs, &c. lakes, pond?, fprings? v./'-V'^^ii^ and efpecially mineral waters ^ their kinds, qualities, virtues,, and how- exam in'd ^ the forts of filhes, their fize and goodnefs, plenty, fea- fons, ways of breeding, haunts, and the methods of taking them v efpecially thole that are not purely mechanical. The earth. In the earth may be oblerved it felf,. with its inhabitants and produftionSj as well intenial as external^ its dimenfions, fituation eaft, weft, Ibuth, or north •, its figure, plains, hills or valleys^ their extent, the height of the mountains, either in refped of the neigh- bouring valleys, or the level of the lea ^ whether the mountains lie fcatter'd or in ridges ^ and whether thole run north or fouth, eaft or weft, &c. Whac promontories,, fiery or fmoaking hills, c^c. the country has ^ whether fubjeft to earthquakes or not. Whether the country is coherent, or much broken into iflands. What declination the magnetic needle has in feveral places at the fame time ^ and how much it varies in different times at the fame place : whether before hurricanes, the needle lofes its direction towards the north ^ and turns equally to all the points of the compafs. The nature of the foil, whe- ther of clay, fand, gravel, &c. its peculiar qualities, and productions, as to minerals, vegetables and animals : and how all thefe are or may be farther improved for the benefit of man. Inhabitants. Under inhabitants are to be confidered both the natives and the ftrangers who have been long fettled there -^ particularly as to their fta- ture, fhape, features, ftrength, ingenuity, diet, inclinations and cuftoms, that leem not due to education. In the woinen, their fruitfulnefs or barrennefs, their eafie and hard labour, with their exercifes and diet ^ the difeafes, with their fymptoms, and the diet, air, e^r. that in- fluence them. Vegstahks. The external produftions are trees, fruits, plants, &c. with the peculiarities oblervable in them. In what foils, and with what cul- ture they thrive beft \ with what animals or infe£ls the country abounds, and to what ufe applied by the inhabitants, as to food, phyfic, furgery, <^. Minerals. By the internal productions of the earth are here underftood things generated in the bowels ot it, either to the benefit or hurt of man. Under thefe are comprehended metals, minerals, ftones, preci- ous or common. To examine how the beds of them lie in reference to north or fouth, d^c What clays and earths are afforded, with their the phyfical or other ufes •, what coals, falts, or falt-lprings, alum, vi- triol, fuiphur, c^c. The number of mines, their fituation, depth, figns, waters, damps, quantities of ore, extraneous things, and ways of re- ducing their ores into metals, c^c• Traditiom. Add to thefe the inquiries about traditions of all particular things relating to the country, fuch.as are either peculiar to it, or at leaft jjiicommon eifewhere*. En- of CI Country. -Enquiries that require learning or skill to anfwer •, with propofals Nat.Hist. for ways to enable men to give anlwers to fuch more difficult enqui- v.^^'-'V"^^^-^ ries. To obferve the declination of the compafs In different longitudes and la- inquiries far titudes ', fetting down the method by which the obfervation was m.2i^Q. the fea. To obferve the dipping-needle, in the like manner. To obferve the odour, colour, and tafte in fea-water ^ the proportion oi Its fait in different places \ whether in the lame fea it be conftantly the fame ^ and what are the particularities of that lea-water, where fhips cables fooneft rot, and where they are beft prefer ved. To remark, if there be near the fouth pole a conftant current, fet- ting from the fouth fo forcibly, that fhips with a fliff gale can hard- ly make way againfl: it ; and near the north, a current forcibly carry- ing fhips towards the pole ^ or if this motion reciprocate once in half a year. To obferve what fubterraneous pafTages there are, whereby feas communicate with one another. What effed the winds have upon the feas j and how far from the ilirface they agitate the waters. The ebbings and fiowings, with the age of the moon when the neap and fpring-tides happen ^ to what height it ebbs and flows at thele times upon the coaft, or the iflands far off in the fea ^ and if it flow there differently from the tides near the main land^ and how much Iboner it begins on one fide than another. To mark narrowly the way ot coming into particular creeks and harbours ^ with their bearings and diflances from the neighbouring places. To found all along at coming in ;, and to mark the depths and fhallows near the fhoar, or farther off from the coail, as alfo near flielves or bank?. To mark in the founding not only the depth, but all the grounds, whe- ther clayie, fandy or oufie, &c. To mark whether the fea always rifes towards the fhore, unlel's accidentally hindered. How the bottom of the fea differs from the furface of the earth ^ with the flones and mi- nerals to be found there. To take notice of the winds, their changes, or fet times of blowing, and in what longitude and latitude, efpecially the trade-winds -^ upon whatcoafl the trade-winds are mofl frequent-, and by what fignsthey may be forefeen. To obferve and record all extraordinary meteors, lightnings, thun- ders,'and their effefts, Jgnes fatui, comets, &c. marking the places of their appearing and difappearing. To examine the weights of the feveral waters that occur, both near the upper and lower part of the fea •, the power afcribed to the fea of throwing up amber, ambergreece, c?"c. and its fliining in the nic^ht„ the 8 Heads for the natural Hijlory Nat. Hi ST. The medicinal virtues of the fea ^ efpecially in the hydrophobia. Its vir- ^.•'•V"^-*-' tue to manure land ^ and to learn what plants thrive beft with fea-water. inau'rles for ^^^hether the country wherein the mines are, be mountainous, plain, mines'. or diftinguifli'd with valleys? And in cafe it be mountainous, what kind of hills are they, whether high, low, or indifferently elevated? Whether almoft equal, or very unequal in height? Whether fruit- ful or barren ^ cold or temperate ^ rocky or not •, hollow or folid ? Whether they run in ridges, or feem confufedly plac'd ^ and if the former, what way the ridges run, north or fouth, &c? and whether they run nearly parallel to one another? What the country produces, and what in mofl plenty? What cattle it fuftains ? Whether they have any thing peculiar m point of bignefs, colour, longevity, fitnefs or unfitnefs for food, c^c which may rather be attributed to the peculiar nature of the place, than the barrennefs of the foil, or other manifeft caufes ? What health the inhabitants enjoy ? What difeafes they are fub* jeO: to, and to what not ? And what remedies are known for the epi- demic difeafes of the place ? What plenty of rivers, brooks, lakes, fprings, &c. m the place ^ the colour, tafie, c^e. of them ; and how they affeft the health of fuch as ule them ? How the air is difpofed as to heat or cold, calms or winds ^ and whether thefe winds proceed from, or are infefted with fubterraneous fteams ? Whether thefe fleams are clear or foggy ? Whether the foil near the furface of the earth be ftony •, and if fb^ what fort of ftones it abounds with •, whether the foil be clayie, marly, or chalky \ and of how many kinds it is ; and by what properties they are diliinguifh'd? By what figns a mine is conjedured to be in a place ? And as thefe figns are either above or beneath the furface, of the earth, it muft be farther inquired whether the ground be made barren by metalline or mineral effluvia ? What trees or plants grow moft plentifully in thefe places, and whether they thrive well or ill? Whether they be difcolour'd in their leaves, or have their outfides chang'd? What alteration is produced in the waters of the place, either as to their colour, tafte, fmell, weighty or what matter they leave upon the ftones they run over ? Whether fnow or ice continue as long in thefe as in the neigh- bouring places ? Whether the dew that falls on the ground will difcolour white lin- en} And whether the rain will difcolour cloaths, or afford any reii- vlence of a mineral nature ? Whether thunder, lightnings and ftorms are frequent here? And vf there be any fiery meteors and nofturnal lights? Whc of a Country. Whether miits arife from fuch mineral grounds ; what is obfervable Nat. Hist. in them •, what minerals they iignifie, and may be fuppos'd to be pro- • duc'd by ? Whether the Virgula divwatoriahe us'd for finding out the mines, and with what fuccefs ? Whether there be any clays, marles, or other mineral earths, and of what conliftence, that give notice of the ores ^ and at what depth they lie, in refpeft of one another, and how thick they are ? What ftones, marcafites, c^c. are found near the furface ; what is the particular fhape, bignefs, colour and weight of fuch ftones, where- by they are diftinguiihable from others ? Whether heat or damps fignify a mine ? Whether water found in digging be a iign of a mine ? By what ligns the nearnefs of a mine is known- and whether any fign will fhew a perfon to be above, beneath, or on the fide of the mine } By what figns the determinate kinds of metals are known, with their plenty and goodnefs ? What ligns there are of the depth of the vein*, of tlie mine's being hope- lefs, or that 'tis unlikely to find a vein in the place 'tis digged for ? What is the depth of the Ihaft or groove, till you come at the vein or ore ^ whether the vein run or lie horizontally •, or if it dip, what incli- nation it hath ^ and how deep the lowefl part lies ? What are its flexures, or whether it runs dire£lly north or ibuth,, eafl or wefl, or feem rather to have a cafual tendency than any natural determination ^ and how far it reaches in all ? What is the widenefs of the groove at the top and elfewhere ^ whe- ther it be perpendicular or crooked ^ and if crooked, after what man- ner, and with what diflance it winds ? How the groove is fupported ; what the kinds, length, bignefs, and way of placing of the timber, poles, &c. employed to fupport it ; and how long the wood continues, without being Ipoil'd by the fubterra- neous fumes and waters^ and what jvood lafts the longefi:? What air-fliaft belongs to the mine ^ whether it be fmgle or double, of what breadth at the orifice •, whether it be convenient or not ^ how near 'tis plac'd to the groove, and in what pofition ^ if there be feveral air- ihafts, what their diflances and fituation with regard to the groove, and to each other i^ and how is air fupply'd, if there be no air-lhafta? Whether they meet with waters, and what plenty there is of them ; at what depth they are found j how qualified, and what ^way they fpring. Whether they are conftant or temporary •, whether they increafe or dlminifli in the iummer, or at any time of the year ^ and what that fea- fon is, how long it lafts, and the proportions of increafe and decreafe ? What engines or contrivances are ufed for drawing up the water, and conveying it away ♦, the materials they are made of, the parts, tlie big- nefs, the coaptation, and whole ftrufture, and way of applying the in- i^ruments ufed to free the mines from the water ? Vol. Ill- C What Heads for the natural Hifiory What are the conditions, number, &c. of the adits ? Whether the mines be troubled with damps, and of what kind they are •, whether they come often or feldom, at any Time of the year, or irregularly ? What figns precede them •, what mifchief they do •, what remedies are the moft fuccefsfuUy employed againft them, as well in reference to the clearing of the mine, as to the prefervation and recovery of the men ? What methods the mine-men ufe in following the vein, and tra- cing their paifages under ground, according to the feveral exigencies \ and whether they employ the inftruments made with the help of the Joadftone, the lame way that is ufual \ and, if not, wherein they differ in the ule of the fame inftruments, or what they fubftitute in their place ? By what means they fecure themfelves againft the uncertainty where- to the magnetical needle is fubje^t, when it comes near iron ore •, and what other means may be ufed, befides a load-ftone, to help a miner ? How the miners deal with the rock and fpar they meet with, before they come at the ore •, and how they ufe fire to foften, calcine, or crack them, and with what fuccefs ? By what means they free the mines and the workmen from the in- conveniencies ariling from the great ufe.of fire ? With what inftruments they break the rock ^ how they are condu- cive, and how long they laft ? How the miners work, whether cloathed or naked ^ what lights they life; what materials they are made of; and what meafure of illumina- tion they afford •, how long they laft, and by what ways they are kept burning in that thick and foggy air ? How veins are followed, loft, and recovered •, and how feveral mi- ners work on the fame vein ; and what is the beft way of getting ali the ore in a vein, and that moft conveniently ? How they convey out their ore, and other things that are to be car- ried up ; what kind of vefTels they ufe for matter, ftiape and capacity, and whether the workmen deliver them one to another, or the fame workmen carry them all the way ; and whether they defcend and af= cend by ladders of wood or ropes, ^c ? Whether the ore runs in a vein, or liesdifpersM, or be divided partly into a vein, partly into loofe malTes, or like a wall between two rocks, as it were in a cleft ; or be interfpers'd in the firm rock, like fpeck- led marble ; or be found in grains, like fand or gravel ; and what is ob- fervable in it as to weight, colour, mixture, c^c f Whether any part of the metal be found in the mine perfed and complete ? Whether the mine affords any parcels of metal that feem to grow- like plants ? Whether the vein lie near the furface of the earth, and at what depth 3 whether it have any peculiar concomitants or coats j and if of a Country u H if any, what they are, and in what order they lie? Thus the veins ofNAT.HisT. lead ore with us have frequently annexed to them a fubftance called ~ Ipar, and next to that another call'd calk •, and whether they have any other heterogeneous fubftance ? What are the principal qualities of thefe extraneous fubftances? Whether the vein be inclos'd every way in its coats, or lie only between them ? Whether the vein be every way of an uniform breadth and thick- nefs j and if it be, what the dimenfions are *, and if not, in what places it varies, and by what meafures ? Whether the vein be uninterrupted, or in fome places broken off ^ whether abruptly or not ^ and whether by vales, brooks or gullets, &c ? How wide the interruptions are •, by what figns the veins may be found again ^ whether the farther divifion of the vein be of the fame nature, and hold on in the fame courfe, as to its tendency upwards and dovv'nwards, or horizontally, northward or fouthward, c^c. with the vein from which 'tis cut off? Whether, in cafe the laft end of the vein be found, it terminate ab-" ruptly, or in fome kind of rock or earth, which, as it were, clofes it up, without leaving any crack, or other wife ♦, whether the terminating part of the vein tends either upwards or downwards, or neither ^ whe- ther in the places where the vein is interrupted, there be any pecu- liar ftone or earth that feal<; up the extremity of it ? Whether it be obferv'd that the ore, in trad of time, may afford any gold or filver, which it affords not, or more than it would afford, if it were not fo ripe •, and whether it has been found that the metalline part of the vein grows fo, that fome part of the ore will afford metal in traft of time, that did not fo before ; and whether to this maturation of the mine, the being expofed to the free air be neceffary ^ or whe- ther, at leafi-, it conduce to the acceleration of it, or otherwife ? Whether all the ore contained in the mine be of the fame nature and goodnefs^ and if not, what are the differing kinds, and how to be diftinguiih'd and eftimated ? What is the finenefs and goodnefs of the ore, by which the mine is ufually eftimated ^ and what the marks and characters that diftin« guifh one fort from another? What proportion of metal the ore affords ? Whether the ore be pure, in its kind, from other metals ^ and if not^ of what metals it participates, and in what proportion? What previous operations are us'd to the melting of the ore, as beating, grinding, walliing, c^c. and with what circumftances ^ as how long the ignition lafts at a time • whether the ore be fuffer'd to cool of it felf^ or be quenched ; whether it be walh'd betwixt each ignition ; or whe- ther the ore requires no fuch preparations, as it often happens in lead, and fometimes in iron ? C z Whe- 1 2 Heads for the natural Hijlory Nat.Hist. Whether mercury is made ufe of in feparating the nobler from the ' -- bafer metals ? Whether the ore be expos'd to the air, as ja preparative ? What flux-powders they ufe to examine their ores in fmall quantities? Whether in reducing or melting great quantities they ufe any flux- powder ^ what it is, and how employed ? What is the contrivance of the furnaces, and if they be all of one, or of differing forts or bignefs ? What tools are ufed in fmelting, and how contrivM ? What fewel they ufe, and how much is fpent in a day ^ and what returns they have of metal, in a proportionate time ? Whether the ore be melted by means of a wind, made by the fire's own motion, by water, or by bellows-, if the latter, what their dimen- iions are, and what way us'd ? What way they take to let out the metal that is in fufion, to cai? it into bars, fows, pigs, c^c. and what clay, fand, or mould they let it run through ^ and after what manner they cool it ? Whether to facilitate the fufion, they mix feveral ores of the fame fort together ? Whether after 'tis once melted, they melt it again, to make it more pure ; and if fo, with what circumftances they perform it ? Whether they have figns to know when the fufion is well or ill per- tbrm'd, aiiJ dicit the mpfal has obtain'd a perfection requifite in fuch a fufion, and fuch a furnace ? Whether they obferve any difference in the goodnefs of the metal that comes firft, from that which comes laft ^ and whether the rule holds conflantly ? Whether the produc'd metal be all of the fame goodnefs \ and if fo how good it is compared with the metals of other mines, or other parts of the fame vein-, and if it be not, what differences are between the produced portions of metal, and what difparity that makes in the price ? What are the ways of diflinguifhing them, and eflimating their goodnefs ? Whether flowers be not elevated to the upper parts of the chimney ; and whether they are barely excrementitious or metalline? Whether, when the ores are brought to fufion, they have any re» crements j what thefe recrements are, and how to be feparated from the bafer metal ? Whether, after the metal has been melted, the remaining part of the ore will, in traft of time, be impregnated with more metal? Whether the air appears really to be cool in fummer, and hot in winter, at the bottom of the mine, by more evident proofs than the teftimony of our touch \ Whfi= of a Country. 13 Whether they find the ftoiies and ground adually hot, fo tliat fome- Nat. Hist. times they can hardly ftand upon the place •, and if fo, from whence this v-^'^v*^ proceeds ? Whether there be mineral juices in the mine that harden into Hones or metals, upon contaft with the air ? What laws, conftitutions and oeconomy are oblerv'd among the miners ? In what way the trees and their leaves are aifefted by the mineral fumes and juices, and if they be gilded or filver'd ^ if thefe trees be more ponderous than others;, if they have any metalline or mineral concretes lodg'd in their pores? Whether there be waters and fprings obferv'd to rife near tlie mhies, and run their whole courfe under the ground, without ever ap- pearing above it? Whether the fubterraneal fprings rife with any wind, or determinate change of weather? , How much heavier the atmofphere is at the bottom than at the top of the mine , and whether damps confiderably increafe the weight of the air ? Whether any ftrange fubftances are found in the m.ine, as velTels, anchors, fifhes inclosM in fpar or metal, &c ? What is the way of making pot-afhes ? Enquiries What is to be obferved about amber ^ is it an exudation of the fea, particularly foft when firft caft on fliore ; at what feafon of the year, and in what '^^"^^ coUJor manner taken up, &c ? ^hl^mor "^^ What is to be obferved in the digging of Sal gemmai in Poland ; and northern comk" what is the depth of the mines ftored with the fait ^ and what their m'e^. diftance from the fea ? What truth is there in that relation, of fwallows being found under waters congeal'd in winter, and reviving when held to the fire ? Whether there be in the Bodnk-hay a whirl-pool, as is related to be in the fea oi Norway, which is commonly called the Maal-firoom ^ and whether there be any figns of the communication of thofe gulphs by fubterraneous paiTages ? To what depth the cold in thefe parts reaches, in the earth and water .? Whether watches are made to go flower by the cold ? Whether oil, in great colds, is turned into true, hard and brit- tle ice ? Whether they can freeze a flrong brine of bay-falt, a flrong deco- £lion o^ Sd gemm^, foot, or a flrong folution of fait of tartar, or (u- gar of lead ? Whether they can congeal meer blood without the lerous part, Canary wine, folutions of all falts, and ftrong folutlons of metals ? Whether an intenfe and lafting froft makes any alteration in quick- iilver, expofed very fliallow, and in a flat VefTel ? Whe. 14 Heads for the natural Hifiory, &C. ISJat.Hist. Whether the purgative virtue of cathartics be increafed, dimiJiiihed, or even totally deftroyed by a ftrong continual coJd ? Whether harts-horn, and the like fubftances thawed, will yield the fame quantity of Ipirits as they do when they have not been frozen? \Vhat are the eftecls ot cold in the fermentations of liquors? Whether birds and wild beafts grow white in the winter-time, and recover their native colour in fummer ? Whether colours may be concentred by cold •, for inflance, that of a ftrong decoftion of cochineal in a fit glafs ? Whether the electrical virtue of amber, and the attradive force of the magnet, will be changed by vehement cold ? Whether thick pieces of iron and fteel be made brittle by intenfe frcfis : fo that fmiths are obliged, for prevention, to give their tools a fofter temper ? Whether accurate obfervations fhew, that all fifiies die in frozen water5, if the ice be not broken •, or whether the cold it felf, or the want of changing or ventilating the water, or the privation of air, be the caufe of their death? Whether any skilful anatomift has enquired, by freezing feme ani- mals to death, after what manner it is that intenfe cold kills men ^ whether they have found ice in the inward parts, as the brain and heart, and in the large velTels ? ME- 15 MEMOIRS F O R A GENERAL HISTORY O F T H E A I R- li r B ^HE conjlant ingredients of the air, or atmofphere, fj^ads fir a 2. X The ather in the atmofphere. general hijlory ^. The eUftic particles of the air and its fpring, v tm0tr. 4. The magnetic particles of the air. 5* The dejlruciion, generation, abforption, and extrication of the air, 6. The accidental ingredients of the air. 7. The aqueouj particles in the air, with the moiflure and drynefs thereof. 8. Clouds, mijis, and fogs. 9. Terrejlrial fleams in the air> * 10. Salts in the air. 11. Sulphur \ infmimahle particles in the air', li^htmn7 and its effects. 1 2. Celeflial influences or effluvia in the air» I J. The height of the atmofphere. I4» The motion of the air', and winds. 1 5. The air confider^d as the medium of founds^ Noifes in the air and particularly thunder. The air^s operation on the found^s of bodies. 1^6. The weight of the air. 17. The confiflence of the air', its rarity y denfity^ fluidity^ and fuh- tilty, m%. The 1 6 Memoirs for a general Hijlory Kat.Hist. 18. The heAt arid coldnefs of the air. ^^^"^^^^^ I g. The air confider'^d in relation to light ; its perfpicuitj, opacity, re-* flexions, refra^ions, colours, &c. 20. The operation of the air on the confidence of animal, vegetable and mineral fuhflances» 1 1 . Ait conftder'*d with regard to fre and flame, 22. Air, as it regards fermentation. 2^. Air confider''d as the receptacle of odours, 24. The air'*s operation on the odours of animal, vegetable and mineral fubflances, 25. The operation of the air on the tafles of animal, vegetable and mi- neral fubflances, 26. The operations of the air on the colours of animal, vegetable and mi" neral fubflances. 27. The air considered as dedroying or introducing lefs obvious qualities into animal, v-egetable and mineral bodies. 28. Air confider^d with regard to the propagation and vegetation of plants, 2 9. The air conflder^d with the regard to the generation, life and health of animals, ^o. Heavy bodies fuflain^d by, or taken up into the air. 31. Den\ ^2. Rain, gj. Hail. ^4. Snow, 5 5. Unufual things falling out of the air, 36. Mijcellaneom experiments and obfervations on the air, J 7. Defiderata /> thehiflory of the air; with propofals to fupply them. ... - /% ^ ^ ^^'^ fignifies the thin, tranfparent, compreffible and di» tbe^irT A\ latable fluid, wherein we breathe and move, that furrounds the jL JL whole fur face of the earth to a confiderable height, and differs from the aether in refrading the rays of the celeftial luminaries. The air may be confidered both as tranfient and permanent. For ex- ample, if an seolipile of water be fufficiently heated, and fuffer'd to expel the particles of air by its aqueous vapour, this will afterwards be forcibly driven out in a large quantity, like the blaft of a pair of bellows, and occafion a lliarp, whiftlingnoifeagainft the edge of a knife conveniently held thereto. Yet fuch a vapour, tho', whilft the motion lafts, it refem- blesair, foon lofes that refemblance, efpecially ia the cold, and returns, by condenfation, to its original water. Manf «/ the Jin 17 Many are the experiments I have made upon the air, but farther trials Nat.Hist. appear iieceirary to determine its nature. I conjefture, however, that <..-^^~s/~'*-^ the atmolpherical air confifts of three different kinds of corpufcles ^'^«'^>*'?'3'/^»^/ of the firft, thole numberleis particles which, in the form of vapours or^^* '*"'• dry exhalatioi]s, afcend from the earth, water, minerals, vegetables, animals, &c. in a word, whatever fubftances are elevated by the celeftial or fubterraneal heat, and thence diiiufed into the atmofphere. The fecond may be yet more fubtile, and confift of thofe exceedingly minute atoms, the magiieticai effluvia of the earth, with other innumerable particles fent out from the bodies of the celeftial luminaries, and cau- fing, by their impulle, the idea of light in us. The third fort is its characleriftic and effential property, I mean permanently elaftic parts. Various hypothefes may be framed relating to the firudure of thefe latter particles of the air. They might be refembled to the fprings of watches, coii'd up and endeavouring to reflore themfelves •, to wool, which being compreffed, has an elaftic force ^ to flender wires of different fubftances, confidences, lengths and thicknefs • in greater curls or lefs, near to, or remoter from each other, &c. yet all continuing fpringy, ex- panfible and comprelTible. Laftly, they may alfo be compared to the thin iliavings of different kinds of wood, various in their lengths, breadth and thicknefs. And this perhaps will feem the moft eligible ■hypothefis ^ becaufe it, in fome meafure, illuftrates the production of the elaftic particles we are confidering. For no art or curious inftruments are required to make thefe Iliavings, whofe curls are in no wile uniform, but feemingly cafual ^ and what is more rem-arkable, bodies that be- fore feem'd unelaftic, as beams and blocks, will afford them. Hence alfo we may perhaps fetch an illuftration of fome experiments, wherein 1 found that various, folid, and mineral bodies, unfufpefted of elafticity, being plunged in corrofive unelaftical menftrua, will, upon a proper comminution of their parts, afford in the conflid a confideiable quan- tity of permanently elaftic air. But many other figures, and fome per- haps more proper, may be attributed to thefe elaftic corpufcles. All I ftiall add is, that tho' air feem to continue elaftic, upon account of its ftrufture, rather than any external agitation, yet heat, which is a. kind of motion, may make the agitated particles endeavour to recede from the centres of their motion, and to repel thofe that would hinder their free rotations •, and thus greatly add to the attempt it makes towards expanfion. And by this means there may perhaps be mixed with the fpringy particles, others whofe elafticity is owing more to their motion than their ftru8:ure-, that varioufly whirling tliem, fo as to remove the adjacent corpufcles, and thereby promote an expanfive force in the air they go to compofe. Some of thefe, indeed, may, in very cold climates and feafons, prove of a like kind with what I above ftiew'd to be of a iliort duration ^ yet others of them may be fo minute, agile, ^nd advantageoufly ftiaped, that at leaft, in our climate, the air will be Vol. III. ' D warnx 1 8 Memoirs for a general Htjlory Nat'HisT. warm enough to promote its own agitation, and keep it felf iiuid? ^/"■"V^^^-* and give a competent motion to particles lb well difpofed to pre- ferve it. Thefpri'ng of " We find that in blowing up a football the included air gradually the air. " increafes in its refiftance, and not only thus oppoies its own cor.den- ^^ fation, but alio endeavours to expand it felf. VViience we are furniih- *' ed with a methodol making fountains to play, and of ihooting off bullets " by the fpring of the included air. But becaule 'tis difficult to com-r " prefs air to any confiderable degree with the natural firength, 'twill '^ be proper to apply the skrew to that office, in the following manner. Fignre i. "• Suppole for a fountain, the metalline velfel ABE, made concave at the " top, with a hole A, for the water to enter at ^ which, running in, will " force out the air thro' the open tube CD. Before the velfel is fil- '^ led, let the hole A, be clofe flopped with a skrew, and turn the ftop- *' cock, E, to clofe that end. Place next a little bucket on one fide within " thevelTel, with its embolus HI, whole upper part muft be fixed to *' the moveable ear of theveffel. The embolus tiK, being perforated ■^^ quite thro', Ihould have a valve fix'd to it at the hole S, to hinder ** the air, there fent out, from returning • and the like is to be done *^ externally at the bottom of the bucket, I. Let the cylindrical fur- *' face of tiie embolus be cut into a male skrew, and fitted to a female *' one in the plate MN, which may be faftened externally as a prop ** to the ear of the veiTel, by means of two fmall skrews in M, and N. "When the water is in, thefe fmall skrews M, and N, are to be *^ loofened, and the plate to be raifed from the velTel up to the han- " die HO, whereby the embolus being drawn out, the air paffes thro^ ' " the perforation HS, to fill the bucket^ and upon thrufting the embo- " lus down, the valve at S, is fhut, and the air forced out at the bucket " thro' the valve I, into the veffel, whence it can neither efcape nor *' force out the water •, both the ftop-cock and hole at A, being ihut ^ " conlequently it is condenfed ^ and at a fecond elevation of the em- ■ " bolus endeavouring to expand it felf, the valve I, is thereby forci- *' bly preffed againft the hole in the bucket, and that palTage block- " ed up. When, by repeated flrokes, lb much air is forced in, as ** caufes the embolus to go very fi:iff, the plate MN, is again to be skrew- *' ed on ;, and the pump may be further work'd, by taking hold of the *' handle in O, and gradually revolving the embolus backwards and '* forwards, by means of its skrevv^s, till the air is very fl:rongly comprel^ *' fed, when opening the frop-cock E, the water will fly out at the " tube CD, at firft with great vehemence, but lefs forcibly by de- *^ grees, as the elaflicity of tiie air grows lefs. The like contrivance **■ will, alfo, proportionally ferve in wind-guns, which may alfo be made ** without any thing to receive the compreffed air, after the manner *' of the elder pot-guns, ufed by children, with their paper pellets^ ^^ For a long concave cylindar of iron being procured, two leaden bul- ^ letSj by means of paper, or the like, may be exa£lly fitted to its " bore ; of the Jir. 19 "'^ bore:^ fo that if a female skrew were cut on the internal furface of Kat.Hist. " one end, whereto the male skrew cut on a folid cylindar of the fame v-X^'V^w* " metal anfwered, which being a little fl-iorter in length, and made *^ to move in the other by a force applyed to a proper handle, till ali *' the air contained in the cavity was condenfed into a narrow com- •^^ pafs between the two bullets, the foremoft of them would be there- " by thrown out of the tube with a prodigious force. " Cafatus. We put fome copper filings, with a mercurial gage, into a conical Expermeytti. cryftal glafs exa^ly fitted with a ground ftopple, and poured upon the filings as much reftified fpirit of fermented urine as role an inch above them ^ then carefully flopping the glaf?, we leveral hours af- ter perceived that the mercury in the fealed leg was confiderably de- prefled •, when letting in the external air, we found it to have a manifeft effeft upon the mercury. Into a like glafs we put more copper filings, and poured thereon Eocpirment-i.. ftrong fpirit of putrefied urine, till it rofe about an inch above them, and having let down a mercurial gage, fo that it refted againft the bottom and fide of the glafs, we doled it with a ftopple, and let it in a quiet and well illumined place \ having firft obferved the ftation of the quickfilver in the gage. The menftruum work'd very calmly upon the fi- lings, gradually acquiring a very pleafant blue colour, and the glafs being kept at reft in the fame place for two or three days longer, the liquor began to lofe its colour, growing fainter by degrees, till at the end of three or four days it became very pale. Then admitting the external air, and leaving the vial in the fame place and pofture, I found within four or five minutes the upper part of the liquor of a. fine blue colour, which in ten minutes time had diffufcd it felf thro' the whole •, fo that in lefs than a quarter of an hour, the liquor was throughout of a rich blue colour, and in a few minutes longer grew opake. When carefully clofing the vial again, we fet it in the fame place, where the liquor began again, within two or three days, to lole its colour^ fo that I made a fecond experiment much like the former. The like fuccefs I had in a trial or two made in another glafs, and once, with fuccefs, about nine a clock at night. In moft of thefe ex- periments I forbore to fliake the glaf'^-, left that ftiou'd be fufpe£l:ed to raife fome fine powder that might be precipitated out of the tin- cture, tho' I never perceived any fuch. But if by the agitation of the liquor more parts of it were expoled to the aClion of the air, the colouration would be haftened. Having covered the bottom of a conical glafs with filings of good Experiment "i. copper, we poured ftrong fpirit of Sal armoniac upon them, till it rofe about a finger's breadth above them •, and having let down a mercurial gage, fo that it refted againft the bottom and fiie of the gl'afs, we clofed it very well with the ftopple, and fet it in a quiet well en- lightened place, obferving where the quickfilver refted in the gage. The menftruum work'd flowly on the filings, without producing any D 2 noiie Experiment 4. Memoirs for a general Hifiory noife or lenfible bubbles ^ gradually acquiring a very pleafant blue co-* Jour. We perceived alio from time to time, that tor two or three days together, the mercury in the lealed leg of the gage very flowly delcendedj till it appeared near a quarter of an inch lower than at' firft. The event of the experiment feemed fufficiently to argue, tliat the fpring of the air, contain'd in tlie cavity of the glafs, commu- nicating with that in the open leg of the gage, was weakened in com- parifon of that of the clofed leg ^ which by the hermatic feal on one iide, and the quickfilver on the other, was kept from fuch commu- nication. 1 further obferved, that the depreiTure continued at diffe- rent times of the day :, tho' at noon the fun Hione hot upon the place, and veffels. This experiment was made four or five times, but not always with equal, yet with fome luccefs •, the mercury in the feal- edleg of the gage being fometimes more and fometimes leis, but always manifeftly deprelfed -^ which phenomenon was confirmed by the obfer- vation we miore than once made of the fudden return of the mercury- to its former flation, upon unftopping the glafs, to give free admiflioa to the external air. A mercurial gage being put into a conical glafs, the bottom where- of was covered with beaten coial, we poured thereon Ibme fpirit of vine- gar, and clofmg the neck exaftly, obferved many bubbles were for a long time produced, which fuccellively broke into the cavity of the vei- fe\, whereby they comprelTed the air in the dole leg of the gage in- to about a third part of its former dimenfions. But fome hours after the. corrofion had ceafed, the compreffion made by this new air grew ma- nifeftly fainter, and the air imprifon'd in the gage drove down the mercury again to within about one divifioa of its firft ftation ;, where it continued for five or fix days. So that there here feems to have been a double comprelTive power exercifed ^ the one tranfient, by the; brisk agitation of the vapours or exhalations, and the other durable^ from the aerial and elaftic particles, either produced or extricated by the aftion of the fpirit upon the coral. A confiderable quantity of fpirit of vinegar being put upon minium, in a conical glafs, furniflied with a glafs ftopple and a mercurial gage, no fenfible deprefTure of the mercury appeared in either leg for feveral days ^ nor did any change happen in the gage upon removing the. flopple, tho' it was evident by the great fweetnefs acquired, that a large proportion of the minium was dilTolved. Experiment 6. Into a round eight ounce vial we put fome copper filings and a mer- curial gage, pouring ftrong ipirit of Sal armoniac on the metal, till it reach'd to a confiderable height in the vial, which being hermetically lealed, was fet in a fouth window, where the liquor loon acquired a deep blue tin^lure, which in twelve days time grew gradually pale, till at length it appeared like water. During this, the. mercury in the open leg leem'd to be impeli'd up, and at about nine a clock at night we broke off the hermetic feal, upon which a noife was immediately pro° Expmmcnt 5. of the Air. 21 produced, and the mercury in the ihorter clofed leg briskly impelled Kat.Hist. to the height of near \ 'inch, and tho' the orifice whereat the air w./'^V^^^ entered, would fcarce admit a middle fized pea, yet within a minute and half the furface of the liquor appeared to have acquired a lovely fair colour, reaching downwards i inch \ fo that the vial feemed to contain two very diiferent liquors, fwimming upon each other ^ and the colouration becoming gradually deeper, the whole within five mi- nutes obtained a rich blue colour. That air is greatly concern'd in producing many phenomena of nature, either altogether new, or not formerly afcribed to it, has been of late fufficiently fhewn. And that it is alfo neceflary to tlie exigence and Ceyierathn motion of moft animals, may be eafily deduced from my experiments atiddeJhuSiim made with the air-pump, relating to refpiration. This fluid being of ^-^^"*' fo great importance, made me follicitous to enquire, whether it was producible by art -^ for if fo, it might help to explain Ibme difficult phenomena ^ and be otherwife very ferviceable in human life, as par- ticularly in the art of diving, and fubmarine navigation. By the produdion of air, I here mean the obtaining a feniible quantity of that fluid from bodies wherein it did not before appear, either at all, or in' lb great plenty •, tho' perhaps feme of our experiments may argue a new and real produdion of air, in the ftrifter ^eni^Q of the word. This enquiry will confift of two parts *, the methods of producing what appears to be air ^ and thofe ot examining how far the fubftance pj-oduced has the real properties of air. I mufi: here obferve, that many accidental qualities are afcribed to air '^ but having found what beft diftinguifhes it from aqueous vapours, earthy exhalations, and the effluvia of other bodies, to be, as was laid, a durable elafticity •, I iliall here, make ufe of that as the principal critereon, to try whether any portion of matter be aerial. Among the feveral ways of producing air, the fitteft for pra6lice feem to be fermentation, corrofion, and the dilfolution of bodies, by the boiling of water and other liquors, by the mutual a£lions of bodies upon one another, efpecially faline ones, and laftly, by analyfing and relblving certain fubftance-'. Into a long and large tube we conveyed filings of fleel, a proper Experiment i.- quantity of water, a fealed glafs of oil of vitriol, with a hole near one end, and a mercurial gage -^ when having exhaufted the air from them all, till the mercury in the gage was almoft wholly impelled into its open leg, we exactly clofed up the external velTel : Then gra- dually, and at long intervaLs, pouring.the included oil of vitriol upon the fteel and water, exceednig large bubbles were thereby produced, with a fmall, fenfible heat. During the conflid much air fei-m'd to be generated by thefe bubbles, fo that, at length, the mercury in the gage, being impelled to the very bottom of the open leg, the air in- cluded in the other appear'd more comprefs'd thaii by the weight of the - 22 Memoirs for a general Hi/iory Nat.Hist. the atmofphere, before 'twas thus employ'd. We removed the whole \,^^^^^^'\J into a cooler room, where 1 found, the next day, no fenfible alteration in the gage ^ and thus it continued for three or four days \ but coming afterwards to look upon it, the mercury had afcended about an inch and a half^ and near the fame quantity of water had got into the lealed leg of the gage. But this was, very probably, owing to a care- lefs removal of the tube that had been made, without my knowledge ; for I have found no other remarkable alteration herein iince the expe- riment was firft undertaken, which is now eight or nine days ^ the mer- cury in the open leg ftill remaining at about the height of an inch and half. Experiment 2. I filled a pint vial with wheat-flower well drenched in water, ftopping up the orifice both with cork and cement, and fet it in a warm place of the laboratory, in a cold leafon -, where it continued for thirteen days, when it burns by the dilation of the included matter, which was, the night before, obierved to have left a confiderable vacancy below the cork. The niatter to me tafted louriili, but to another acid. Bxperiment 3. We let a convenient quantity of bruifed raifms to ferment with water^ in a bolt-head, including alfo a mercurial gage therein^ when exhauft- ing the air, and preventing any from returning into the veffel, 'twas placed in the warm laboratory. Ko fpringy fubftance appear'd to be hence generated in four days, tho' the liquor, it leems, afterwards fer- mented more violently than the cold fealon might be thought to allow of; for being not carefully looked to, the middle part of the glafs broke to immenfly fmall pieces, with a report equal to that of a piftol ^ whilft the bottom and neck remain'd tolerably entire. Experimsnt ^. I fiU'd a wide-moutlvd thieepint glafs, with a proper quantity of water and bruifed raiiin-^. Upon the mouth of the glafs we tied a large bladder by the neck, but firfi: carefully freed from air, and faflen'd it well thereto with cement, to prevent any air from palling either in or out. In this condition we left the glafs in the laboratory for fourteen days, when finding the bladder tumid, we fliould have tied up the contain'd air therein, but for a fmall hole there chanced to be in it. We therefore took it olF, and caufed a very limber one, capable of holding a quart of water, to be fix'd on in the fame manner, and found it next morning fo full of air, that we could not, without difficulty, and the lofs of a confiderable quantity, tie up the bladder near its neck. Another bladder was afterwards applied as the former, which next morning appear'd full, as if diflended by means of a pair of bellows. Experiment 5. In the bottom of a wide-mouthM vial we lodged fbme good fpirit of fait, and the filings of fleel, covering all with a receiver, fitted with an eel-skin, and a wire, whereto a thin and flender glaf% hermetically feal'd at the bottom, was fixed, containing fome filings of copper. The receiver being well exhaufled, we broke this glafs of copper filings againfl the bottom of the vial, and let them fall into the menflruum, whence enfued great flore of bubbles, which raifed a froth much deeper of the Air, 23 tieeper than the liquor^ and the fucceilive generation hereof contiiiued KAt.HisT. for a coniiderable time \ ferae of them appearing large, tho' in the ^^■^^^""'^^ open they would, perhaps, have been inviiible. The vial thus kept in VACUO for a quarter of" an hour longer, and no greennefs appearing in the liquor, tho receiver was taken off. A bubble of air, equal in diameter to a middle fized pea, being left ExperimemC at the top of a round vial, with a long and flender neck, and containing fine oil of turpentine, this was inverted into another vial of the fame liquor, and fufter'd to ftand in a quiet place for a competent time. The like was alio done with fpirit of wine at the fame time. The event was, that in fix days the bubble difippear'd in the glafs of oil of turpentine, and likewife in that of the fpirit of wine the day following. Upon opening an exhaufted receiver, wherein was an unftop'd vial Expmment 1 ^ above half full of an opakeblackiih liquor, fuppofed to have been fogs fpawn, that had certainly been included for three years, we found by the gage put up with it, that it had yielded a little air. Its fcent was fetid, like that of the pump of a fhip, but it had produced no inleds, nor was turn'd mouldy. An induftrious gentleman of my acquaintance, who digs for mines, Ohfervation. and owns a good one, informs me •, that when the miners meet with running water under ground, they are thereby fupplied with air fufficient for free refpication, even at the depth of many fathoms^ butftagnant water, he faid, would not do the like. Tho' in his opinion, that air proceeded rather from the water it lelf, than from its motion. I.- To produce air by fermentation in well clofed receivers. Ex^ertmentf To produce air by fermentation in feafd glaffes. f "^f ^^'^T r^ r ^ • r- 1- u u -I- duBion of air. To leparate air from l-quors by boiling. ^^^^ ^^^ ^^g. To feparate air from liquors by the air-pump. mination of it , To produce air by corrofion, efpecially with fpirit of vinegar. prepofed. To feparate air by animal and fulphureous dilTolvents. To obtain air in an exhaufled receiver by burning glaifes, and red- hot irons. To produce air out of gunpowder, and other nitrous bodies. Z. To examine the produced aerial fubftances, by their preferving or reviving animals, iiame, fire, the light of rotten wood, and of fiih. '[ ^ To examine it by its elaflicity, and the duration thereof. To do the fame by its wei|j;ht, and its elevating the fumes of liquor?. Thedrtnefs I am not follicitous that all the phenomena refer'd to the moiflure of the »ndmoiflareof air, be Iblely produced by the bare moiflure thereof, 'tis fufficient if this ^^^^"■' quality is the moft obvious one, tho' other corpufcles whereto moifture lerves as a vehicle, be alfo concern'd herein. Drynefs, as privative as its nature feems, may have a confiderable iliare in producing a change in bodies, and that in differing refpeds ; the two principal whereof are thefe^ Memoirs for a general Htjlory 24. Kat.Hist. Firft, by means hereof a body is deprived of thofe exhalable parts ^my^^V"*'^ that harbour'd in its pores, and vvere perhaps the principal of feveral operations afcribed to it. Secondly, as the want of thefe more fubtile parts may induce a change of texture in the body, chiefly with re- gard to its pores, whofe magnitude, figure and pofition being alter'd, the body may in many cafes acquire a contrary difpofition to its own. Qhjervctlon. Sometimes when the weather began to be overcaft, the hygrofcope did not grow fenfibly heavier, and at other times it wou'd, when I cou'd obferve no vapours in the air. Indeed it happened thus but feldom, yet this made me fufpeO: that fome clouds may confift of other than aqueous exhalations ^ and that fuch as are peculiarly fitted to enter the pores of the hygrofcope, have a faculty of drying it, or fome way or other of increafmg or leffening its gravity. And this feems the more probable, becaufe having made hygrofcopes with powder, with lalt, and with wainfcot faw duft, applied to nice fcales in very thin light open glalTes, they all fucceeded as the former ^ for now and then their weight would not alter as the weather grew moifter or dryer. Experiment!. ^oo\i after looking upon the half hundred weight that hung by a rope, and fixing a mark where the bottom of it touch'd the perpen- dicular board that flood by it, I perceived the sky, which before was clear, to grow cloudy, but no rain enfued •, upon this the weight role a quarter of an inch within an hour and a quarter after the mark was made, as it proved, between nine and ten in the evening. Be- tween eight and nine the following morning, it was raifed near an inch from the former mark, when the day proving fair and windy, the weight funk by ten at night about fix inches below where I found it in the morning. The morning following, about eight a clock it was rifen to 8 V ^"ches, the weather being then cloudy, tho' very dry and dufly •, but in lefs than an hour after it overcafl, and there fell fome -drops of rain, which made the lead to rife about half an inch higher. The night proving rainy, the half hundred weight was lifted above five inches higher than I left it the preceding evening, but the day recovering to dry, windy, and warm, it was funk by the next night xonfiderably below all the marks. The rope whereby this weight was fufpended, meafured in diameter three eighteenths and four decimal parts of the tenth of an inch. Kxperiment 2, A rope about three feet and a half in length from the point of fufpenfion, and near three tenths of an inch in diameter, being ftretch- ed for fome days by a leaden weight or quarter of the large hundred, which had a flat board placed underneath, juft barely to fupport it* we at length moiflened the rope thoroughly with water, by means of a fpunge, whereby it firft leemed to be rather a little lengthen'd than fliorten'd ^ but in an hour or two it began to contrad, fo that the weight was raifed confiderably above the board whereon it refled before j on the fame day, however, the weight fiink to its former v^^ce. The' of the Air. 25 '^ho' Morocco be an inland town, feated in a very hot climate, where Nat.Hist. the foil is ufually dry; yet I am informed that the nodurnal air proves ♦-/""V^^Sid* exceeding damp and piercing, fo as prelently to produce ruft upon ohfeKvatiom. fuch iron iiiftruments as lie naked therein. Air too moift cannot be wholefom. The air about OaUy in Buckingham- Jhire, tho' a high country, is very moift between Michaelmas and Jlhallon- tide, efp^cially in rainy weather, and upon a thaw ^ lb that the wainicot?, ftair-cafes, and piftures, then ftand of a water, which will afterward trickle down in large drops. But many houfes at Brills which ftand exceeding high, have this to a much greater degree ; for here the Ihiir-cafes, efpecially if laid in. oil, will run down with water. The north and north-eaft fides of thefe houfes are obferved to be the dampeft ; for the furniture here will rot, if fires be not lbmetim.es made in the rooms vs'herein it ftands. As by exhaufting a receiver of air, we formerly tried whether the Ex^erimmt-^. remaining medium wou'd thereby alter its temperature, as to heat and cold, fo in the prefent experiment we endeavoured to find its difpo- fition with regard to drynefs and moifture. The hygrofcope made with the beard of a wild oat, leem'd very proper for this purpole ; but that not being procurable, we ufed one of gut-ftring. This was convey'd into a Irnall receiver, that the effeft might be the more fuddeii andconlpicuous ; yet no fenlible alteration appeared in the index upon extrafting the air. And tho' we repeated the experiment, and then kept the receiver for a conliderable time exhaufted, the confequence was the fame; but upon the re-admiilion of the air by the cock only, the index in a few hours confiderably changed its place ; fo that hence the fubtiie matter in the fuppofed vacuum of the receiver, and confe- quently the more fluid part of the atmofphere, wherein the proper aerial particles float, appears not, in its own nature, to be very fenfible either of cold or heat, drynefs or moifture ; tho' many other experi- ments remain to be tried^befides thofe wherein the air-pump,thermometer, and hygrofcope are concern'd, before this can abfolutely be determin'^. An excellent aftronomer of my acquaintance, who frequently took chu.is&mifls. the height of the clouds, very rarely found any even of the white ones, in fair weather, to be more than three quarters of a mile, and feldom above half a mile, from the furface of the earth. A mift driving upon the fea towards the fhoar, tho' without any fenfible wind, will caufe a greater fwell of water than a brisk gale. A moift bluiili mift- has been obferved to afcend from ground that is fomewhat moift in winter, and elfewhere after a warm day, or againft fair weather in autumn, to the height of twenty or thirty feet, and then to fubftde again in dew. A virtuofo of my acquaintance, who poiTeffed a piece of ground Tcrrepid wherein ran feveral veins of different metals and minerals, as 2X^0 P^ms in the his fon, a virtuofo, told me, they had frequently i^ten pillars, as it '"^* were of fumes, afcending tjieuce like fmote, lome whereof had no Vol. III. E fcent; 2« Memoirs for a general Hijlory «c cc The atmO' fihere a very compounded hody. "^AT.HisT. fcent, fome an ill one, and fome again a good one, tho' the latter hap. pen'd but feldom. And I my felf have known diifufive and lafting fogs that have proved very fetid. Smoky fleams frequently proceed from theair-Hiafts of mir.es whilft they lye unwrought • and the charcoal made of the wood that grows near the mineral mines in Cornwall affords a manifeft, arfenical, and fulphureous fcent. " A terrible exhalation arofe from the Cretan fea, at the beginning " of the fummer of the year 721, which diifuling it felf in the air, caufed it to appear all on fire. The fea it felf was alfo, by huge flaming ftones that ftarted from the ifle called Hiera, heated to a violent degree." Journal de Savans. 1685. The fchools teach the air to be a warm and moifl element, and con- fequently a Ample and homogeneous body. Many modern philofophers have, indeed, juftly given up this elementary purity in the air •, yet few feem to think it a body fo greatly compounded as it really appears to be. The atmofphere, they allow, is not abfolutely pure, but with them it differs from true and fimple air, only as turbid water does from clear. Our atmofphere, in my opinion, confifts not wholly of purer sether, or fubtile matter, which is diffufed thro' the univerfe, but in "great meafure of numberlefs exhalations of the terraqueous globe :, and the various materials that go to compofe it, with perhaps fome fubftantial emanations from the celeftial bodies, make up to- gether, not a bare indeterminate feculency, but a confuted aggregate of Salts in the different effluvia. One principal fort of thefe effluvia in the atmofphere I take to be faline, which float varioufly among the reft in that vaft ocean ^ for they feem not to be equally mixed therein, but are to be found of different kinds, in different quantities and places, at different feafons. The arguments that fliew fubterraneous effluvia, in general, afcend plentifully into the air, prove the fame of faline ones in particular • fioce it has been demonflrated, that immenfe quantities of common, nitrous, aluminous, vitriolic, and perhaps other falts, rife among the various exhalations of the terraqueous globe. Nor is this the only means whereby the air may be impregnated with faline particles -^ for the aftion of the fun upon the fuperficial parts of the earth and lea, will, alone, fupply that fluid with fwarms of them. And the quantity hereof may be greatly increafed in feveral places by fuch vulcano's as have open vents, by the fmoke of the common culinary fires, &c. We might here enquire, whether the falts of the air be really of different kinds^ and if fo,what thofe kinds are; and how it comes by them ? Many learned men talk much of a volatile nitre in the air, as the only fait wherewith that fluid is impregnated. I muft own the air, in many places, feems to abound in corpufcles of a nitrous nature •, but I don't find it proved by experiments to pofTefs a volatile nitre. In all my prafti- ces upon ialt-peterj I found it difficult to raife that fait by a gentle heat, and of the Air, 27 and fpirit of nitre, which is drawn by means of a vehement one, has Kat.Hist' quite different properties from crude nitre, or the fuppofed volatile t-zOT^J kind in the air •, for 'tis exceeding corrofive. And even the earth dug from under an old dove-houfe, and dilHlTd with flow fires, yielded nothing like that wherewith theie men fuppofe the air to be ftored. I am content, however, to admit their luppofition as ingenious, till farther evidence be given for it \ and this leems not impoilible to be produced, at leaft as to particular times and places. For 1 would not be pofitive, that the fubterraneous exhalations, or the rays of the fun, never volatilize any of the nitrous particles they ad upon, and elevate them into the air, without defirOying their texture like our fires. But this will not appear to be the only fait that impregnates the air, if we confider how vaft a portion of the terraqueous globe is cover'd with the fait ocean, and what immenfe quantities of folTil fait are dug up in Toland^ Hungary^ 'Tranfyivaniay &c. that fea flit is generally found mixed with nitre in the earth, and that it is with difficulty feparated there- from. For hence it fhould feem, that in many places, efpecially near the fea, the effluvia of common fait abound in the air equally, at leaft, withthofe of nitre. In places abounding with marcafites, there is a fretting vitriolic fait largely difperfed thro' the air, which has been obferved to rot the hangings of rooms, and other furniture ^ and to lie upon the furface of the ground in a whitiili efflorefcence, after the fun had heated the moift and blackifti mould wherein it lay. But farther, the air of particular places, as about great towns, d-c. may likewife, probably, abound with volatile falts, of a contrary nature to acids. That places deep under ground may lodge fuch falts, feems not unlikely from the experiment of an acquaintance of mine, who caufedtobedugup, at the depth of feveral yards below the furface of the earth, a large quantity of a certain kind of clay, abounding in mine- rals ; whence he obtain'd, by fimple diftillation,- a confiderable parcel of fpirit and fait, greatly refembling thofe of urine or hartfiiorn. In places where much wood is burnt, numerous particles of volatile fait may eafily be difperfed thro' the adjacent air , for wood-foot, which is only that fmall part of the fmoke which adheres to the chim- ney fides, affords a volatile, laline fpirit in great plenty • and not rea- dily, unlefs by the Icent, diftinguifliable from that of urine or harts- horn. Moreover,the putrefaftion of animal fubftancesmay fupply the air with volatile falts, fince fome putrefied urine will, without diftillation, afford faline and fpirituous parts, which by their Icent, c^c. difcover themfelves to be volatile, even while fwimming in their own large quantity of phlegm. The like, 1 believe, is obfervable in many vegetables •, for fome fucculent ones being laid together in a heap, at a convenient feafon of the year, that they might rot, I found them, when theputrefadion had arrived to a certain degree, to yield a furpriz-ingly fetid fcent, like E 1 that 28 Memoirs for a general Hijlory Nat. Hist, that of carrion •, and that a vegetable, will of it felf afford a dry vola- ■ w'-'V"^ tile fait, I know by experience, having my felf obtain'd it from a fpi- rituous ieed, tho' I muft confefs, .not without previous incineration^ and only from two or three fuchfubftances. But the air of fome places may, befides thofe fmiple ones already mention'd, contain fome compound falts, fince 1 have Ihewn, that par- ticular faline fpirits maynieet and join together therei-n ^ as alfo that two liquors may be fo order'd, that tho' one of them fhall never, of it felf, afford any thing in a dry form •, yet its fpirituous effluvia meet- ing with thofe of the cether, will produce a dry, volatile and faline body \ which a mixture of the liquors themfelves would not. The many faline effluvia that rile with the other fubterraneous fleams, cannot, all of them, be well fuppofed of a fimple and uncompounded nature. A very intelligent acquaintance of mine, who viffted a vul- cano in America^ told me, that before he came near enough to the fire, to be very fenfible of its heat, the skin of his face was fo corroded, and the colour of his hair fo changed by the exhalations, as to pre- vent his nearer approach thereto. 'Tis well known that about mount Vefuviwy the exhalations are of fo faline and fulphureous a nature, that they adhere to the orifices of its vents, like the flowers of fulphur. And I have had ftone brought me from fome vu lea no, with a white fait in its cavities •, which, upon examination, proved a-kin tofal armoniac, and eafily foluble in water ; one part being very volatile, and the other remaining fomewhat fixt ^ whence it feems very probable, the fait was compounded in the bowels of the vulcano ^ great quantities thereof having, as I am credibly in- form'd, been caff up in the fiery eruptions ^ and there fore, fince I found it fublimable, it might, by that means, be largely difperfed thro' the air. Befides thefe faline fubftances of a determinate fpecies, there are poffibly, at certain times and places, other corpufcles in the air of a faline nature, but not reducible to any particular kind, which I there- fore call anonymous. We have obferved in old glafs windows, belong-- ing to high and ancient buildings, fome panes -corroded, as if they had been worm-eaten ^ which feems to argue, that fliarp and fretting particles had been carried thither by the winds whereto that glal's was expofed. But none of the falts beforementioned have the faculty of corroding common glafs. Other inftances might be produced upon this occalioiij but I refer ve them for another treatiie. To difcover The general method of difcovering the falts in the air, may confifl the falts inthe of feveral particulars. Thus, in the firft place, it might be proper to ■ '*''*• lay open to the air, fuch bodies as have a difpofition to be affefted by the fait, wherewith 'tis moft likely to abound. For inflance, if we fufpeft the air to be impregnated with nitre, lime, or the like bodies, that imbibe or retain fuch a faltnefs :, died cloths or filks of fuch par- ticular colours as will fade or tarnifli with nitrous fpirits, may be ex- pofed thereto. Where vitriolic effluvia are fuppofed predominant, proper of the Air, 29 proper preparaLloiis of fulphur faou'd be fufpended, to try whether Nat.Hist. they will acquire a blacknefs. hi other places, gueffes might be made, s*/''-V'>>-< by ipreading on tlie clean ground, white linen cloth, well freed from fope or ly ^ and obferving, after it has lain a cor.fiderable time, what difcolouration it has fuffer'd, and what faltnefs it has imbibed -^ either from the afcending fleams, or falling dews. Another way is, to find fome particular body capable of being affected by feveral aerial falts, in fuch diiierent manners, as to difcover which kind produced the re- fpei-tive changes. "Tis doubtlefs difficult to obtain fuch a body, yet perhaps the thing is not impoflible. Having caufed fome thin copper plates to be made clean, I kept Experimem i. them over glalTes, filled with ditferent fpirits, as of common lalt, and of nitre, both pure and diluted with water;, whereupon I obierved, tho' no heat was applied to the glalTes, yet frettir:g particles afcend- ed from the liquors in lefs than a day's time, when the fpirits, juft mentioned, had greatly darkened the under farface of the plates, by dilferent difcolourations ; fo that 'twas afterwards eafie to lee which was cauled by the faline, and which by the nitrous effluvia. Spirit of nitre, as I formerly found, makes, with copper, a greenilh blue folution •, Ipirit of fait, a grafs green liquor • and the Ipirit of foot and urine, a deep blue, almoft like ultramarine. But want oi time hindered me from profecuting thefe experiments •, which might poili- biy have h^ da happy iffue. And what farther keeps the thing from appearing defperate, is, that I have feen pieces of malleable 'copper, from an engliih mine, overcafi: here and there with a fair verdigreafe, which appeared, by circumftances, to have proceeded from the cor- rofive effluvia of the air. Perhaps, alfo, there are other fubterraneous or metalline bodies, that by the colour, peculiar ruft, or ftain they acquire in the air, may enable us to conjecture with what fubftances or falts the air of the place is impregnated. I knew a ftately houfe which received this peculiar inconvenience from theeffluviaof the air wherein 'twas feated, that the filver plate could not, by any means, be preferved from odd difcolourations, tho' carefully kept in a convei:aent part of it. And in j^mficrdawj 1 am told, plate tarniHies immediately, upon being expofed to the air -^ and contrafts a dirty colour, betwixt a yellow and a black. A third way is, by the ufe of met?.ll;ne bodies, chymicaily prepared, and previoufly reduced to fine parts, by means of faline fubflances. Here fuch bodies, or faftitious minerals, are to be employed, as having, generally, an accideiital colour, will change it in the air. A ftrong folution of pure filver in u4cjua fortis, precipitated with fpi- Experiment 2. rit of fea-falt, gives a white powder, which being expofed, for a con/i- derable time, to the air, will acquire a dark colour on its furface, wherein an attentive eye may, perhaps, dilcern variations, as any par- ticular faltnefs happens to predominate in the air. We 30 Memoirs for a general Hifiory Nat.Hist. We mixed an equal weight of copper filings and powdered fal-a^ i./~V'-N«* mociac together, and put them into a covered crucible, which was Experiment 1. kept Over a moderate fire, till the fait had done fuming^ when all the remaining dark coloured mafs that could be feparated, being taken out, grofly bruifed and expofed, for fome time, to the air, it looked like a kind of verdigreafe, a fubftance whofe colour may be obferved to vary according to the nature of the particular lalts, which by cor- roding and incorporating with the copper, produce the pigment. But a parcel of the fam.e mafs being grolly powder'd, before the air could much affeO: it, and hermetically fealed up in a glafs egg, and left in a fouth window, it did not appear difcoloured, when the ex- ternal furface of the other parcel refembled verdigreafe ^ which ar- gues the change of colour to have been made by the aerial fait, if the moiftureofthe air had no Ifia re therein, but as a kind of vehicle to the fait. ■Expermmt 4. By pouring fome fpirit of wood-foot on filings of copper, I obtain'd a deep azure colour'd Iblution like ultramarine, which be- ing fuffered to dry in an open glafs by the fole operation of the air, the colour prefently became paler, refembling that of a good turquoile. The fame fuccefs I, likewife, had with an urinous fpirit, drawn from animal fubftances and copper filings. To defcribe the above-mentioned changes more particularly, would have been fo exceeding difficult, that I did not attempt it ; for few, befides painters, can diflinguiih all the ufual variety of colours by pro- per names. And befides, perhaps there are fome that no language, can exprefs, efpecially when they have been attentively viewed and confidered •, tho' by a knowledge herein it might fometimes be afcer- tained what fubftances in the air are denoted by luch variations. It does not appear that our inland countries abound confiderably with corrofive falts, fmce the bars and cafements of windows will not thereby be greatly impaired by ruft, after they have endured the weather for twenty years *, whence I conjecture, that kind of fait pro- ceeds from the fea vapours, or thole railed by the burning of mi-' neral coals. '' The pot being taken from the fire, and fuffered to cool, is ^' emptied of its pure nitre, that refemble white marble ^ the terreftrial " part remaining at the bottom. The earth wherewith the folution was '* made, and the boughs of oak, or the like trees, are then to be alter- '* nately expofed to the air, and fprinkled with water, wherein nitre *' has been dilTolved • and by this means, in five or fix years time, it *• will be again fit for folution. The purer parts of the nitre thus '* generated, as alfo that which hangs upon the walls in wine vaults, *' is to be mixed and boiled with the firft folution. But if any place *' yield many of thefe veins, they fliould not immediately be laid up *' in the refervatories, but be firft thrown on a heap in open fpaces ; " for the longer they lie expofed to the air and rain, the better " they of the Air, 3 1 " they grow j and in four or five months after this, fibres will fl"ioot Kat.Hist. " out, which are much more excellent than the veins. If a fepara- w^v^^*-- ** tion do not happen in the fecond boiling of the decoction, pour it " out of the fmaller velfels into the larger, and let it be fhut up " therein, when alfo the copperas will feparate from the alum, and " run into lumps ^ but that which will not concrete in the veJfels, *' fliould be boiled again, and the earth that ftays behind thrown *' back into the refervatory, together with the veins, to be there afrelli " diluted with water and urine. The earth remaining in the reler- *' vatories after folution, becomes gradually more aluminous and " juicy, as that whence nitre was made. " j^grlcola de re metallic a. A learned phyfician, who praftifed in the moft fouthern parts of the £nglijh colonies, told me, that the great guns there are fo fubjeft to ruft, that after lying a few years in the open air, large cakes of Q(7C^ martis may, with a hammer, beeafily beat off them ^ whilfl others that lay lunk in falt-water, during the fame time, were by no rneans fo much affeded. And as dew is only fteams of the terrefirial globe, the phenomena thac manifeft its povver to work on folid bodies, may help to iliew how much the air abounds with faline and fubtile parts. The dew about the maritime places of Brafil, and even part of the inland country, a fcholar, who had been there, aifured me, not only gave a ruft to knives, and fuch like inftruments, but alfo to coin. He added, that the Portuguese are there obliged to cafe their great guns, to prevent their being corroded by it, io as to break in dilcharging •, and that he often obferved it left a pure, white fait, like a hoar-frofr, on the grafs and trees. Another ingenious phyfician informed me, thac at Fahlun in Sweden^ noted for one of the beft copper mines of that king- dom, the mineral exhalations affe£l the air fo, that their filver coin is frequently difcoloured, and fometimes turned black thereby ^ tho' clofe tied up in feveral purfes, and lock'd up in flrong chefts. Hefaidalfo, that thefe effluvia manifeftly affeded brafs, and to that degree too, as to occafion feven crowns of that metal, referved in one of their prin- cipal churches, to remnin unclean'd, and perfedly black; becaufe they foul'd fo faft, as renderM the trouble of keeping them bright almoft endlefs. Thele corrofive exhalations", he farther aver'd, penetrate the bars and vellels of iron, that He expofed to the air, fo freely, that friable fcales of ruft may, at no long intervals, be eafil/ obtain'd therefrom. A Neofolitan nobleman acquaint(jd me, that during his ftay at a ^Sulphur in country-houfe ne^r Naples, he uied frequently to ride upon a very iiilphureous foil, where, if his horfe trod pretty hard, a great crack- ling noife would a rife ; which, to a ftranger, might have ieem'd fur- prizing, and dufty fulphureous fumes be railed, which feem'd ready to take fire, as fometimes he thought they adually did ; and having cau- fed fom.e turfs to be cut out of this ground, and laid together in a heap, he could, in the night time, fometimes obferve the e-ffluv'a thence tt^e air. 32 Memoirs for a general Hijlory Nat.Hist. thence plentifully arifing to kindle in the air. The lame honourable perfon iikewife afTured me, that in the late eruptions of mount Ve- J'uvius, both he and others were greatly amazed at the prodigious height ot the flame which fliot up from that Vulcano ; and that by means of a quadrant, they found it reachM two miles above the top of the mountain. Be added, that the adjacent earth would fometimes tremble, that vail flones and heavy bodies would be difcharged, and that he himlelf had there feen fiery malfes of matter thrown into the air, each of them capable of filling a large room. " The iiland has a ihocking appearance ■, the profped from the '' port is the fea, and lliore all bhck and burnt, by a Imall rork that ^' firft difcovered it lelf about fixty years ago, vomiting out a pro- '^ digious flame at a cavern of an immenfe depth. 'Tis not above *' eighteen years lince, on a lunday night, that a terrible noife began at " the port of Santorini^ reaching even to Chioy diftant therefrom above '' two hundred miles, which was fuppos'd to proceed from the p^e- *' nctians fighting with the Turks ^ but at length it was found to be *' cauled by a fire underneath the port above-mentioned, which there " caft up, from the bottom of the fea, quantities of pumice-ftones, '^ with a force and report as great as it they had been feverally dil- " charged from a canon. The air of Santorini was by this means fb " infeded, that abundance of people were kilfd, and many lofi: their " fight thereby, tho' they recovered it in a few days afterwards. This '' infercion fpread it lelf as far as the preceding nolle had reached; " for even at Chio and Smyrna all the fllver coin was changed red, both *' that in the pocket, and that lock'd up in chefts ; and the fame " happen'd to the filver chalices in the churches. The infedion, '^ however, vanifljed in a few days time, and the filver recover'd its *' native colour ^ but the pumice-ftones that were thrown up, cover'd *' the ^rchipe/a^o to fuch a degree, that for a conliderable time, when *' particular winds blew, the port was blocked up with them; lb that *' not the leafl; velfei could pals, till way was made for it by their " removal. And feme fcatter'd remains of them may be leen to this " day in the Mediterranean. Seneca tells us, that Santorlnl is built upon mines *' of fulphur, which doubtlefs gave occalion to this ^re.''^ Voyage de Levant, 'Tis a common obfervation, that thunder produces in the air a flrong fmell of fulphur ; and I remember being at a town near the lake of Geneva^ when the thunder was fo violent, as greatly to terrify the in- habitants, tho' they were accuftom'd to its ihocks ; I heard many com- plaints the next day of a ftrong fulphureous fcent, that particularly proved almoft infuilerable to the centinel who flood near the lake where the thunder fell. '' On July 24.. t68i. The ii\\^ Alhertnarly diftant an hundred leagues " from Cafe Cod, in the latitude of 48°, about 3 in the afternoon, meeting " with a thunder ftorm, the lightning burnt the main-top fail, fplit the *' main cap in pieces, and fliiver'd the mafl. One of the claps of thunder *' here (f the Air. 33 *' here proved exceffively loud, whereat the whole ihip's crew were Nat.Hist. ** aftoniflied ^ when fomething immediately fell from the clouds upon ^yW^"-^ '* the ftern of the fhip-boat, which broke it into feveral pieces, fplit '' one of the pumps, and damaged the other. It feem'd to be a bitu- '' minous matter that caus'd this mifchief, fmelling like fired gun- " powder, and continuing to burn in the ftern of the boat till it was " wholly confum'd \ for they cou'd not extinguifh it by water, and " attempting to diihpate it with fticks. But, what is more extraordinary, *' when night came on, and the ftars appeared, they found their com- *' pafTes changed. That in the biddekel had its north point turned '' due fouth : one of the two others, which lay unhung in the locker " in the cabbin, pointed exaflly as the former \ but the north point " of the third flood weft. The polarity of their needles being thus *' changed, the failors were for fome time at a ftand how to work ** their velfel \ however, they afterwards failed a thouland leagues *' in. this manner. That compafs whofe needle thus came to point *' weft, was brought to iVfn?-£?7^/^?;(af, where the glafs being broke, and *' the air gaining entrance, it loft its virtue. But one of the others ** is in that country pofTefs'd by Mr. Encreafe Mather ^ the north point *' of the needle remaining fouth to this day.'' An eminent planter of trees, gave me part of a branch, with a fiffure in the bark, that feem'd almoft to reach the wood, from one end to the other ;, tho' the lips of the wound were now grown over with new bark. The like hereto he obferved in other branches of the fame tree ^ and this, for feveral reafons, he could alcribe to nothing but lightning, which about that time had been very frequent ^ and many more trees, as well his own as thole of others, far diftant from the former, were affe^led in the fame manner. Thefe fiffures looked not all one way, but refpe^led feveral points of the compafs ^ whence I am confirmed in my lolution of fome odd phenomena of lightning, by comparing its irregular, winding motion, to that of a Iquib. JHowever this ftrange kind of fire may alfed: animals, 'tis not always pernicious to vegetables ^ as appears from the juft mention'd wounds it makes in trees, which happily cicatrize of themielves, without any farther damage. Beginning to confider the properties of vinous liquors, their feveral CeJeflial in-- diftempers, and the method to preferve them, I found it previoully ne- -/^^f^"^^' '" ^ ' ceffary to make an exaft fcrutiny into the air, its qualities, temper, and motion •, with the influence it has upon all fuch bodies. This led me into lome tlioughts, relating to the imperfeflion of our prefent ' theory of the planets. 'Tis certain, if this theory be not built upon a demonftrable foundation, differences and errors will happen in our opinions of the motions of the planets, and the calculations of their places. But if we err in this refpeO:, their feveral afpefts and influ- enets cannot be juftly determin'd •, and confequently, the phyfical ufe of thefe celeftial bjdies is wholly loft, or becomes very uncertain. Vol. III. F " And 54- Memoirs for a general Hijlory Nat.Hist. And truly, if aftronomy cou'd not afford fome afliftance in afcertain- ^.^.^'-'V'-Nui; ing the alfedions, dilpofitions and alterations of feveral things here below, 1 ihould grutch all the time and coft • all the watchings and ob- fervations it requir'^s. Several obje£lions, indeed, are commonly pro- A new ufe duced, againft any fuch ule or application to be made of this Icience, ef aftronomy. ^^^^ againft the influence of the celefiial bodies. But thefe chiefly proceed from the impoliure and ignorance generally found in the profeiiors ot this fcience ^ the palpable miftakes, and great uncertainties as to prediftions, under which it labours; and lafliy, from want of knowing the manner wherein the celeftial bodies may affe6l each other. Such objedions, however, if throughly confider'd, do not, as 1 apprehend, make againft the polTibiiity of the thing, but wholly arile from the enormities and imperfedions thereof; and thele bodies may ftill have a power to caufe luch particular motions and altera- tions, as, in their extremes, will render themfelves univerfally per- ceptible. And this appears by undeniable experiments, not only in vegetables, but in animals, and that both in acute and chronic diftem- pers y more particularly in lunatic, epileptic, paralytic, or lethargic patients. This is further demonfirable, if the extreme motions in phyfics, be generation and corruption, andrarifaftion and condenfation the mean ones; for allowing thefe bodies a fliare in promoting the latter, their effe£l:s upon all other fublunary things muft be very con- liderable. Generation and corruption are, properly fpeaking, the ex- tremes of motion, rather than motions themfelves ; for the defign and effeds of all phyflcal motion, are, in ftri£lnefs, either generation or corruption ; and all motion is hereby limited and bounded ; for beyond thefe there is no phyfical progreifion ; fmce all things are corrupted to be generated, and vice verfk. It muft then be acknowledged, that nature makes ule of motions between thefe two extremes ; which mean ones muft alfo be as oppoflte to each other, as the two extremes. And as the motions of rarifa£lion and condenfation are oppoiites, fb they fall in with all the other inftruments and phenomena of nature; the one correfponding to heat, the other to cold ; the one to hardnefs, compaftnefs and drynefs ; the other to foftnefs, fweetnefs, maturity, <^c. For thefe, among many other reafons, I conclude, that genera- tion and corruption, rarifadion and condenfation, are the limpleft, plaineft, and jufteft analyfis, in nature, of all phyfical motions ; fince all motion purely phyfical, may, with eafe, be immediately referred thereto, and refolved therein. 'Tis evident, that all the properties of moifture, heat, cold, droughts, winds, fhowers, thunder, (^c- employed by nature to produce the two univerfal effefts, rarifaftion and condenfation, almoft wholly depend upon the courfe, motion, pofition, fituation, or afpedl of the celeftial bodies. Thus every planet has its own proper light, diftinct from that of the otliers ; which is either a bare quality, and then its utmoft ufe and defign is only to illuminate ^ or elfe all light is attended with fome pecu- of the Air. 35 peculiar power, virtue, or tindure \ whence 'tis plain, that every Nat.Hist- light has its peculiar property, tindure, and colour^ its own fpe- cific virtue and power, wherein the planets differ from each other*, and confequently the celeflial bodies are not to be confidered as flug- gifli and unorganized matter \ but as full of their proper motion, ope- ration, and life. Thus, the fun not only fhines upon all the planets, but by his genial warmth calls forth, excites, and raifes the motions, properties, and powers peculiar to them : whence, according to the angle they make with that grand luminary, and the degree where- in they are enlightened, either by its direft or oblique rays, in a near or remote fituation in refped of the earth ^ the effefts of the powers, virtues, and tin£lures proper to each, muft be more or lefs perceived by us. As for the manner wherein the planets tranfmic their powers, and thereby affe£l the remoter bodies, 'tis not difficult to apprehend it ^ for we affirm no virtue or power to flow from the planets, that comes not along with the light as a property thereof. 'Twas never imagin'd that any of the planetary or folar light is re- frafted, or otherwife weaken'd or diminiihed by the aether, thro' which it paiTes *, and confequently 'tis not hinder'd from defcending with its full force, direftly and unrefrafted, upon our atmofphere. But whatever is received by the atmofphere, muft alfo be received by the thin and fubtile air that is contiguous thereto \ which air is, doubtlefs, capable of being moved, agitated, altered, and imprelTed by the properties, virtues, and lights that penetrate all its parts. Kot only fo, but our fpirits alfo, with thofe of all mixed bodies, will re- ceive no lefs impreffion, alteration, motion, agitation, and inftflion from the fame lights •, nay, as our fpirits approach nearer to the na- ture of light than that of air, fo will they be more affe^Ved thereby. And if the fpirits, wefpeakof, may be altered, changed, moved and imprelTed by thefe fuperior bodies, and their properties \ fnxe fuch fpirits are the only principles of a£Hon, power, force and life in the bodies, wherein they refide, and the immediate caufes of all the al- terations therein, 'tis impoihble they ihould be altered and changed, and the refpeftive bodies remain unaffected thereby •, confequently the force of the fuperior bodies muft exert a power or operation on the very fubftance of the inferior. To confirm this, in particular, with regard to our felves, we might have recourfe to the mifchiefs that frequently befal mankind by means of the .air, which feems no other- wife concerned •, fuch are convulflons, cramps, blafts, lamenefs, colds, &C. many whereof have a long duration, tho' rarely felt at the ve- ry inftant of their approach, or attended with any perceptible ex- cefs of heat or cold. As the other planets, fo alfo our earth is not only enlightened, warm'd, cherifh'd, and made fruitful by the power, virtue, and in- fluence of the fun^ but it hath, moreover, its proper, magnetical, pla- netary force awaken'd, fermented, excited, and agitated j which it F 2 feudi Memoirs for a general Hijlory !^n!at.Hist. fends back with the reflefted light of that luminary. By this means v_/~V~N-^ alio, the feminal difpofitions, odours, and ferments,, lodg'd in parti- cular regions and parts hereof, at the lame time emic ar.d diifule thro' the air either their kindly and grateiul, or malignant, conge- ling, and putrefying qualities. Hence, tho' the temper, diipofition, and general qualities of the air may be a0igned according to the mo- tions, influences, and afpefts of the leveral fuperior planets, yet the particular healthfulnefs and unhealthfulnefs ot places • the bad difpo* fitions of the air, whether in the evenings, nights, or mornings •, in fome parts more than others ;, exceilive moifture, great winds, droughts, or feafons peculiar to a country, fhould chiefly be alciibcd to thofe odours, vapours, and exhalations, that by the a£lion of the fun, or other planets, are forc'd from their particular feats in tlie planets them- felves into the air. Kow if this be the flate. of the cafe, it follows, that wholly to negleft luch a phyfical ule of the motion of thefe bodies, becaufe fuperflition has crept into it, is very extravagant j and ought not to pafs uncenfur'd in meu of learning. In this apology for afirology, I, by no means, pretend to juflify any thing farther than as it properly, or of neceflity, falls under natural philofophy \ but I greatly fulpeft, that if the theory of the planets were fo well adjufled and fettled, by demonftration, that we exadly knew the place, courfe, and pofition of every one of them ^ the doftrine of their phyfical ufe, with its weight, dignity, extent, and moment, would immediately become felf-evident ^ efpecially if particular per- fons would calculate the motions here to their own refpeftive meri- dians, and compare them with their own daily obfervations of the al- The keeping teration of the air. As this was, doubtlefs, the. method firft taken a diary (} the j^y the antients, to difcover the efficacy of thefe bodies, by giving an ^clmmivded. liifl'orical diary of the weather and places, motions and afp.d.s of the planets, with their agreement, difagreement, &c. the fame procedure could not but prove fatisfaftory and delightful in the momentous do- ctrine we fpeak of. And were iiich a plain demonfliration of the pow- er of thefe bodies, in general, once ef^abliflied, the ufefulnefs of this Itience in civil and occonomical alfairs ^ in husbandry, gardening, and phyfic •, and the fliare they have in producing many other very furprizing effects, would be eafily dilcern'd and credited. The pre lent age feems better furnifhed than was ever any preceeding one, to lay llich a foundation by means of thofe extraordinary inflruments the thermome- ter and barometer. And no man, who hath leifure and opportunity, fliould think it trifling to colled obfervations of rhi? nature : 'tis cer- tainly much more commendable to preferve this kind of hiftory of our own time, than to break out upon every occaiion ^ *^ This is the " hottefl:, this is the coldeft, this is the mofl feafonable, this is the moft *' unfealbnable weather 1 ever felt ^" when perhaps it's. utterly falfe in faft. Did no other benefit accrue from thefe obiervations, they would tend. to complete the natural hiflory of any place •, an inftance whereof of the Air. 37 we helve in that learned author, who has given us the natural hi- Nat.Hist. ftory ot 'Bra,[il\ wherein he proves not only the liabitablenels,but healthi- iVV%J nels of the climate, by a particular account of the weather of every day, for many years together. 'T would be a noble undertaking to promote the perfeftion of a fet of accurate obfervations hereto rela- ting, by means of various large and exa£l thermometers, conveniently expofed, either feparately or conjointly, to the air. 'Tis greatly to be lamented, that no advantage has been made of this inftrument fmce its firft invention. Many things, indeed, are wanting to its perfedion •, jie defers for the beft proportion between the diameter of the cylinder and that of the therm- ot its head, is hitherto unknown, which ought to be the firft confide- f»ffer. ration here ^ and till this be adjufted, there is dar.ger of erring in ma- king either too large for the other ^ whence the alterations of the air will be too fuddenly or too (lowly difcernable. But fuppofing the due proportion in this cafe aflign'd, we are at a lofs as to the length of the cylinder, which fhould, doubtlefs, correfpond to its diameter -^ the fmalleft tube in proportion to its head, requiring the greater length, and vice versa ^ only twelve or fixteen degrees are ufually placed on the ordinary glalTes, but to make accurate obfervations, the cylinder fliould, at leaft, be divided into 350 parts : nor is it impradicable to divide one into 1000, allowing 10 degrees to an inch ^ and this would dif- covernot only the minute, but the more fudden and remarkable changes of the weather, much better than thofe in common ufe. No liquor, 'tis cer- tain, fl-iould be applied in thefe glalfes that is fubjefl to freeze, yet have we but a very imperfe£l account what fluids are beft fitted for fuch ex- perimxcnts ^ whether thole which attraft the air, and thereby preferve their quantity, as Oleum Sulfhuris per camfanam^Vitrloli^ Tartari fer delitjui- um, &c. or thofe, the parts whereof are exceeding fine and fubtile, and give them a refemblance to the air ^ fuch as fpiritof wine, and fpi- rit of tupentine well verified, and fupplied occafionally :;, whether thofe of a middle nature, as iirong fpirit of vinegar ^ or laftly, whether on- ly well refined quickfilver. All thefe particulars muft be fettled as neceffiiry preliminaries to the experiments themtelves •, in the making whereof 'tis convenient, fhat feveral glaifes, alike in all refpefts, ftiould be placed together in one frame, and filled either with the lame or dif- ferent liquors^ and feveral of thefe frames placed in various rooms, and ibme expos'd immediately to the air it felf ;, but skreened from the fun's rays and the injuries of the weather. Too great care and exaftnefs cannot be ufed in the hiftory it felf ^ the air of the chimney, cracks in the wall, the breath of people, (^c. if not regarded, will dlfturb thefe obfervations. The degrees of warmth of the day and night, in fettled weather ^ the agreem.ent or difagreement of the air's motion, and that of the Ibperior bodies, in changeable and unconll:ant weather :;, the certainty or uncertainty of thofe motions, in foretelling vvinds and rain; the difpolitions of the air in thunder, mildews, blafts, eclipfes, conjunctions, c^f. will afford matter for this hiftory. What other 3 S Memoirs for a general Hijlory Nat.Hist. other things are performable by the thermometer, I lliall not now *-^^'V^^ confider •, but 'tis certain, that the great mechanic, Comelim Drebel^ did herewith contrive a dial, which had a continual, fpontaneous, and re- gular motion, whereby it exhibited not only the times of the day, but alfo the celeltial appearances ^ that he alio made an automatous, mufi- cal inftrument, and a furnace which he could regulate to any degree of heat, by means of the fame inftrument. 'Tis an approved tradition in Java, that the moon's rays will caufe contra£i:ions in the bodies of thofe who are long expofed thereto. And an ingenious phyfician, who had pradifed there, affured me, he oblerved fome perfons become lame by this means :, and fo continue for ^ many weeks, or fometimes months together. Ke alfo experienced it upon himfelf •, for happening, vvhilft he was a ftranger in that country, to deep, after a very hot day, for a confiderable time on the ground, that lay fjlly expofed to the moon ^ upon waking he found his neck exceeding ftiff, and his mouth drawn awry in an hideous manner ^ which obliged him to keep within doors, till by the ufe of brisk aro- matic medicines, he freed himfelf from that diforder. The coldnefs of the night, and the fubtilty of the air, he laid, were not the fole caufe of thefe phenomena •," the effeds of thofe generally proving lighter, if the moon be unconcern'd. An intelligent perfon having by a fall fo broken his head, that feveral large pieces of his skull vvere obliged to be taken out, he affured me, that for feveral months, during which he lay under the furgeon's hands, he conftantly obferved, that about full moon, there would be extraordinary prickings and ihcotings in the wounded parts of his head, as if the meninges were ftretched, or prelTed againft the rugged parts of the broken skull ^ and this with fo much pain, as wouM for 2 or 3 nights hinder his fleep, ot which at all other times of the moon he ufed to enjoy a competency. This gentleman added, that his feveral furgeons, for he had 3 or 4 at once, ofcferved from month to month, as vvell as he, the effed of the full moon upon his head •, informing him, that they then manifeft:ly perceived an expanfion, or intumefcence of his brain, which appear'd not at all at the new moon-, nor was he then obnoxious to the forementioned pricking pains. Motions ef From a letter, dated Forf St. George^ Jan. 23. 1668. " There happen'd tht air, *' a dreadful ftorm, or rather hurricane here, on the 22 '^ of November, *' when a tempeft of wind and rain grew fo exceeding violent, that *' nothing was able to ftand againfl: it. Men and beafts were thereby '' fwept away together into the fea ^ few houfes or trees efcaped its '' forces the wall of the town was laid flat in feveral places-, the *' buildings about the fort were uncover'd and greatly fliatter'd ;, and " the fort it felf was Co vehemently rock'd, that it leem'd ready to '* fall upon us." Captain of the Air. 39 Captain Broohhavcn told me, that hurricanes are very frequent about Nat.Hist. the iilaad ALiufncitu ^ that he remembred one on the lea not far w- from thence, which lafted four days^ that upon one of them the ftorm had feven p:iroxyfms, call'd by the failors, frights of weather, each whereof he oblerved to differ two points of the compafs from the other fuccefiively ;, and that by this means the furface of the fea became a white froth. This florm occafion''d the day to be exceeding dark, -and the noife it made leem'd more like that of thunder, than of wind-, which was fo loud, that thofe on the deck of the fliip cou'd not hear thofe on the flirouds. A phyfician who had been in America ^ aiTured me, that rone but the hilly part thereof had conftant winds from the land in the night; time ^ and that, therefore, Barbadoes was without them. One of the Eafi-India committee, who had lived in the ifland of Tenerlff, told me, he ufually obferved the breezes there to proceed from the fea, about nine of the clock in the mornings and that, two hours after the fun-fet, there blew a fharp, land gale from every part of the ifland towards the fea, which continued all the night. A learned traveller acquainted me, that tho' the air were generally calm and clear on the tops of the mountains 5 yet he had fometimes there met with winds connderably firong. In a letter from Venice, dated Auguji 19^^ i<5'79. " There arofe a kind of whirlwind in the fens of the city dl Favis, three miles dillant from Palma ^ which fpreading about 50 paces in breadth, fwept along with fuch fury, that it carried up into the air feveral hay-makers in the neighbouring meadows, with loaden waggons, horfes, oxen, and all ^ cafting 'em down a large diflance off, fnatter'd " and ruinM. In its progrefs it tore up all the harbs and plants it met with, and even pared, and burnt the turf. At its arrival in the little Venetian town Bagnaria, it overturn'd feveral houfes to the very foundations, and uncover'd others ^ hurrying along with it beams, pillars, tables, and all the furniture and moveables, and bruiiing many perfons, tho' v/ithout killing any. It flript the church S. Thomafoy near the town, quite bare •, carrying away the very fteeple and bells, which were not yet found the next day. Hence *' it turn'd towards Scvigliano, whe;e it deftroy'd the whole cham- paign, tho' without doing any damage to the town. A little far- ther it threw down the palace of the Count Horatio Strafoldo^ and took away with it in the air various kinds of animals and moveables, and even the very veffeis cut of the cellars : yet no body was hurt, *' the family being moft of them at work in the lields. In its way to " Strafoldo it threw down two other Iioufes, killing therein a lady, a ** young man, and feveral beafts. Hence turning towards Talma, and '* arriving at the walls of the fort, on the fide of the city Vrivanoy *' it beat it to pieces, overturn'd fome very fine palaces, killing feve- " ral perfons, and wounding others , and doing great mifchief to the " grounds. Memoirs for a general Hijlory 40 Nat.Hist. ** grounds. It then advanced to the city di rifco, belonging to the w'''''V*°!N«* " Emperor, where, among other confiderable damages, it ruin'd the " new palace of Marco Fofcollnl^ wherein was a large coach-houfe, the " door whereof was faften'd by three bolts ^ but the wind entering " in at the balcony, burft open the door, ihatter'd ic to pieces, and " threw it upon a high court-wall, carrying the ceiling of the room '' half a mile further ^ wounding fome of the fervants, and killing two *' perfbns in the ftreets. This done, it attack'd S. Vido di Crauglio^ a *' town belonging to the Emperor, which it ruin'd entirely, ^o as " not to leave a fingle houfe ^ killing and wounding great numbers. '^ Hence it proceeded to yUles, a great part of which it levell'd with ** the ground ^ deftroying men and other animals, and leaving the fields " as bare as a beaten way. Other towns have fuifer'd from it in a " like manner, tho' in a lefs degree." I learnt from a pliyfician, that tho' the eaflern winds blow near three 1^^''''%''"*^^* wherein they were, fpied, as he walked upon deck, a very little dark cloud, or blackiili rpot in the sky, a great way off-, upon which, tho" the weather was then fair, he immediately provided for a ftorm ^ and when the cloud approached, the wind, which before had filled their fails, ceafed, and the fea became calmer than before ^ but prefently after they had a furious hurricane, which feveral times turn'd their jfhip quite round ^ and lafted for above two hours. " \A/hen feveral tempefts rife together, the sky is of a fudden co- The air s«^ « yer'd over with thick, black, globular and fmoky clouds-, when ^'^'*2""7'^^' '* immediately the thunder burfts out on every fide with inceflant digj, '' flafhes of lightning, able to ftrike terror into the moft refolute^ " and thofe accuftom'd thereto." Ludolfs Hift. of v/Sthlop. The firing of a viol has by a gentleman been obferved to ir.creafe the fharpnefs of its found by almoft half a note, either a little before, or in rainy weather. The fame perlbn alfo aflured me, that having put falle firings into his pocket for frets, he has fometimes, when he came to make ufe thereof, found them true. He further obferves, that fome firings are apter to receive a tenfion from the moift air than others. An ingenious and credible perfon affured me, that in one of the fine gardens near Genoa, there is a pond on the fide of a hill, where the wall being fo high, that men could not look over it, nor be at all feen over it by the fiih in the pond j yet that he has feveral times obferved thofe fifli to be called together by the gardener, with a certain noife he made for that purpofe-, tho' neither this gentleman, nor any one elfe, could be difcover'd by the fiih that rea- dily obey'd the fummons. The different weight of the atmofphere at different times may per- Tie weight haps have a confiderable influence on the human body, with regard to «f theair,witk health and ficknefs. Thus, when the air grows of a fudden much *^^ ^■ff^^^' lighter than ufual, the fpirituous and aerial particles plentifully lodged in the blood, will naturally fwell that liquor ^ and fo difiend the greater veiTels, and alter the manner of the circulation thro' the ca- pillary veins and arteries: whence feveral changes may happen in the body. Having three fmall, round glafs bubbles, blown at the flame of a lamp about the fize of hazel nuts, each of them with a Ihort, flender flem ^ by means whereof they were fo exactly poifed in water, that a very fmall change of weight wou'd make them either emerge or fink ^ at a time, when the atmofphere was of a convenient weight, I put them into a wide mouth'd glafs of common water, and leaving them in a quiet place, where they were frequently in my eye, I ob- ferved, that fometimes they would be at the top of the water, and remain there for feveral days, or perhaps weeks together •, and fome- VoL. III. G tim€S ^2 Memoirs for a general Hifiory NAT.Hist. times fall to the bottom^ and after having continued there for fome v^/^-VV^ time, rife again. And tho' fometimes, efpecially if I removed the containing veiTel to a fouth window, they wouM rife or fail as the air was hot or cold •, yet thefe motions were eafily diftinguifhable from thofe produced by the varying gravity of the atmofphere. For when the fun-beams, or the heat of the ambient air, by rarifying the air included in the bubbles, caufed that air to drive cut fome of the water, and confequently made them fpeciftcally lighter than water, tho' the bubble necelfarily floated whilfl the included air was thus rarified ^ yet when the abl'ence of heat cooled, and confequently con- denfed the air, more water being intruded into the bubble, it muft necelfarily fmk ^ and this wou'd commonly happen at night,if not before. But when the bubbles either rofe or fell, by means of the different weight of the atmofphere, it appeared, by the barometer, that the atmofphere was fo heavy, or fo light, as to be the caule thereof. So that I could often foretei the flation of the mercury in that infirument^ from the phenomena of thefe bubbles. And tho' whilfl the atmo- fphere was not confiderably either too light or heavy, the changes of the air, as to heat or cold, wou'd aifed the bubbles, and make them often change places in the compafs of a day ;, yet if the atmofphere were either very heavy or very light, the bubbles wou'd continue at the top, or the bottom of the water, for many days together •, whilfl: the atmofphere did not change its gravity.. And once, when the mercury ilood high in the barometer, I fet the glafs for two or three days in a fouth window^ about noon, in fun-fhii)y weather -^ yet even then the bubbles did not emerge-, tho' it appear'd by a good fealed weather- glafs, kept in the fame window, that the ambient air was much warmer, than at other times, when the bubbles had refled on the top of the water. It being very difficult to poife feveral bubbles exactly, one as well as another, 'twas no furprize to me that all the three bubbles did not conflantly rife and fall together. 'Tvvere, therefore, proper to poife a great number of bubbles together, that after trial made of all, the fittefl might be chofen for this purpofe. Sometimes a bubble that floated when firft poifed, wou'd after a while fubfide, without any manifeft caufe \ or if made to fink by fuch a caufe, wou'd continue at the bottom after that caufe was removed ; which feemed to depend upon the water's imbibing, as it were, cer- tain aerial particles. The experiment, however, did fometimes anfwer expectation ^ which fhews, that as the atmofphere is heavier or lighter, 'tis able to affeft bodies under water •, fo that the air muft prefs upon the v^rater it felf, by the intervention whereof it exercifes its power •, whence confequently the atmofphere is incumbent, as a heavy body, upon the terraqueous globe. A fiatical Making choice of a large, thin, and light glafs bubble, blown at iarmster. the fit me of a lamp, I counterpoiled it with a metalline weight, in a pair of fcales that were fufpended in a frame, and wou'd turn with the of the Atr. 43 the 30^'^ part of a grain. Both the frame and balance were then Is at. Hist. placed near a good barometer, whence I might learn the preienc weight of the atmolphere ^ wlien, tho' the fcales were unable to iliew all the variations that appeared in the mercurial barometer, yet they gave notice of thole that alter'd the height of the mercury half a quarter of an inch ; and if the fcales had been more tender, and better accommodated, much fmaller alterations might, doubtlefs, have been difcern'd. By this means, however, the bubble did fome- times balance the weight, and fometimes this wou'd greatly prepon- derate ^ and that for ditferent fpaces of time, as the weight of the air continued. And thus the matter of fad was eftablifh'd by re- peated obfervations and comparifons, made with feveral of thefe new barometers together. The foundation of this invention is as follows. The glafs bubble, and its counterpoife, tho' at firft exaftly of the fame weight in air, are very different as to bulk ^ the bubble being perhaps two hundred times bigger than that. And if two bodies of equal gravity, in a certain medium, but of unequal bulk, be weigh'd in a diiferent medium, they will no longer balance each other ^ if the new medium be the heavier, the larger body, becaufe fpecifically lighter, will lofe more of its weight than the lefs and more com- pact. But if the new medium be the lighter, the larger body will overbalance the lefs. And this difference arifing from the change of the medium, will be proportionable to the inequality in the bulks of the originally equiponderant bodies. Hence it mufl prove the fame thing, as to the effe£l, whether the bodies be weigh'd in me- diums of different gravity, or in the fame medium, whofe fpecific gravity confiderably alters. Since, therefore, it appears, by the barometer, that the air is fome- times heavier, and fometimes lighter, its alterations in this refpe£fc muft unequally afteft a large, hollow bubble, and a fmall, denfe weight, once balanced in a pair of fcales ^ fo that when the air grows heavier, it muft buoy up the glafs more than the counter- poife •, and when lighter, fuffer that to preponderate. The glafs bubble here employ'd was hermetically fealed •, being equal in bulk to a large orange, and in weight one dram and ten grains. 'Tis poffible to procure one more convenient than this, if care be taken not to feal it up whilft hot \ for by that means the internal air being rarified, the glafs will be eafily broke by the force of the external. Two fmall bubbles, which are eafily procured, may, upon occafion, ferve inftead of a large one, which it may prove difficult to obtain. This inftrument is improveable in feveral refpefts. A graduated arch of a circle might be fitted to the top of the balance, for the point of the cock to play in ; and by that means readily give the angles from its perpendicular pofition. A gold weight may be fubftituted for one of brafs. The feveral parts of the balance being made of copper orbrafs, will be lefs fubjed to ruft than fteel. InfVead of fcales, the bubble may G 2 be 44- Memoirs for a general Hiftory Nat.Hist. be hung atone end of the beam, and the weight at the other. If the whole inftrument, placed in a fmall frame, be included in a glafs, open at the top, to admit a free pafTage to the air, 'twill be thereby pre- ferved from ruft and irregular agitations. A light wheel and an in- dex would enable it to fliew very minute variations. And, laftjy, a proper length of beam, and an exquifite balance, may, alone, render this inftrument far more exad than thofe I was reduced to employ, hi fome refpefts, indeed, the ftatical is inferior to the mercurial barometer ^ but in others it has peculiar advantages. As for inftance, it firft demon- ftrates to the eye, that the rife and fall of the quickfilver in the common fort, proceeds from the different weight of the atmofphere • for it cannot here be pretended, that an abhorrence of a vacuum, or a funicular power, is the caufe of the variation. And 2. that the air is a more ponderous body than fome learned men will allow. 3^. 'Twill frequently be found more eaiily procurable than the other. 4. 'Tis very portable, and little liable to accidents, in removing it from one place to another. 5. Here is no uncertainty as to its goodnefs, as in the mercurial kind ^ where the air may be more or lefs excluded. 6. Both the abfolute and refpeftive weight of the air is hereby near- ly difcoverable •, for 'tis eafie to find hydroftatically the bulk of the bubble, and the contents of its cavity, with the weight and dimenfi- ons of the glafs whereot 'tis compoted ^ if the fcales, therefore, be brought to an equilibrium, by fmall weights, when the mercury in the common barometer, is either very high, or very low, or elfe in a medium between both, obferve when the quickfilver, either rifes or falls, for inftance, an inch, and then by adding weights to the afcen- ding fcale till the beam again becomes horizontal, you'll find what ■weight anflvers that determinate rife or fall of the mercury : and if the balance be furniihed with a graduated arch, or a wheel and index, thefe obfervations may ferve, for the future, readily to ihew how much the bubble gains or lofes by a change in the weight of the atmofphere. Some obfervations of this nature I carefully made hy adding a 64*^, 32% or a i(5*^ of a grain to the lighter fcale ^ but an accident hindred me from bringing them to perfeftion. 7, This inftrument will farther ailift us in comparing the mercurial ba- rometers of feveral places, to make fome eftimate of the air's gravity there* For inftance, fuppole the bubble employ'd weiohs juft a dram, when the mercury ftands at 29 \ inches^ and that the 16*^' part of a grain is required to reduce the bubble to an equilibrium when the mercury rifes an 8^^ above its former ftation. Suppofe al- fo, that removing my inftrument to another barometer, equally freed from air with the former, when, if the bubble here retains the weight of a dram, ard the mercury ftands at 29 i inches, we may conclude, that the weight of the atmofphere is the lame at both places ^, how remote foever they may be. But in cafe there be no barometer at this latter place, yet ifj by the 16^*" part of a grain ad. of the Air, 4.^ added to the bubblCj I bring the Icale to an equilibrium, 'tis phiii], NAT.hisT. thac the air here is, at this time, lb much heavier than that of the Sw/O^'^Nrf former place, when the mercury ftood at 29 7 inches. But in fuch compariions regard muft be had to the fituation of the places, if we would eftimate the weight and dcnfity of the air. For tho' this inftru- ment will fliew a difference of: weight in the atmofphere of two places, yet if one be a vale, and the other a hill, 'tis not to be expelled that the atmofphere on the latter, iliould gravitate equally with that in the former, wjhereon a higher column of air is incumbent ^ and fo the bubble have the fame weight in both. The laft ufe I fliall mention of this ftatical barometer is, its ferving to find the difference of the air's weight at feveral heights. Thus, for inftance, having exaftly poifed the bubble at the foot of a hill or fteeple, and afterwards rai- ling the frame to the top thereof, the weight there requi£te to re- duce the beam to an horizontal pofition, gives the difference required. But how far this me:hod may aifift in eftimating the abfolute and comparative height of mountains, (^c. and what other applications may be made of the inftrument, when duly improved, I leave to farther confideration. It will be very convenient, that obfervers give notice of the fituation ohfervations of the place, where their barometers ftand, not only, becaufe it will ^»^^i^^^^'»f alTift men to judge, whether the inftruments were duly perfeded, but l^armeur '^* principally, becaufe, that though the barometer be good, the obferva- ^^''^'^ *'"' tions will much diliiiiree, even when the atmofphere is in the fame ftate, as to weight, if one of the inftruments ftand in a confidera- bly higher part of the country than the other. To confirm the foregoing admonition, I may fay, that having two lodg- ings, the one at Oxford, which ftands in a bottom by the Tljames iide, and the other at a place four miles thence, feated upon a moderate hill, I found by comparing two barometers that I made, the one at Oxford, the other at Stanton St. Johns, that, though the former be very good, and hath been no- ted for fuch, during fome years, and the latter very carefully fill'd ^ yet by reafon, that in the higher place, the incumbent part of the atmofphere muft be lighter, than in the lower, there is almofl always between two and three eighths of an inch difference betwixt them : and having fometimes ordered my fervants to take notice of the difparity, and di- vers times carefully obferved it my feif, when I pafTed to and fro be- tween Oxford and Stanton, I generally found, that the Oxford barometer and the other, did, as it were by common content, rile aud fall to- gether lb, that in the former the mercury was ufually | higher than in the latter. Thefe obfervations may teach us, that the fub- terraneous ffeams which afcend into the air, or the other caufes of the varyii-g weight ot the atmofphere, do m-^ny times, and at leaft in fome places, uniformly enough affect the air to a greater heighc thaiij till 1 had made this tryal, I durJft conclude* But Memoirs for a general Hiflory Nat. Hist. But as moft of the barometrical oblervations are fubjetl to exceptl- %^-V''^**^ ens, lo I found the forementioned to be. For (to omit lelfer va- riations) riding one evening from Oxford to Stanton^ and having before I took horfe look'd on the barometer in the former of thefe two places, I was fomewliat furprized, to fiiid at my coming to the latter, that in places no farther difiant, and notwithftanding the iliortnels of the time (which was but an hour and half, if fo much) the barometer at Stanto-a was fliort of its ufual diftance from the other near a quarter of an inch :;, though the weather being fair and calm, there appeared nothing of manifeft change in the air, to which I could afcribe fo great a variation \ and tho', alfo, fince that time the mercury in the two in- ftruments hath, for the moft part, proceeded to rife' and fall as be- fore. The quickfilver has been of late, for the moft part, fo high, as to invite me to take notice of it, and about Af^rc/s 12. i66l ?it Oxford the quickfilver was higher than, for ought I know, has been yet obfer- ved in England, viz.. above |^ above 30 inches ^ but upon the firft con- iiderable Ihowers, that have interrupted our long drought ^ as I fore- told feveral hours before, that the quickfilver would be very low, (a bluftering wind concurring with the rain) fo I found it at Stanton to fall I beneath 29 inches. It is difficult enough to fettle any general rule about the rifing and falling of the quickfilver •, yet in thefe parts one of thofe that feem to hold ofteneft is, that when high winds blow, the mercury is the lower ^ and yet that it felf does Ibmet-mes fail. "^ The might Having procured an exad, concave, cubic inch of brafs, and care- of a cubic inch £-^|j^ balanced it in a nice pair of fcales, by eleven drams one eraia $f water, and tf quickfilver. and a half, troy-weight, it was cautioufly filled with clear, pump water, till the furface thereof appeared level with the upper edges of the metal •, then weighing the water, it equalfd 254 ^^ grains^ we may therefore, without any fenfible error, fuppofe a cubic inch of water to weigh 256 grains • which agrees very well with fome other experi- ments I made to difccver the fame. The metalline cube was after- wards dried and counterpoifed afreih, and filled as exadly as poffible with diftilfd inercury •, the weight whereof, alone, we found to be fe- ven ounces, two drams, troy •, but by adding a little, without making it run over, the whole inch of mercury equalfd feven ounces, three * 'Tis found that the mercury in the barometer defcends upon violent gufts of wind ; aiid Mr. Hauksbec, to folve the phe- non'ienon, contrivM an experiment, where- in an artificial blafl: of air fo leffened the preffure of the atmofphere, upon the ftagnant mercury in the cifterns of two barometers at once, that the columns fu- ftained, were thereby made to defcend two inches; the' one of the barometers was di- ftant three feet from the flream of air. And hence 'tis very obvious, as Mr. Hauks- he obferves, " that different forces and different direftions of the wind, may produce different degrees of fubfiding in the barometer; and that ftrong " windsmay, by thus altering the prefTure " of air, greatly affeft the animal oecono- " my. " HauksbeesExperim. p. i 14. — 1 19. drams. of the Air. 47 drams, twenty two grains. The eye now placed in a level with the Kat.Hist. brims of the veffe!, difcover'd the mercury a little above them ^ ^.•'''"V^S^ however, it ftill received 1 12 grains more of mercury, without running over*, and more, perhaps, might have ftill been added. From hence it appears Icarce poiiible to determine by this means, the exad weight of a cubic inch of quickfilver. And lince by other trials I have found the weight of mercury to that of water, of the fame bulk, in a fomewhat lels proportion than of 14. to 1 ^ the weight of a cubic inch of quick- filver may well enough be fuppofed 3580 grains;, and confequently, when a column of quickfilver, thirty inches high, is fuflain'a in the barometer, as it frequently happens, a column of air that preiTes upon tityofaTm?- an inch fquare near the furface of the earth, muft weigh above fifteen fes upon a averdupoize pounds. fquare inch. As 355 to 452, lb is the area of a fquare infcribed in a circle, to that of the circle circumfcribed ; whence 355. 452:: i. 1,2732394. If, therefore, the iide of an infcribed fquare be an inch, that Iquare multiplied by anotiier inch, gives an inch in lolid meafure. Thus if a cylinder, an inch in height, be ereiled upon the circle circum- fcribed^ the folid content thereof will be 1,2732394. Hence i, and I, 2732394, being multiplied by the weight of a cubic inch of any metal, you have che weight of a cubic inch, and of a cylindrical one that circumfcribes the fame •, whence an inch table for both is eafily made, by continual addition, or for any given height, if you multiply both thereby. " The fyphon B O, was fealed at the end O, but open at B 5 the Fig. 2. " bend from G to C containing mercury, and the other parts no- " thing but air. The diftance from O to C was four inches, or ■^-. *' By heating the air, the mercury funk to F, f lower than it flood *' before, and at the fame time rofe in the other leg to H, ^ higher *^ than G or C. To find what height of mercury v/as required to " hinder the expanfion of the air, and continue the mercury at C, " we need only try how much wou'd ferve to force it back again " to C^ and thereby retain the air in the fpace OC, notwithftand- " ing the force of the heat. I fuppofe it known from experience, " that when a quantity of air poffelfes any fpace, which we call A, " and the force, B, that retains it therein, be increifed in any degree, " fuppofe it X, the fpace A will be thereby diminilh'd in a certain " quantity D, which is to the remainder M, as X to B, thus, D. M : : X. B. and confequently M. D : : B. X. This rule mav be eafily ap- plied to our prefent experiment^ for herein O F, \^ inch, is the fpace A ^ and the ufual preifure of the air, equal to thirty inches of mercury, added to the one inch between F and H, anfwers to B and " X, or thirty one inches of mercury;, and if a proper quantity be *' added to reduce the air into the ipace OC, the fame OC, will be " M,-/and FC, be D,|j whence the three quantities - ' — '- are 32. 3 •••• 31- " given 48 Memoirs for a general Hijlory Nat.Hist. " given to find a fourth proportional, iff which added to B, 3!^ \.x'*"V^«L# ** make 33 fi inches, whereby the air is forced into CO, tJiat is, near '^ 4 inches more than the ordinary preffure." " A fufficient number of exaft furveying chains, being fix'd to a ^^ well-purged barometer, conveniently framed ^ the mercury ftanding at *' 30 inches and 50 cents ^ we drew it up to the firft floor of Sarum fieeple '' '^0331 inches from the pavement, when the quickfilver was funk 9 *' cents ; then railing it to the middle floor, that is, 935 inches above the *' former, it fell 8 cents lower ^ and when arrived at the weather door " that is, 2313 inches fiill higher, it fubfided 23 cents more. The " whole height was therefore 4281 t inches, and the whole difference *' of the mercury's finking, 40 cents of an inch. Upon letting down " the barometer to the fame places, the quickfilver feverally rofe to its " former ftations." " At another time we ufed an inverted barometer in the likeman- Fi'g. 3- " ner ; when the fluid of it rofe therein as follows. Inches Inch ri033i ■) Theli- C ^ At the\i9'58 / '^^^^_ ) 2 height of <2457 > ^^,,A^A S 3 cended 4800 or the top. 4281 \ ^>-"— I :hes Cent. I 25 2 ^9 3 22 5 54 6 40 At a place on the great continent of Eur of e, but not far diftant from the ocean, a learned acquaintance of mine lately obfervM the mercury in his barometer, the weather being calm and ordinary, to rife fuddenly above two inches higher than the ufual ftandard ^ which phenomenon was, in a few hours, followed by a prodigious and de- ftruftive ftorm, that blew from off the continent. The fame gentle- man obferves, that when ftorms here blow from the fea, which lies to the fouthward, the quickfilver finks confiderably •, as hath alfo been obferved in England, by an ingenious perfon, who lives near two leagues from the fea. One whom I bred up to chymiftry, was a few days fince, furprized, to find the mercury in his barometer at Oxford, link on a fudden greatly, while the weather continued fair and warm. The day, in four or five hours after, was overcafl, and there happened a dreadful ftorm of rain, lightning, and thunder ; with fuch a ftrong whirlwind as had Icarce ever been remembred in that city. In a letter from Mr. Locle. " The deepeft gruffs or pits I could hear *' of at Aflnedeepj were about 30 fathom, but the defcent into them *' is fo exceeding difHcult, dangerous, and impracticable to a ftranger, *' that I durft not then attempt to go down with a barometer :, for they " are not funk like wells perpendicularly, but as the cranies of the " rocks happen to run. The conftant method is, to fwing down by a " rope placed under the arm, and clamber along by applying both ^" feet of the Air. 49 " feet and hands to the fides of the narrow pafTage. When damps NAt.Hi^sT. " happen herein, if the miners cannot get out, they foon faint and die : w- *' but if they be feafonabiy drawn up, a hole being dug in the *' ground, their faces are placed therein, and covered clofe up with " turfs • which is the fureft method they have hitherto found to re- " cover them. After the ufe of fire in their pic?, they find it very " dangerous to delcend, as long as any heat remains in the clefts of " the rocks. Air is convey 'd into them thro' a little paffage that *^ runs along the fides from the top ^ where they fet up fbme turfs " on the lee fide of the hole to catch and force it down. Thefe turfs '* being removed to the windy fide, or laid over the mouth of the " hole, the miners below prefently want breath, are indilpoied, and '' faint: and if fweet flowers chance to be there, they immediately " lofe their fragrancy, and ftink like carrion. Being unable at this *' time, to make any experiment with the barometer in thefe gruffs, ^' I carried it to the top of a high hill adjoining ^ when the mercury, *' which below ftood at 29 y inches, was now funk to i^\ inches, hi '* afcending and defcending, 1 found the quickfilver to fall and rife ^' proportionably to the height where I ftood. But at my return to " the foot of the hill, it wanted 3-, inch of the ftation it there had '* before \ which I impute to the rarifadion ot the air remaining in *' tne upper part of the tube." The king was lately pleafed to tell me, that taking water from Whitehall^ to fail towards the river's mouth, in exceeding fine weather • upon which being congratulated by the courtiers, his majefty bid them prepare for a ftorm •, which, in a few hours, happen'd accordingly-, and drove vehemently upon the yatch for feveral leagues together. The king, before he went on board, had privately obferved the mercury in a good barometer, to fink very remarkably. *' Since the water in pumps, and the external air, mutually balance " each o'her, they muft have the fame weight •, whence it the height " whereto water riles in any part of the world be known, by what '* weight of the incumbent air that part is preifed, will be known " alfoii and therefore, the places by the fea fide are preifed by the '* weight of the whole incumbent atmolphere, as much as they wouM " by a column of water 31 feet 2 in:he-> hi^^h:, thole th\t rife ten " fathom above the former, as much as if they fuftain'd one of 31 feet, T i ich ', and thofe that lie 500 fathom higher than the lea, are preifed as by a column of water of 7.6 feet, 11 inche-^, &c. Hence it appears, that the air which ftands above the level of the fea, is equal in weight to water 31 feet, 2 inches high : but becaufe air is " lighter upon places above that level, and therefore preifes not all " the points of the earth equally- and being alfo of d liferent weights *' in d'iferent places, there is no certain rule to determine the exi£l ** quantity of air, whereby, one with another, all the parrs of the world " are preffed. This, however, may be tolerably done in a conjeftural Vol. ni. H " way -, 50 Memoirs for a general Hijlorj ISIat.Hist, " way •, for example, by luppofmg, that if all the parts of the earth " ~ '^ were equally prelfed with air, 'twou'd be the fame as if they liip- '^ ported water to the height of 3 1 feet •, and 'tis certain we cannot *' err half a foot in this fuppofition. But we have feen, that the air, at the height of 500 fathoms above the furface of the fea, is equal in weight, to water 26 feet, 1 1 inches high • and confequently, the air, from the furface of the lea to that height, weighs as much as water of 4 feet and an inch high -, that is, near a leventh of the whole height ^ whence 'tis plain, that the air between the fea and the fame height, is nearly a feventh part of the whole atmofphere. ** 'Tis known alfo, that the vapours collefted in the air, weigh, ^' when moft numerous, no more than water of a foot and eight inches '^ high ^ lince that addidonal height of water will balance them iu *' pumps: ^0 that were all the vapours that hang over a whole *^ country to delcend in rain, they would only make that quantity of " water •, for if more happens to fall, it's owing to the vvinds driving *' the vapours thither from other parts. Hence, likewife, it appears, '' that if the whole atmofphere was preffed agaiaft the furface of the '^ earth, by a force applied to its upper furface, and thereby reduced '^ to the denfity of water, 'twouM then be no more than 31 feet in " height. The atmofphere, therefore, in its free ftate, may be con- *' fider'd as if it had once been water, covering the earth, to the *' height of 31 feet^ but afterwards exceedingly rarified, expanded, *' and converted into what we call air •, tho', in fa£l, it poifelfes a *' larger fpace, but has not a greater weight than water of the height *' of 31 feet. Now, 'tis exceeding eafy to compute, what quantity of *' water wou'd every way furround the earth to that height ^ which *' gives the whole weight of the air. For, fince a cubic foot of water ** weighs 72 pounds, a prifm thereof, (to ufe that for the factor of a " fphere) whofe bale is a foot fquare, and height 31 feet, will weigh ** 2232 pounds \ and fince the furface ot the earth contains " 3711.420000.000000 Iquare feet, the produft of thefe two fums, " which is 8.283889.440000.000C00 pounds, gives the quantity of wa- " ter, and confequently the quantity of air required." " To render the weight of the air fenfible, I caufed a very light, ^/^' 4* ** g^^^^ bubble, AB, to be blown retort-falhion, about the bignefs of '* a common ball, with the aperture B, capable only of admitting an '* hair;, and finding, by a very tender balance, its weight to be 78 i " grains when cold ^ I heated it, and placed it again in the fcale upon " its end B, when it fcarce weigh'd 78 grains-, then plunging its ** orifice into water, whilft the glafs cool'd, and the contain'd air ^* condenfed ^ as much water enter'd into it, as air had been forced out ** by the heat. Coming now to weigh the bubble again, I found it had "' gaind 72 1 grains^ whence I fuppoled the air expell'd by the heat, " was to the water that came in its place, as \ to 72i, or as i to '^^ 145 j and tho'this cannot hence be determin'd with exaftnefs, yet^ "at of the Ain 5 ^ « at leaft, the experiment fhews the weight of the air to be fenfible.*' KAT.Hisr.' M. Fafcbal. . **C /TV* A thin large bladder, wherein remained only a third of the air, ^,jv^;„"^,r* 'twas capable of containing, being firmly tied at the neck, fufpended ^'^7^,>. thereat, and fixed, by its lower end, to a fourteen pound weight that Experimtat i, refted on the hoor, but fo, that the firings employed being weliftretch- ed before hand, would, if contraded even lefs than the quarter of an inch, dravv up the fame •, we placed fire at fome diftance therefrom, by means whereof the air expanded, fwell'd the bladder, fhortened the whole firing, raifed the weight, and made it fwing like a pendulum. We attempted twice or thrice to repeat the experiment with a quar- ter of a hundred weight, and a large bladder, but did not fucceed ^ the bladder either loon leaking or burfting ^ the' we proceeded fo far, in one of thefe trials, as to gain hopes of thus fuftaining a large weight. In order to find whether the particles of the air would fink into a Experiment i, liquor expolbd to its natural prelfure, we ftrewed copper filings over the bottom of a cylindrical vial, and poured thereon an urinous fpi- rit to a confiderable height ^ covering the furface of the liquor with oil of almonds, to the thicknefs of the fifth of an inch •, when the vial was clofe flopped up, and left in a quiet place for feveral days: during which the urinous fpiritfirft (lowly acquired, and then as flow ly lofl: a blue tinfture. When this colour was almofl gone, we unflop- ped the vial, and kept it fo for a minute, and then clofed it again ; when the upper part of the fpirit began to be tinged blue, and with- in an hour alter, tho* the veflel during that time was flopped, a sky colour reach'd to the lower part of the fluid, and which, at prefent, is wholly blue ^ the oil at the top remaining clear. The befl informations, I could any ways gain, have inclined me to The heat and think, that the common fchool-do^lrine about the limits and temper coldmfs of the of three regions in the air, however plaufible, wants a jufl: foundati- '»^'''* on. A phyfician, who lately came from Morocco^ told me, that, not- withftanding the exceifive heat in the day-time, the nights and the air upon the mountains, were there exceeding cold. Another gentleman, who made fome flay at Guinea, alTured me, tho' the heat of the cli- mate be prodigious, he frequently, about four a clock in the morn- ing, was ready to fh4/pj." Zabarell. de region, aeris. A phyfician told me, he faw mount Atlas from Morocco^ cover'd with fnow in the heat of fummer. And the like hath been feverally affirm'd to me, by travellers, of the Alp, where the wind has been found ex- ceeding liiarp •, of the pike of Tcneriff, of mountains in Barharyiy in the 'y!n Expert' ^^'"^^^'^ Ceylon, and of Congo •, tho' Ihow be a ftranger to the valleys hereto vtent. adjoining. About midfummer 1688, I placed a thermometer in a cave, where the fpirit flood half a fmall divifion above temperate •, whilft another in a common room was rifen to hot: in the chiiftmas following, the fame glalfes being fet in their refpedive places, that in the cave flood as before, but that in the room, at froft. The cave was cut flrait into the bottom of a clift, fronting the fea, to the depth of 130 feet, with 80 feet of earth above it. I am inform'd by two gentlemen of the province of new Hamfjliire in New-England, that botli the coldeft wind of that country in the win- ter, and the hotteft in the fummer, is the north-weft •, which they afcribed to the large trad of continent, and the large woods that lie to that point of the compafs *, for thefe woods, ihey laid, are laden with fnow in the winter ^ and in fummer, the clofe air of the vallies, and the thick exhalations wherewith it is loaded, conceive an intenfe heat, and often breathe in a fudden guft like the fuffocating fteam of a furnace. « On of the Air. 55 *' On one fide of the mountains of Bavaria 'tis winter, and on the Kat.Hist. " other fummer, at the lame time ^ fo that while this fide is parch'd " with heat, that lies buried in fnow." ^^/^/?7. Hlfi. Bohem. A gentleman, vvho had frequently deicended into the gold mines at Cremmitz. m Hungary, told me, that in his alcent out of one, which was an hundred feet deep, he obferved the air about the middle to grow fenfibly warm, and fo to continue while he was drawn many feet higher •, when at length it became cold again. This heat he fufpefted might proceed from lome mineral region thro' which he palfed ■, for he there found himlelf furrounded by a vein of native vitriol of diiferent colours, and loft in the pit, tho' it foon harden'd in the open air. An experienced perfon, who had fometimes crofTed the line, acquaint- ed me, that the method of cooling liquors on board their fhip, lo as to make them potable in fultry climates, was to wrap up the bottle where- in it was contain'd, in a coarfe linen cloth dipp'd in fea-water, and thus expofe it, in a proper place, to the wind ^ which wou'd foon reduce it to the ftate defired : but if the bottle, faid he, be taken away too foon, as it lometimes happen'd with us, we found, fo much of the liquor as lay near the fides thereof grown cool, while the more central parts continued hot. TheCsL^r's chief phyfician inform'd me, that in the year 1654, many large tra£ls of dry land were fet on fire, and miferably wafted, by the heat of the fun. The like, in particular, he faid, happened the lafl year at Bearhaven in Norway, vvhere feveral wood-houfes were alio con- fumed. This vvas confirm'd to him by the governor of the place % and he himfelf faw the country cover'd with new grafs, in the room of what was thus deftroy'd. A learned traveller declared to me, that the inhabitants of Moz^amhicjue^ judged the hottefl: part of the known world, had fhewn him ie^^eral houles which were there fired by the fole force of the fun. Their houfe?, indeed, are built with ftone, wherein is mij^ed fomething like to Sulphur vivum^ but I my felf, fays he, have often ^Qen the hollows of ftoi.es i'o heated by the fun, that musket bullets expoled to its direct rays therein, were by that means alone foon melted. He added, that great part of the heat of AfozAmhicjue^ is owing to the foil, which is exceeding bare, and confifls of white fand, neither iliaded wi:h trees, nor coverM with grafs. Another tra- veller, who had been here, affured me, the heat of the ground was fo violent, that he was obliged to keep in conflant motion, to avoid buriiing the foles of his feet. " Bridges of Inow have been obferved upon the Tyrcneans, to reach " from one rock to another, and to give paiTage to the torrents under- '* neaththem. My friend faw oiie, which thus ferves for two flrejims; *' it was 29 furlongs in length, and as much in breadth at the top. " Thefe bridges feem flrong enough to allow a pallage tor canon. « The 56 Memoirs for a general Hijlory IsIat-Ht^st. " The cold was fo exceifive in the year 753, that it froze the Bvxine " fea an hundred miles in length, as well as the neighbouring ocean, '* to the depth of 30 cubits ^ this happen'd too at "the beginning of *' autumn." Journal de Savans. In Guinea^ as I am inrorm'd by one who lived there, they keep their water cool, by burying it over-night in long earthen jars, a little below the lurface of the earth. By this means it becomes potable, with fome tolerable coolnefs, from early in the morning, till about ten a clock, when it grows naufeoully hot. But in the fields, they do this as well by letting their water hang all night in calibafhes upon the trees ; efpecially where the wind comes at them. " We made three degrees of cold, viz. within doors, in the woods, *' and in the open air upon the ice. The latter was fometimes into- *' lerable^ no cloaths were proof againft it i^ no motion could refift it: *' twou'd freeze the hair on our eye-lids, and thereby deprive us of *' fight ^ and wou'd, I am perfuaded, have ftilied a man in a very few '"^ hours time. Our faces, or o her naked part, wou!d be daily frozen **^ in the woods; tho' here the cold was lefs morcirying than on the '' ice. Two thirds of our houfe were cover'd, on the outfide, with " fnow, and the infide hung with ificles. Our bed-cloaths would be '' cover'd with an hoar-froft, tho' they ftood near the fire. The cook's *' tubs, which were within a yard of tne fire, and all day long fup- *' plied with melted fnow, wou'd, while he llept but a fingle watch, '^ be ftrongly frozen to the very bottoms ; he was therefore obliged '' to water his meat in a brals kettle, placed clofe by the fire, where *' I have often found the fide of the veifel oppofice thereto very *^' warm, whilft the other was frozen an inch deep. The furgeon's *' fyrups, c^c. notwithftanding his utmoft care to preferve them, were " all frozen; and our vinegar, oil, and fack, that ftood in the houfe, " iliared the fame fate. Both the fea and ground continued froze till ** June^ Captain James. A gentleman, who afcended the higheft of the Vyremans, call'd P/c de Adidl, about the beginning of September y when the north fide thereof was cover'd with fnow, told me, that both he and his companions found the air very temperate on that part of the top where the fun did not come ; but where that had free accefs, 'twas exceeding hot, and became olfenfive thro' a tent of oifd-cloth, which they pitch'd there. Sometimes, alio, they felt a cool wind on the top, bur a much colder at the bottom. This hill may be feen from Montmbati, that is, 27 leagues. A phyfician allured me, that ^t Morocco he found fome rofin of jalap, which he carried thither i'vom England, melted by the he;it of the air ^ and that it continued impulverable whilft he remain'd in that country •, but that upon returning to T^wg-?>r, it became pulverable again. From the Relatione della Trovincia dl Malavar. " Summer and Winter ^' feem to meet in cape Comorim. Towards night, at any diftance from the of the Air. 57 ** the cape either way, the weather and feafons are found very diffe- Nat.Hi^t, ** rent, and even contrary : (b that a perfon failing on this fide from \»/'~V'*"'""^-^ ** Odober to Afrilj has fummer j and cannot in all that time double the " cape, by reafon he there meets the winter. This the good father '* who olBciates in the churches of the cape finds bv experience ^ and *^ yet the diftance between 'em is not above 2 or 3 miles." An eminent virtuofo, who, atT/Vo/, defcended into a mine 1800 feet deep, declared to me, that he did not find he pafTed thro' one hot region all the way ^ that at the bottom he breathed very freely, by means of the air-fliafts •, and that the air there was very temperate as to heat and cold, tho' it was now the fummer feafon. Another perfon well verfed in mines, acquainted me, that the deepeft he had been in, was a tin one of about 400 feet ^ which in the fummer feafon he found very cold at the bottom, and the greateft part of the way down, with- out palling thro' any hot region ; that the cold became perceptible within two fathom of the pit's mouth as he defcended ; and that both in this and many other mines, he had found a fenfible coldnefs, before he was got a yard below that folid earth, whereto the roots of vege- tables feldom reach. From a particular relation of feveral merchants, who together af- cended the pike of Teneriff, we learn, that in their lecond days journey, when they were afcended about a mile, they found it exce/Iive hot ; till they arrived at the foot of the pike, where it was wonderfully cold, tho' in the month of Augufl ^ efpecially after fun-fet, when it began to blow violently. In their pallage from hence to the top they found no confiderable alteration in the air, and very little wind-, but being arrived there, the wind was very impetuous. Mr. Sydenham told me, that afcending the pike of Teneriff on the fouth fide, he found no fhow, tho' on the north fide there was much ^ that on the upper part he felt no wind *, and that it was violently cold at the top. To what depth will the ground and water freeze in hard winters ? ^en'effor Is the ice of Mufcovy confiderably harder than that of England ? Ruilld. Will water fpirted into the air, freeze before it falls to the ground? Will brandy, lack, c^c. fi'eeze in Ruffia ? Or are theinftrumentsmade of iron and fteel, much more brittle there than here? How ftands it as to the cracking of the timber in wooden houfes ? And what are the caufes thereof ? How may flefh, fiili, herbs, egg^, &c. be preferved in hard weather ? How are thofe to be cured, who have any part of their bodv^ frozen ? What are the fymptoms of being froze to death ? A learned traveller affured me, that from an elevated place on the Tie air con- co2iik of Genoa^ he had frequently, both morning and evening, diiceviid Jiderd with re- the liiniidCorfca'^ but cou'd never gain fight thereof when the fun was gard to light. near the meridian, let the air be ever fo clear. Vol. III. I Kng 5 8 Memoirs for a general Hijhry Nat. Hist. K'm^ Charles 11. did me the honour to acquaint me, that he once, from the beach near Dover, difcover'd a new and uneven coaft, in the edge of the horizon, on the other fide the fea ^ whereat his majefty, as well as the duke of Tork^ and the courtiers prefent, were fur- prizM ^ but having gazed a while thereon, it gradually dilappear'd, as if it had funk into the ocean, whence it leem'd to have fprung. This phe- nomenon 1 accounted for to his majefty, from fubterraneous fteams in the air, interpofing between the coaft of France and Dover, and caufing an extraordinary refra£tion in the air ^ by means whereof the French coaft was elevated to the eye, and fo continued while that refraction lafted ^ but when the vapours were either raifed too high, diffipated by the fun, or difperfed by the winds^ the refraclion ceafed, and the objeft became invifible. This hypothefis I illuftrated by the familiar experiment of a guinea and a bafbn of water ^ for that, or any other proper objeft, placed in the bottom of an empty bafon, and render'd invifible by the interpofition of the edge of the velTel, between that and the eye ^ if water be poured into the velfel, the guinea will then be raifed to iight, tho' the eye remain unmovM. The duke oi^ Tork was alfo pleafed to fay, that being near the borders of Scotland one morning, in dull wea- ther, and feeing the sky very red, he foretold a rainy day ; but fome ot the Scotch nobility hence oblerved to his highnefs, that fuch a phe- nomenon in that country promifed a fair one ^ and the event confirm'd ft. And this obfervation, as I am inform'd by a nobleman of Scotland^ commonly holds true, under due limitation \ for that tho' when the rednefs appears near the ground, with narrow ftreaks of that colour in an intenfe degree, it fignifies bad weather ^ yet if the morning blufh be elevated in the sky, and the wind fit eafterly, the day proves, generally, fair. '* I made fome obfervations upon the rifing and fetting of the fun, *' by means of very exa£t running glafles^ for our clock and watch '* were both fo frozen, tho' conftantly kept wrapt up in cloaths, and *' placed in a cheft, by the iire-fide, that they wou'd not move. I " compared my obfervations made by thefe ulafTes, with the ftars ** coming to the meridian ; and thus found the fun rofe 20 minutes *' too foon, and fet as much too late \ which proceeded from tlie re- *' fraftion of the air. ** One evening in March, the moon role, in a very long oval, along '' the horizon. The weather continued extreme to the \'^th of j^frit, " when our fp.ring was frozen harder than it had been before in that *' year. When the fun fhone with the greateft purity of air imagin- *' able, we cou'd not gain fight of a fmall ifland four leagues diftant *' from u? ^ but when the weather proved mifty, 'twas frequently " vifible, even from the lowefl ground. I took its height inflrumen- " tally from the fea- fide, and found it 34 minutes, when the fun was " elevated 28 degrees. This fliews how great a refraiUon here is ; '^ by means whereof 1 have found the land raifed to the %ht, tho' « the of the Air. 59 *' the fun had rifeii perfeftly round. January 6. I obferved the lati- Na^.Hist. " tude exadly, when the weather was very clear, and found it 51% 52. " This difference proceeded from a great refraftion. Jan. 21. The fun *' role in an oval figure along the horizon. Others faw it befides my " felf, and we all agreed 'twas twice as long as broad ^ but as it gra- ** dually mounted higher, we found it recover its roundnefs. Capt. James. *' In Poland, necLrWarfaw, at the beginning of June 16'jo, we had very " clear, but extremely cold weather ; and for two days together obferved " the fun and two Parhelia, from about ten to twelve a clock •, the air " being perfeftly ferene, and icy fpangles vifible therein, like atoms in a '* fun beam. And as in common frofty weather, any fmooth metalline " inflruments, brought from the open air into a warm room, will *' exhibit firft a dulnefs, and then drops of water ; fo at this time *' there would immediately appear thereon fomething refembling an '' hoar-froft. Returning from Warfaw in the fame month, I faw in a '' clear horizon, the fun rife with a large pillar over it, coloured like " the rain-bow ^ and I remember M. Hevelim told me, he once obferved " it to fet in the fame manner."^ A chymift, who palled the Mfs with a gentleman of my acquaint- ance, informed me, that being there at the top of a forked mountain, they obferved the valley between it almoft cover'd with a thick thunder cloud, whilfl the weather on both the tops continued fair ; and in that cloud the lightning, which feem'd to lie deep, and fhone quite thro' it, like a fhining fifh moving fwiftly backwards and forwards in muddy water. I my felf, indeed, remember, that pafling the ^/p/, at a lower part than that juft mention'd, tho' the weather was fair, and the sky at the top of our mountain clear, yet we faw dark clouds far below us, thro"* part whereof we afterwards defcended \ when they feem'd to differ little from a thick fog ^ and after we had palfed them, we found the weather fair at the bottom. A curious nobleman, who had long reflded at Naples, affured me, that after many fruitlefs attempts to fee the famous apparitions in the Sicilian ftreight, he at length, early in the morning, thought he perceived two fteeples in a neighbouring town, where he knew there was but one. And taking the opportunity of the next fair morning to renew his profpe£l •, he was furprized to find a new town beyond tjiat, where he before had ieen two fteeples, immenfly greater than the known one; and furnifli'd with walls, towers, churches, &c. This was alfo beheld, with furprize, by a phyfician who was with him. The colours, however, were, he laid, nothing near fo lively as the figures ; being chiefly dim, and intermix'd with red. Nor did the fpeO:acle * lAv.Lowthorp firft contrived an appa- I AndMrff^»b^feafterwards,by thedireft'on ratus fenfibly to demonftratetherefraaion ' of Dr. HaJ^fj', made an inftrumenc to de- of the air ; which till then had only been I termine this matter with more certainty, perceiv'd by the nice divifions of aftrono- St&Hauksb. Experim. p. 225 — 230. mical inflruments. See Philof.Tranf.\°.2ST. I 2 con- ^o Memoirs for a general Hijlory Nat. Hist, continue long ^ for when the fun's rays became more direct and flrong, they foon confounded this airy phantom, or mock-city. " Moift vapours are not the only caufe or fign of the air's opacity • " for that dry blighting eaft-wind, call'd by the husbandmen a red " wind, renders it at a diflance thick and bluilli. This is the wind " which for the two laft years has proved fo pernicious to all forts of '* trees, as not only to blaft the fruit, but the very leaves thereof in " the tender." That the air is fometimes clear and tranfparent, and at others darken'd and clogg'd by terreftrial fleams, need not be iaid ^ but there are other phenomena of that fluid, depending upon its denfjty, tranfparency, c^c. which pafs unobferved by the vulgar, and require skill in the dodrine of "refra^lion to underftand ^ on which, therefore, 1 fliall not now infift. There are alio others no lefs worthy of our notice. By comparing the different accounts of eminent authors, as to the number of the fixt ftars, with fome obfervations of my own • I was induced to fufpect the feveral conftitutions of the air might occalion fome variations herein. And, upon enquiry, I learnt, that celeftial obfervations are moft fuccefsfully made, where the air is pureft ^ but particularly, I fufpe£ted, that intenfe cold, by precipitating the vapours of the air, wouM render it fit for this pur- pofe. To confirm this conje£ture, an ingenious phyiician told me, that travelling one night in Rufjla, whilft the weather was exceilive cold, both he and his fellow-travellers ftopp'd, to contemplate the unufual brightnefs, and immenfe number of the ftars, beyond what they had ever till then beheld. " Charlton iptndj Jafmary so ^nd ^i. In the beginning of the night, *' there appear'd more ftars by two thirds than ever I faw before. ''^ The cloud in cancer was full of fmall ftars ; and a great many ap- " pear'd among the Pleiades. About ten a clock the moon rofe, when " a quarter of them became invifible. The wind, for the greateft ** part of this month, has ftood northerly, and blown very cold." Ce(ptcim James. The Ruffian emperor's phyfician alTured me, that one night, when 'twas prodigioufly cold and clear, he obferved more ftars than ever he had feen in England^ or the neighbouring parts of Europe particu- larly feveral about the Pleiades, and abundance of new ones in other parts of the sky ^ and that they appsar'd by fir more bright and beautiful than ufual. Thofe who travell'd with him, he faid, aifo- made the fame obfervition. " On the 29^^ of November, paft 11 at night, 1 faw a light in the *' north-eaft, along the horizon, like the day break ^ when looking due ** north, I beheld feveral ftreaks of light, refembling the tail of a ^' blazing ftar, that all pointed north and fouth ^ one whereof was " longer than what we faw the laft year, for it reach'd from the " horizon to the zenith \ palling between Charles'^s wain, and the north ^^ ftar. The fmall ones fometimes difappear'd, and others of the " fame of the Air, 61 *' fame magnitude appeared In their places, but ail near the great one ; Nat. Hist. " two of them feemed to come from the two guards in Charles's n.»<'*V*Sb* ** wain, and when thefe vaniilied, others arofe more to the Ibuth. " This light extended from W. N. W. to E. M. E. About the *' time of the laft new moon fuch another phenomenon was feen by " the lord Belearusj as he came, by night, trom St. Andrews ^ by the " failors of theyatch at Leith,^nd by fome perlons in this town. And " tho' the sky was not then clear, yet it gave a light fufficient to " read by. It began, they told me, about leven, and continued till " nine. Thefe phenomena are liirprizing to us who are Grangers here, " but the natives fiy, they frequently h;ip pen." "^ This account came from his royal highnefs the duke of lorkj then high commiiTioner in Scotland. The generality of men are fo accuftomed to judge of things by their The efeBs of fenfes, that becaufe the air isinvifible, they afcribe, but little to if, and thea/r onfe- thmli it hut one remove from nothing. And this fluid is even by the 'veralbodies. fchool-men, confider'd only as a receptacle of vifible bodies, without ex- erting any aftion upon them, unlefs by its mamfefl qualities, heat and moifture ^ tho' for my part, 1 allow it other faculties, and among them, fuch as are generative, maturative, and corruptive ^ and that too in refped not only of animals and bodies of a light texture, but even of falts and minerals. An intelligent perfon, who had often fail- ed from Europe to the Eafi-'mdiesy told me, they included their thick Chejhire cheeles in proper leaden boxes, and by that means preferv'd them found, during the whole voyage^ but that when fuch a method was not made ufe of, upon cutting one near the equinodiai, the greatefl part of it would be very dry, brittle, and feem fpoiled, while the central parts remained fat and loft •, as if the moifture of the whole clieefe had retir'd thither : for if the fame thing were done when they were come from the torrid into the temperate zone, the exter- nal portion would be good, and the cheefe return to an uniform con- fiftence. '* Query. Are not the moifl particles, which float in the air, the " caufe of all corruption in bodies; fince according to Acofta^ every ** thing in Pern, (and the fame is obferved of Egypt) where it feldom " rains, cont'nues long uncorrupted ? or is this refifiance of putre^aftion " rather owing to tlie nitrous fait wherewith the air of thole countries *' abounds ? " ^ A man of learning, who had often crofled the line, in Portuguez.e Ihip;^, told me, that upon their near approach thereto •, he obferved a great * The like phenomena have of late been frequently obferved in feveral other parts oi Europe 'j and particular accounts are gi- ven of them in the PhilofophicalTranfaEllons and the French Memoirs. Mr. Whlfisn alfo publiflied a fmall treatife upon that re- markable Aurora Borealis, which appeared March 6. 1 71 5 -6. But the phyllcal caufe of thefe lights has hitherto been only gueffed at. See Phihf. Tranfa^. N"' 310, 347, 37<5, &c- change 62 Memoirs for a general Hijiory Nat. Hist, change in the confiftenre of then* bisket, and th;it moft of their prov'fion s.y-V"^ and even their falt-filh, wi\s lb damaged thereby, as to be fcarce edible. He added, that their pilot, who had been above twenty leveral times in the Indies, alTured him, their freih water was never thick or fetid under the equinodial 5, but always as if newly put into the cask. Dr. Stubhs allured me, that the filks brought to Jamaica, will if there expofed to the air, roc even whilft they preferve their colour • but if kept therefrom, hold both their ftrength and die. ^71 expert. Upon opening a imall glafs receiver, wherein half a lemmon and a f„int. mercurial gage had been included for above three years, we found the fruit had preferved both its form and colour ; the upper part of the pulp was, indeed, deprefled, and feemed to be dried, but the juice there wanting, appeared upon the glafs-plate, whereto the receiver was ground and fitted ;, which being feparated, a large quantity of external air rufii'd impetuoufly into the receiver. Neither the lem- mon, nor its loft juice, had acquired any ill fcent, or the leafl: figns of putrefadion or mouldinefs ;, whence I conjedure, as mould appears thro' a microfcope, to be a vegetable, it requires the a/Iiftance of the air to its produftion. The juice was clear and without ^ece^, in colour between brown and reddiili ; its tafte was acid, and it turned the fyrup of violets purplifh, and immediately corroded fmall pieces of coral with- out the ailifl;ance of heat. A fcholar told me, that as he feveral times failed near the line, he found fome lozenges^ which he ufually carried in his pocket, quite diiTolved ; tho' they never loft their confiftence in any other part, nor continued fluid when he was got a few degrees beyond the equator. A ^e\iX.\em.?in of Sweden, who dealt in the metals of that country, in- form'd me, 'twas the practice, in the principal copper mines they had, to make ufe not of iron chains, as in other mines, to draw up their oar with, but to faften their baskets to ropes, prepared of ox- hides; becaufe the links of iron, they found, were very fubjeft to break, when loaded in hard winter weather. The mafter of a glals-houfe informed me, that well neal'd glafs-metal would, lom.etimes, break of it felf, with violence, long after 'twas made ; and that, in particular, having, once fet hj a large parcel of glaftes, for half a year, he found, at the end of that time, a fourth part of them fpontaneouily broken ^ the cracks generally proceeding from fome of the fait not fufficiently comminuted, which appeared like fmall ftones therein. And a learned gentleman, the owner of an iron mine, informed me, that at his houfe in Suffolk, which ftands within fix miles of the fea, and has been built but 80 years, the iron bars of the windows, looking fouthward to the falt- water, are fo fwelled, rotten, and brittle, as to be eafily pulverable. He farther faid, that leveral iron bars of his, lying near the fea-iliore, were accidentally drench'd, for feme hours, in the lalt-water ; whence they of the Air. 63 ley ea/ily yielded thick flakes of ruft when they came to be ham- Nat.Kist. lered. w^s/"'"*— » An experiencM mafon told me, that Salisbury cathedral is built of urbeck ftone, which gradually becomes foiter, and moulders away in ^e air ^ that the fame is obferved of fome Blechington ftone, tho' kept "om the wet ^ but that what comes from. Painl\vick^ within four miles f Glocejler^ tho' foft and friable at the firft, will, by lyinii, in the ir, acquire an hard, yellowifh, glalfy cruft, like marble *, which grows de fafter for being often wafhM, but reaches very little below the xternal furface. I am informed, that candles will, fometimes, continue burning in ^h covfider. rooves, unfurniihed with air-fhafts, at the depth of ten fathom \ but edrvhh regard bat when they come into dole ground, the duft, raifed by the work- '<'/^'«^« len, (efpecially if the ftone be full of mundic) will extinguilh them, nlefs frefh air be convey'd into the pit. To burn candles, fpirit of wine, match, touch- wood, fpunk, &c. Experimevts nder a glafs bell :, and to keep animals therein, whilft the flame conti- *" ^^ made. ues. To burn bodies to alhes, in fealed glafTes. To do the fame in clofe eceiverj. To burn cotton in a fealed glals. To mxake a mixture of .ames, under water, in an exhaufted receiver. To burn fpirit of wine, nd oil or tupentine, in glafs vefTels with flender necks. To make xperiments by burning of gun-powder •, and by trying to fire a piftol 1 an exhaufted receiver. To burn faline fubftances in an exhaufted sceiver. To burn mixtures made with falt-peter in exhaufted re- eivers. ^ Having put a fmall handful of raifins into a bolt- head, half fill'd -^k expert. nth. water, we exhaufted the air therefrom, and placed the contain- '"/"^i''i^T . ng rece-ver in a digefting furnace, to forward the fermentation ^ the ;V/m«m»-*'' ^afon being then cold. After a while the raifms emerged ajid float- thn. d, for fome days, on the top of the water, when moft of them ap- leared furrounded with numerous bubbles, and but very few of them jbfided ^ tho' the number of bubbles afterwards decreafed dai- y, and a fediment appeared at the bottom of the glafs. In a Drtnight after this experiment was began, the upper part of the lafs bei.ig accidentally broke, while I ftood by it, the external air LifliM violently thereinto :;, and 1 perceived the furface of the liquor verfpread with bubbles, refembling the froth of bottled beer. There Ifo leemed to iifue from the broken apex, a vifible fume of a lan- uid fcent. The liquor was highly tinged with tlie raifms, and feem- i to have gained a thicker confiftence than that of water. It appears from fome experiments | ment, Icfes nothing of its fpring or fpe- ade by Mr. Hauksbec, that the air palfed 1 cific gravity ; but if pailed thro' a red ro' red hot metals or charcoal, and re- 1 hot glafs-tube, or metals, with no great- ired by animsis, is fudden death ; and I er heat than that of boiling water, it at ir inllantly extinguiihes the flame of feems to have no fuch pernicious effect, candle; tho' the air, by this manage- I H^«;^/Ws Experim. p. 282 — 288. Up- ^4 Memoirs for a general Htjlory Nat. Hist. "Upon opening an exhaufted receiver, wherein a large quantity of ^^.y-'V'-N^ \rex]mce with green, four grapes, had lain included for three years, onhTah!'Z ^^^^^ appeared no mouldinefs any where •, only the furfaces of the t hi' odours and "Ppt^f^oft skins were a little difcoloured with fomething, which by tajies of bodies, its tafte, and appearance, thro' a microfcope, 1 fufpefted to be a Exaerimeni i. kind of tartar. The liquor they had afforded was acid upon the tongue, and would difTolve coral without he.it -^ but the skins had a mufty fcent. The mercurial gage fhut up along with the verjuice, fhew'd Icarce any air to have been produced therein, during all this time. The loi'd Say!drvich, and two gentlemen of his retinue, afTured me, that the common report as to their having no necelfary houles at Madrid was true -^ and that tho' they always make a Jakes of their ftreets over night, 'tis not eafily difcoverable by the fcent the next morning. Ma- drid, however, his lordfhip faid, had a more offenfive fcent than any ci- ty he knew ^ but they all three agreed, that the place wherein the ambalfidor's family conftantly made water, had no fcent of urine, and that they frequently obferved both the dogs and cats, which lay dead in the flreets, afforded no offenfive fmell. Experiment 2. Upon opening another exhaufled receiver, wherein, for above three years, fome large pieces of oranges had been included, we found their rind changed almoft black, fcarce any liquor afforded, no putrid fcent, nor the leafi mouldinefs upon any of them. I learnt from Mr. Nlckfony that they preferved beef without falting it, during all the time the froft lafled, that is, the whole winter ; but that when once thoroughly frozen, 'twou'd never, tho' well drefs'd, have its natural reliih. Upon their A learned man acquainted me, that he found the air of Brajll had a colours and great influence upon the colours of cloaths, and even upon black • lb that the fable taffaty, which is there worn by the higher rank, will, in a few days, become of an iron colour \ tho' when kept clofe in the fhops, itpreferves its proper hue. He alfo informed m.e, that at a place 50 leagues hey ondiVarlgn a, white people foon grow tawny- and as foon recover their native colour, by removing out of that quarter. The fame gentleman further faid, that upon Charlton JJland, there are birds refembling our wild pigeons, but called by the Englijh partridges :;, which appear white in winter, and grey in fummer. The phvfician to the governor of Jamaica told me, that Lignum vita, and mofl other trees in that country, when frefh cut down, wou'd loon grow green on the new made furface, if that were expoled to the air, while the parts immediately below it remain yellow ; and thRtGuala- cum is foft whilfl growing, but when fell'd acquires fuch a hardnefs in the air, that an ordinary tool will not touch it. Several other trees, he faid, had there the fame property •, but particularly the cabbage tree :, the pith whereof will foon rot of it felf, and leave a large,"ho]]ow pipe, perhaps an hundred feet in lengthy which, inflead of corrupting, grows almoft as hard as iro.i, in the ground. A cu- rious texture. 1 of the Air. <^5 rious traveller informed me, that having gathered fome of the aloes Kat.Hist. plant, which grows plentifully in theiflandof St. ^^-s^^o, the juice where- ^•'■"V'*''^*** of is not only exceeding glutinous and bitter, but of a very dark colour, and carried it towards the equinoftial, he there found the juice loft its bitternefs for a feafon, and became green. Stains caufed by vegetable juices, are beft taken out of linen at that time, when the feveral plants which afford them are in their prime. This one lady has experienced in new linen ftain'd by the juice of quinces-, and another \x\ fome difcolour'd by the juice of hopps, which Ihe thinks makes the worft of ftains \ but having long tried in vain to fetch this out, ihe lock'd up the linen in a cheft till the feafon of hopps came on, when the fpots thereof vanlihed of themfelves. Having mixed one part of Lafis Calaminaris in powder, with four Experiment i. parts of fine falt-peter, we kept them for fome hours in a ftrong cru- cible and a vehement fire, till the ftone was prepared •, whereon we afterwards poured a proper quantity of fair water, which afforded an untranfpareiit Iblution of a deep red colour. This we put up into a wide mouth'd glafs, and fufferM it to ftand in a fbuth window expofed to the open air^ where, in a fhort time, it became quite green, and lefs turbid than before :; and continuing here for fome days longer, its green colour vanifh'd by degrees, and the liquor appear'd tranfpa- rent ^ letting fall to the bottom a red powder like brickduft. The fame changes happened in more than one parcel of this folution. Upon boiling ftrong fpirit of vinegar for a while with crude ^Vnigs Experitmnt x, of copper, 'twas not apparently coloured thereby \ nor even after it had ftood for fome hours in the glafs egg wherein it was boil'd •, we therefore poured them both together into a broad fiat glafs, and fet it ilielving in a window, that only one part of the filings might lie bu- ried in the menftruum. So much of the metal as was thus immediately expofed to the air, became of a greenifli blue ;, whilft that cover'd by the liquor, held its own colour, till by gradually evaporating the men- ftruum, it came to touch the open air, upon which it acquired the fame colour with the former. We put one parcel of copper filings into aflat, ihallow, wide-mouth'd Experiment ^i glafs, and another into a common vial ^ then pouring upon each a proper quantity of fal-armoniac dilfolved in fair water, we let the veiTels ftand together, uncover'd, for a confiderable time j at the end whereof we found, as we expelled, the liquor in the clofer glafs faintly tinged, while that in the more open one, was very deeply coloured. 'Twas re- markable here, that tho"" the lower part of the folution appear'd of a deep, ultramarine blue ^ the upper furface was cover'd with a film, like thin ice, which in colour refembled a fine turquoife. Two fmall parcels of copper filings being laid upon paper coffins, Expcrlmmt ^> we added to each of them three drops of fpirit of fal-armoniac • then leaving one of them in a window, we placed the other in a receiver, which was immediately afterwards exhaufted by the air-pump. Two Vol. III. K minutes 66 Memoirs for a general Hijlory Kat.Hist. minutes had not pafTed from the dropping on of the fpirit, before a marifeit blue appear'd on fome parts of the paper left in the window • but that in the exhaufted receiver continued colourlefs for a full quarter of an hour ^ when, taking off the glafs, and removing this paper to the other, in about two minutes, it difcovered a biuenefs, which, in two more, grew confiderably deep. Experiment: 5. By dropping fome copper filings into a (lender vial, containing a proper quantity of the urinous fpirit of wine lees, whofe colour is yellow, and flopping up the glafs, we gainM a tindure manifeftly green ^ then fuffering the glafs to ftand for feveral days in a window, we found the liquor flowly return to a yellow, and at length to lofe all its green colour -^ when, upon opening it to admit the air, and flopping it again, the furface of the liquor began immediately to change green- and this colour gradually fpread downwards, till the whole was tinged: but by long fianding, it gradually alter'd to a pale yellow. Having preferved feveral vials full of this liquor, I perceiv'd one of them, which had once loft its colour, regain'd a fair blue by ftandiiig, tho' the including glafs remain'd conftantly flopped ^ and tho'the liquor in the vial that flood next it, which was the fame fpirit impregnated with filings taken from the very fame parcel, continued colourlefs. This glafs, indeed, was only flopp'd with a cork, but I obferved the fame phenomenon in a bottle with a glafs flopple : nay, I afterwards found it fo in another, whilfl m one floppM with a cork, that flood by it, no colour appear'd. Thefe glaffes were all fill'd with the fame materials, and on the fame day with thofe abovementioned ; and at the time of this obfervation, made in Juguft^ the weather was colder than ufual. Looking alfo, about this time, upon fome fpirit of amber, which had for feveral days flood upon copper filings, the glafs bei.ig fbmetiraes unflopped to admit the air, I found it had gained a green colour, tho' it before obflinately preferved its own. Experiments, A flender vial filled with fpirit of honey, tho' fubje£l immediately to exchange its yellow colour for a blue, by receiving the air upon Its furface ; yet being once opeifd in the place where it ufed to exhibit this phenomenon, it remain'd of a tranfparent yellow, for an hour before «■ it turn'd blue. I have obferved a certain liquor frequently lofl andrecain'd its colour, appearing fometimes oF a faint, fometimes of a deep blue, and fome- times colourlefs •, whilfl the fluid in another vial that flood near the former, wou'd fometimes correfpond therewith, and at others vary from it. The weather feem'd not to be the caufe of this variation, for the liquors wou'd both acquire and lofe colour iudilferently on cold days or hot. A gentleman of my acquaintance told me, that in a large piece of ground in WaleSj near a mountain famed for the thing, he faw abundance ©fhard flones like flints, fome of a dark colour, and others grey, which ■whenr^wiy turn'd ug in tilling, appear'd of a ruft colour, but afterwards grew^ Experiment 7. 0i>jirvaiio!Js. of the Air. 6^ grew gradually whiter-, fo that in three years time he found almoft 1SIat»Hist. the whole parcel turn'd white. He added, what the inhabitants of the ^,>'''^v'~%-' place allured him, that almoft all the ftones which lay in the neighbour- ing mountain expoled to the air, underwent the fame kind of changes, and were, in a few years, blanched. " Some Mercur'mi dulcis and roman vitriol lying together in the fame *' box, but wrapp'd up in different papers, for the fpace of two and *' twenty months, the former was thereby changed to a fubftance fo *' like antimony, that it was miftaken for it even by perfons skilfd in " drugs ^ the vitriol alfo had acquired the fame colour on its furface, " but it funk no deeper." Upon the filings of copper put into a cryftal glafs of a conical figure, Experiment %. we poured fome ftrong fpirit of fait to the height of a finger's breadth above them ^ when exaftly clofmg the velfel with a glafs ftopple, we let it continue unmoved in a window for fome days, till the liquor had obtained a high, darkiih brown colour, loft it again, and grew clear like common water. Then taking out the ftopple, without ftiaking the liquor, and giving accefs to the air, the furface of the liquor, in a few minutes, regained a darkifh brown colour ^ which gradually defcending deeper, the whole body of the liquor appear'd tinged with it in a quarter of an hour. The glafs being again well ftopp'd, the menftruum in a few days loft its tindure •, which, when the ftopple was taken out, it recovered as before. And thus it fucceeded upon fome other trials alfo : but afterwards keeping the glafs for a month or two together in the fame place, I did not find that the liquor grew clear any more. Having out of another conical glafs, furnifhed with the fame ma- Experiment 9, terials, taken out the ftopple, after the liquor had for fome time ap- peared clearer than ufual, we left it open for about half an hour •, but the menftruum acquired no colour, not even at the top. When putting the ftoppie in again, I left the glafs clofed for two or three hours, and afterwards found the liquor had acquired a faint colour, tending to green. Upon this I again admitted the external air, leaving the glafs unftopp'd for above 20 hours •, but in all that time it had not regain'd its ufual dark colour -^ appearing only of a deep green, but neither true, nor very tranfparent. Some ftrong fpirit of fait having been kept upon copper filings, till Experiment 10, the folution appear'd of a dark brown colour, we put about 3 fpoons- ful of it into a receiver, that wou\l contain ten times the quantity. This being kept in vacuo for about half a year, it retain'd its colour, but the veffel being open'd, and free accefs permitted to the air, the folu- tion, in an hour's time, was turn'd into a fine tranfparent greeny tho' there appeared no precipitation of any muddy fubftance. A convenient quantity of our fpirit of fait being put upon copper £^j,^/^^fii, filings in a conical glafs, we obferved that the deep, muddy colour long continued j till towards the end of Decemkr the liquor appeared like K 2 com- «;r. 68 Memoirs for a general Hijlory KvT.HisT. common water : when admitting tlie external air, its operation was s-i^"V~^- I'caice ienfible tor lome time \ but within 24 hours the menftruum had acquired a taint, and moderately tranlpareut green. So that this tinned liquor, as it very (lowly lofl, ih it llowly and imperlcclly recover'd its colour. ixftriwtntxi. Upon tilings of copper, in a vial that wou\l contain 2 or 3 ounces of water, we poured ftrong ipirit of tal-armouiac, made without quick- lime, to near an inch above them. Tliis was done Augufl tJie2o*'', onfriii.iy betore noon :i and by the following A/W./)' in the afternoon, it had acquired a deep blue tincture, and lolt it again lb tar, that 'twas almoft pale like common water. Then I unfloppM the vial, and in a minute or let's, the llirface of the liquor acquired a deep blue colour, that reached confiderably downwards j the wiiole quantity becoming, in 4 or ^ minutes more, of the like colour : and the glals being pretently ftoppM, and left in the lame place, appeared not at the end of nine days to have lolt its tinfture ^ tho' now and then, within that time, it leem'd manifeltly paler than when we Itopp'd up the vial. Lfp tlfU'ftts A gentleman, who relided tor a year in Gu'nie.t, found, as did others, qui:;tiisiM- ^\{o^ of his company, the heat and moifture of the air fo favourable to ,'r^jaf? <«^» putrefartion, that their white luj^ar would, Ibmetimes, be full of mag- gots ; that teveral drugs, plafters, &c. quite loft their virtue ^ and that lome of them, efpecially their unguents, were verminous. He laid farther, that in the illand ot St. y.!go, they were obliged to ex- pole their fweetmeats to the heat of the llin •, and thereby exhale the moifture they contracted in the night, which would other- wile caufe tliem to putrefy. " Oxford, tho' feated chiefly on a gravelly hill, has been found very " dilagreeable to Tome hypochondriacal and valetudinary perlbns, ** efpecially in the fpring ;, 1, therefore, luppofe the air of that place '* to be generally moift." Air too dry, tho' luificiently hot, is unfavourable to the productioo of feveral inletlts. I have obferved in thele two lalt dry fprings, that no Ibtt garden Inails were to be found ^ and that very few fleas infefted the houfes, for want of moift vapours to nourifh. them •, but in wet lummers, I'nails, fleas, gnats, C'C. appear in abundance. " Antimomum iiiaphorcticum, whether prepared with nitre alone, or " an addition of tartar, will, in time, if it be expol'ed to the air^ *' gain a noxious quality ^ and upon being taken, occafion fainting, " vomiting, c^c. but this etfeft is eafily prevented by exhibiting the " medicine tretli prepared ^ or when kept too long, by committing " it alone to the tire for an hour or two, or if freth nitre be added, by ** edulcorating, and a little reverberating the preparation." Zrrelfer. A phyfician of the college at LcnAon alfured me, from his own ob- fervation, that jintiTmuium dUfhcrcticum, having been kept for icme year?, tho' in a dole veifel, acquired an emetic quality. Cerufe o^ anti- mony, tho' it ftood ia a ftopped glais, he alio found did the fame \ fifteeo of the Air. 6^ sixteen, grains whereof he had given for a dofe, without the leaft ii> K>.t.H::t con ver.ience, when the preparation was freih: but after it was fta'e, ^>^"v^**^ four or fire grai.-is of it would romit. ** If fcrr.e Egyf/tlan earth be taken up near the rirer, and czrefullf " preferved from wet ar-d waft, 'twill be found, if duly examined by " the balsrxe, rir/ihtr to irjcreale nor diminjih it3 weigh^t till the " 1 7'- of Jji'/jf •, -;/heG it will begin to grcm heavier, and coctir.ues to " do fo a« the rlrer Elh •, whence they certainly know the ftate of the " deluge, which, doubtlels, proceeds from the moifture of the air." Pre/per Al}inu:^ "joh. Vant^ &c. Eiiitb^ thro'^r. on a heap, and lufered to lye for fire or fix years in tiie air, mi\e^ better pots for clolenels and bearing the fixe, than what has only lain one tezida above ground^ tho' tlm be preferable to that which is newly dug ; as being not ib apt to crack in the fire, or by wet. Such bricks, alfo, as lye near the top oT the kila, in burring, are apt to fsril, when they come to be expofed to the weather. *Tis a common obfenration, the differerce there is between the two fides of the fyrmeimsy that which looks to Fmncs^ iltA that arbkh reaches to ^Sr^siit Sfdtm ^ the former being ^erdiaat and fiouriihing, whilft the other is ^^^^^^ torch'd aDd barren. This feems owii^ to the ^tucluD^ winds, which timjfsad are, fometime*, blafting, and beat upon the iJMff^ fide of the moan- destb. tain* ; whereby the oth^er is skreen'd, and enjoys aB the advantages of the foil and climate. " As to \:fe zrA death, with the : . crat'oss thereto belor^ir^ " we have already fpoke to the- . ">er, alfo, vjot orAy " phyficians, but ph^'olbphers, hivc '-curie oftheauits " of health and dlCeifts -, for as the ho have any tii> ** &ire of zcainucy and elegaoce, c : :" their art " from nature, fb aH accurate ph:;c-.^ .;.. _ . - . _p to phy- - " fie" >4r/^«f. The tem^isx of the a:r n:s^v, universally, be derived from the CJy- tetm^oua vapours and fupernciil eiSuvia of the earth, T^ricuily traii- fpofed, blended, and compourxied by the -i.'d?, and other mot'oiis; and, probably, upon the diSerent mixtures hereof a'., the local abili- ties of that fluid depend- A phyficlan acquainted me, that about three months before the laft great plague in Lso-Mt,^ he v.'£5 confulted by a man, who complain'd of a (welling in his groin, and thereupoa coi>- fidently aflferted, that the plague would ra^e dreadfully, during the following fommer, in the lame city : his reafon was, that having once had a peftilential tumour, in a former great plague-leafon, two other leis violent plagues were, leveraliy, preceeded by a lefs degree of the &me fymptom in himlelf. The bare local motion of the air may, in particular cafe, operate upon bodies, either by being changed into wind, modified into ibcnd, or i^fofderM by thuaier. 'Tis evident, that accordii^ to the vehe- mence 70 Memoirs for a general Hijlory Nat.Hist. mence or flacknefs of the wind, and the places from whence, and to ' ' what quarter it happens to blow, various effeds enfue, efpecially in animate bodies-, and this not only as it is attended by cold and heat, moifture and drynefs •, but confider'd as an aerial ftream, whereby it fans the places through which it palTes, expels the ftagnant air, and introduces freJh :, hence it, doubtlefs, may contribute to many changes in the health of animals, but more efpecially in the tender fort of them. I was informed, in Languedoc, that if thunder happens there, after the filk-worms had eat their fill, and began to difpofe them- felves to fpin, a great part of them would be deftroy'd. Upon letting horfes down, a third of the way, into mines of a thoufand feet deep, one told me, feveral of them died ^ but that others furvived, and work'd the engines there, without any fenfible inconvenience in refpi ration •, tho' the places they moved in, were lup- plied with air, only by the groove through which they defcended, and one moderate ihaft. A curious traveller, who had vifited the mines of feveral countries, told me, that the deepeft he had \^Qe\-). was in Bohemia^ funk about two thoufand Englifl) feet. The E'r>glijh conlul at Tripoli, and fometime governor of the coaft- caftle belonging to the EngUjh African company, informed me, that the air in thole parts was not conffantly hurtful, but frequently became fb, when many of his men, who were before healthy, would fuddenly fall fick together, efpecially of fevers and fluxes, wh'ch ufually kill- ed them in eight and forty hours time. The Rujflm emperor's phyfician alTured me, that once, when the froft was very great in their country, and the wind at north-eaft, if that blew againft his face in walking, he was unable to breathe ; fo great a ftiifnefs was thereby caufed in the orgar.s ferving to that purpofe •, whence he was obliged to turn his head from the wind be- fore he could refpi re. An obferving perfon informed me, that when the fhip, he failed in, came under the line, he perceived the lice lert the bodies of the En- gliJI) that were on board, and got wholly into their heads ^ from whence they deicended again, Ibme t-m^e after they had pafied the equator. Another acquaintance of mine, who frequei'tly crolTed the line in VoYtiigucz^e ilnps, which ufually go crowded with people to the Eajc- indics, declared, that he carefully obferved ijieir fwarms of lice died away upon paiTing the equinodial j tho' that vermin grew trou- blcfome again foon after. The duke of Tor h obferved, during his flay in Scotland, that agues, at the fame time they were very frequent here, Icarce appeared in that country. A Scotch nobleman afterwards confirm'd the fame, efpecially of quartan agues ^ adding, that 'twas once thought very f^ range when a certain gentleman happened there to fall fick of one •, and that quar- of the Air. 7 1 quartans, which are frequently brought fxom England to Edinburgh^ are Nat.Hist. ufually cured by any confiderable ftay in that city. ^^-^^^ . " The air is purify'd by deftroying the caufe of corruption therein; " if it be too much moifture, fire is the remedy ^ efpecially when made " of odoriferous plants, as laurel, myrtle, rolemary, &c. by which ** means Hippocrates prevented the plague at j^thens. Noxious vapours ^* may alfo be difperfed herein by the blowing of high winds. Thus " the plague was lately flopp'd at Lifijon^ by a great ftorm which " lafted for three days together. The like alfo happen'd in Morocco^ " where the fame diftemper raging very feverely, was diilipated by a " wind that blew as hot as the fteam of a furnace. Artificial ftorms " may be railed by frequently unloading great guns •, but if the vapours " proceed from Stagnant waters, they ought to be drain'd off the " land thro' proper canals ^ or frequently renew'd, by bringing a " river to pafs thorough them. Thus the great duke of Tufcany has " render'd the air of his city wholefome. If dead carcafes, by lying " unburied, have in'eded the air, deep pits fhould be dug to receive " them •, but if filth and excrements be the caufe of the plague, as ** I believe it is at Conflant'wofle and Lijhon, both the fireets and houfes *' muft be well cleanfed and purified." Roderic. Pons. *' 'Tis remarkable, that tho' the plague rages almoft every year, round " a particular place in Gork^ where large quantities of mercury are " found ^ yet it never reaches that place it lelf. This has been con- " ftantly obferved by very aged men, who alfo received the tradition *' from their anceflors.'' Michael Majer. " Quickfilver Is an alexipharraic in many diftempers j and, 'tis faid, '* even in the plague it ielf, (fince thofe parts where 'tis found, remain " almoft conltantiy free from the contagion) provided no falts or " corrofive fluids have iafefted that mineral, or given it a poifonous " quality." A very ingenious phyficlan told me, he learnt upon the \?id.r\ and, befides,the wind Samicl blows^ ** all fummer long, from Mofid to Surat -^ for which reaion travellers are *' obliged to go by water on the T/Vrc. The word Samicl, iignilies a *' poifonous wind:, wjiich, perliaps, is the burning wir.d mentioned by " Job. Whoever breathes herein dies upon the fpot ;, tlio' fom.e have ** firft been heard to fay they burnt internally. The body, loon after it's *' dead, becomes black all over, and the fielh eafily feparable from the " bones." Thtvenot. Do^or Collins relates, that in Mufcovy the horfes are very fubje^l to a particular diftemper ^ from which the natives ufually preferve tliem by keeping goacs in their ftables ^ and this method the doclor himfelf was obliged to take with his own horfes. The EngliJJ} conful at Smyrna informed me, that the plague there, tho' it abates not lb confiderably as dX Aleffo, towards the beginning of July, when the weather is exceilive hot, yet becomes lets mortal and in- fe£lious at that tijrie ^ the cau'e of which phenomenon may, perhaps, be, that the peftilential efiiuvia floating in the air, during the former part of the fummer, rauft be of a particular magniiude, to exert their full force ;, fo that the weather growing vehemently hot, thofe particles are thereby diffipated, leifeu'd in their bulk, and render'd lefs noxious. Thus thewieck of a candle jufl: extinguifh'd, proves very offenfive to the n-'^firiN, while the parts of the fmoke it emits are grofs :^ but if that fmoke be lighted, or rarifiecl into flame, it fends out particles of a quite different nature, and of an inolfenfive fcent. It may be further faid, that the heat of the fun, at times, acling powerfully, penetrates deeper into the earthy and agitates the lower parts thereof j opening its objftru£t- VoL. UK L ed 74 Memoirs for a general Hijlory NAT.Hist. edpalTages, and raifing into the air various corpufcles, to attenuate and ^.y^^W"^^ divide the peftileiitial ones*, or elfe, by mixing therewith, form new concretions of a different bulk, texture, figure, or motion • and thus render the difeafes they produce lefs malignant, or of a different nature from the former. If the plague fuffers this alteration only at Smyrna and ^leppoj it may be owing to the difpofition of the foil in thofe places to emit peflilential particles of a determined nature, by a particular degree of heat, and diffipable by a greater, and thence to afford peculiar exha- lations able to correct the former; as 'tis annually obferved at Grand ^ Cairo, that the plague, during the heat of fummer, ceafes to be mortal, and grows much lets contagious, when the Nile begins to overfiow. This feems occalion'd by nitrous, or other exhalations, plentifully afforded from the arrival of frefh water •, and not from the coolnefs it occalions ; fince the plague will rage in much colder weather than can happen in Egypt during the month of July. The air being fluid, as well as water, and impregnated with falts of • different kind?, 'tis noc improbable, that what happens in water, imp-eg- nated with fuch ft Its, may alfo happen in the air. Two proper quan- tities of different ialts being diffolved in hot water, they floated undi- flinguifhablv therein, and retain'd a capacity toad in conjunction upon feveral occafions :^ yet when the liquor becam.e cold, the faline particles of one kind being no longer agitated by a due degree of heat, Ihot into cryffals •, and lofing rheir fluidity and motion, vifibly feparated them- felves from the other,which ftill continued fluid in the liquor, and capable' only of ading feparately. Hence it feems probable, that coldnefs and heat may, for a time, greatly alter the qualities of the air, with regard to the bodies and health of mankind. The 9leareft inftance I have feen of this obfervation, was afforded me by the following experiment. Experiments. Having diffolved equal quantities of alum and nitre in the fame par- cel of fair water, we firfl: evaporated a confiderable part of the liquor, and then expofed the remainder to the cold in an earthen veffel ; by which means the alum firfi: coagulated at the bottom and fides thereof, in a multitude of elght-hded figure?, whilfi: no cryffals of tiie nitre appeared. Upon further evaporating the liquor, and removing it from the fire, we gain'd more grains of alum, but yet no nitre ; we, therefore, evaporated more of the water, till, at length, the nitre plentifully fhot into its proper cryftals. A moufe lived for ten minuses, with only a fourth of the natural *■ quantity of the air, and three sfcerwards."^ TheefeB of An eminent virtuofo informed me, that in tlie country of Camfen, he rutin ; and a faw feveral ffiallow pits dug for peat, till they came to a kind of quick- prognoftic thereof. * Dr. Hai/ej tells us, 'tis found by expe- 1 unfit for farther refpiration in litrle more rimenr, that a gallon of air, included in a than jv snlnute. Philof. Tranf. N°. 349. p. bladder, and reciprocally infpired and 492. expired by means of a pipe, will become I fand, of the Air. 75 land, whereon the rain having fahi for lome j^ears, had ibrmM a kind of Nat.Hist. clay, from whence good iron was, by skill, attainable. The fame per fon v-/''"*V*'>-' allured me, he had frequently diiiilled the water of Campcn, in fine new glaffes, and that notwithftanding its re£lificatiou, it always left a con- fiderable quantity of fiony m.atter at the bottom. " Afi/kffow, a mountain in Bohemia, prognofticares the weather. I once *' beheld this whole niountain covered v/ith very chick clouds, whilft " the other mountains, which flood around it, iliew'd no figns of any, " and the fun alio ihone very bright ^ the inhabitants, however, upon *' this prepared for foul weather, and advifed me to do the like ^ when " in the fpace of a quarter of an hour, the sky grew cloudy, the fun " withdrew his rays, and a prodigious fliower enfued. At another time, " I found all the mountains about Aillleffovr reek with vapours, while *' Mi/kjfow it felf was not affe£led ^ when the inhabitants faid, they " apprehended no mifchief from hence, for that A^lllejfow wou'd drink " up all thofe clouds."' ** At Lip in Fla-^ders, there fell, in the month of May, a fhower of Large haih *' hail, the fmalleft liones whereof were as big as pigeons eggs. The " ftorm falling upon the citadel, and the whole town, broke all the ** windows that faced the wind, laid open the tops of the houfes, tore " up the trees, fpoiled the corn, and killed all the hares and par- " tridges. Some of thefe hail-ftones weigh'd a quarter of a pound, " fome half a pound, others three quarters, and the largefl fort of all " above a pound. In the middle of fome of them was a brown fub- *' ftance, which put into the fire made a loud noife therein: others *' were tranfparent, and immediately melted like lead, when laid before " the fire :, tho' thefe were harder than the reft." '* In that year the duke o^ Tork laft returned from Scotland to London, Ajhoxocr of at the upper T^^rt of Galloway m Scotland, there rainM lijch a fhower of fijh. fmall filhes, exaftly refembling herrings in their colour, taft, and form, that they cover'd two acres of land belongi .g to Sir Robert Murray of Br ught on. This I conftrmM to his royal highnefs, as having " my felf feen Ibme of the filhes. His highnefs ingeniously accounted for " the phenomenon, by ilippofing the whole number railed with the " water by a whirlwind, and carried into the air ; from whence they " afterwards fell by their own weight to the ground." L 2 SUS- 1« SUSPIC IONS ABOUT SOME HIDDEN QUALITIES IN THE A I R B SECT. I. E S I D E S heat, cold, drynefs, moifture, gravity, elafticity, the power of refracting the rays of light, &c. 1 have often fufpe£led there may belbme more latent qualities in the air, dif- ferent fromthefe, and principally arifmg from the fubftantial parts or in- gredients whereof it confifts. For our atmofphereis a confufed aggregate of effluvia from fuch different bodies, that tho"" they all agree in conftituting, by their minutenefs and various motions, one great mafs of fluid matter, yet, perhaps, there is not a more heterogeneous body in the world. Suhterrane- 'Tis highly probable, that befides thofe vapours and exhalations 9US effluvia in which, by the heat of the fun, are elevated into the air, and there the air. afford matter for fome meteors, as clouds, rain, parhelions, and rain- bows \ there are, fometimes, at leafl, and in fome places, plenty of effluvia emitted from the fubterraneal parts of the terreflrial globe : and 'tis no lefs probable, that in the fubterraneal regions there may be many bodies, fome fluid, and fome confifteiit, which, tho' of an ope- rative nature, and likely, upon occafion, to emit fteams, feldom or never appear upon the furface of the earth •, fo that feveral of them have not fo much as names affigiAl them even by mineralifts. Now among this multitude and variety of bodies that lie buried out of fight, who knows but there may l3e many of a nature very different from thole we are hitherto acquainted with ^ and that as feveral won- Hidden Qualities, &C. 77 wonderful and peculiar operations of the load-ftone, the* a mineral, Nat.Hist. many ages ago famous among philofophers and phyficians, were not w"V^*^ difcover'd till of late *, fo there may be other lubterraneous bodies, endued with confiderable powers, which, to us, remain unknown •, and would, if known, be found different from thole of the foiliis wherewith we are hitherto acquainted ? Farther, the fun and planets may have influences here below, di- Cehflial ftind from their heat and light. And the fubtile effluvia, even of effluvia in the thefe bodies, may reach our air, and mix with thofe of our globe in *""' that great receptacleof celeftial and terreftrial fleams, the atmofphere. The very fmall knowledge we have of the ftrudure and conftitution of globes lb vaftly remote from us, and our great ignorance of the na- ture of the particular bodies that may be prefum'd to be contain'd in thofe globes, which, in many things, appear of kin to this we in- habit, "^leaves room to conjefture, that many of thofe bodies, and their effluvia, may be of a nature quite different from thofe we here take notice of "^ i and may, confequently, operate after a very different and peculiar manner. And tho' the chief of the heterogeneous effluvia, Effluvia from that endue the air with fecret qualities, may, probably, proceed the operations from beneath the furface of the earth, and from the celeftial bodies j of the air. yet at fome times, and in fome places, the air may derive multitudes of efficacious particles irom its own operations •, ading as a fluid fubfl:ance upon the vaft number and variety of bodies, which are immediately expofed to it. For tho', by reafon of its great thinnef'^, and of its being, in its ufual ftate, deftitute both of taft and fmell, it feems wholly unfit to be a menftruum •, yet it may have a diifolviag, or at * Sir ifaa: f^ewten, after his ufual man- ner, has on a folid foundation carried this thing a furprizing length. " The co- " met, fays he, which appeared in the " year 1680. was not, in its perihelion, " diftant from the fun's body fo much as " a fixth part of his diameter ; andconfe- " quently, by reafon of its vail: velocity " at fo near an approach, and the denfity " of the fun's atmofphere, it niuft have " fuffered lome refinance and retardation, " by means whereof 'twas drawn nearer *■ to the fun ; fo that approaching ftill " nearer in every revolution, it mufV, at " lengrh, fall into the body of him. " In its aphelion, alfo, where its motion " is exceeding (low, it may, fometimes. " be retarded by the atrrattion of other " comets, and afterwards fall into the " fun. Thus alfo the fixed fVars, which " gradually fpend themfelvcs in light and " vapour, may be recruited by comets " falling into them ; and being thus " lighted up again, and having new ali- ment afforded them, may pafs for new f^ars. But the vapours, which arife from the fun, the fixed (lars, and the * tails of comers, may, by their gravity, fall into theatmofphcres of the planets j and there be condenfed and turned into water and moifl: fpirits, and thence gra- dually, by a flow heat, into falts, ful- phurs, tinttures, mud, clay, marl, land, fto.Tes, coral, and other teneftrial fub- ft-ances. But as the fun's body de- creafes, the mean motions of the planets about the fun will, by degrees, be re- tarded ; and as the earth increafes, the mean motion of the moon about the earth, will be gradually accelerated : and, indeed, Dr. Hallcy, Uom comparing the Babylontjl; oblervations of eclipfes, with thofe of y^/^^rr^w/?//, and the mo- derns, was the firll:, that I know of, who obfervedthe mean mction of the moon, compared with the diurnal mo- tion of the earth, to accelerate gradu- ally."' Newton, Princip. />. 480, 48 1 . leaft 78 Hidden Qualities Kat.Hist. ^eaft a confumlng power on many bodies*, efpecially flich as are pecu- liarly difpofed to admit its operations. For the air has a great ad- vantage, by the vaft quantity of it that may come to work, in pro- portion to the bodies expofed thereto. And in feveral cafes, the quan- tity of a menflruum may much more confiderably fupply its want of ftrength, than chymifts feem commonly aware oi. There are li- quors too, which, tho' they pafs for infipid, are not quite deftitute of corpufcles fit to aft as a folvent ^ efpecially if they have time enough to make, with the other parts of the fluid, fuch numerous and various motions as muft bring now fome of them, and then others, to hit againil: the body expofed to them. Thus we find a ruft on coppsr, that has been long expofed to the air ;, whofe faline particles, in time, gradually faften themielves, in fuch numbers, to the furface of the metal, as to corrode it, and produce a fubflance of the colour of ver- digreafe •, which is a faftitious body, made of the fame metal, corro- ded by the iharp corpufcles of vinegar, or of the husks of grapes. And by the power which mercury has to diiTolve gold and filver, it appears not always neceffary, that a fluid folvent fliould affe£V the taft. And as to thofe bodies on which the aerial menftruum can operate, its immenfe quantity may bring this advantage, that tho' even the ftrongeft menflrua, if they bear no great proportion, in bulk, to the bodies they are to work on, are eafily glutted, and being unable to take up any more, leave the refl: of the body undii'folvedj this bears ^q vaft a proportion to the bodies expofed to it, that when one portion of it has impregnated it felf as much as 'tis able, there may ftill come frefh to operate farther on the remaining part of the body. But belides, the faline and fulphureous particle?, that, at leaft, in fome places, may impregnate the air, and give it the greater affinity to proper chymical menftrua, it may, merely as a fluid body, confifting oP corpufcles of different fizes, and folidities refllelly and varioufly mov\-|, be, upon account hereof, ftill dilTolving, or preying upon the particles of the bodies fubmitted to its aftion. For many- of the aerial corpufcles hitting or rubbing every minute againft thole particles of bodies that chance to lie in their way, may well, by the^r numerous occurlions and attritions, ftrike off and carry along with them now fome, and then others of their particles :;, as it happens in water, which, tho' very foft and fluid, wears out fuch hard and lolid bodies as ftones themfelves, if it often meet them in its palTage. The aerial corpufcles, indeed, are very minute, and the bodies expofed to them often large, and feemingly folid ^ but 'tis not upon the whole body at once, that they endeavour to work, only on the fuperficial particles, which may often be more minute than thofe corpufcles. Thus a lump of loaf-fugar, or Sal gemma, being caft into common wa- ter, tho' this liquor be infipid, and the motions of its corpufcles very langu'd, yet thefe corpufcles are able to loofen and carry off the fuperficial particles of the fugar or fa't that chance to lie in their way •, and frelh corpufcles of water ftill f-icceeding, to v;ork upon the re- maining in the Air. 79 maining particles of the body that ftand in their way, the whole lump Nat.Hist, is gradually difTolv'd, and ceales to appear to the eye diftinft froni the ^-""S^'^n^ liquor. And 'tis not impoffible that Ibme bodies may receive a dil- pofition to volatility •, and confequentjy, fopafs into the air by the adtioii either of the fun- beams, or of fome fubftance that once iifued out of the fun, and reached to our air. For there may be certain bodies, generally in the form of liquors, which, tho' they pafs oft from fome peculiarly difposM fubftances, will, during their Itay or contact, produce in them a great and ftrange aptnefs to be volatilized^ at kaft, 'tis agreeable to experience, that either upon the accounts abovemen- tioned, or of fome others, thofe parts of the atmofphere, which, in a flri^ter ileni^e, may be called the air, are in fome places i'o intermixed with particles of different kinds, that among fo great a number of various forts of them, 'tis very likely there fliould be fome kinds of an uncommon and an unobferv'd nature •, as might feem pro- bable by the wafting of odorous bodies, and efpecially camphire •, and becaufe fome folid bodies actually cold, when their fuperficial parts are newly taken off, emit, tho' invifibly, luch large fteams into the air, as continually to grow manifeftly lighter upon the balance. The firft phenomenoa I fhall propofe, to ftrengthen thefe fuipicions. The grewth is, the appearance or growth of fome falts, in certain bodies which offalts in bo- afford them not at all i or nothine near in fuch plenty, or fo foon, ^'" ^^Py^^ f' 1 r .-1, t •'J ^ ^1 • X / ' i the air. unlels they be expos d to the air. Sufpefting a folid marcafite, hard as ftone, to be fit to make an in- ftance for my purpole, I caus'd it to be broken, that the internal and more fhining parts might be expos'd to the air -^ but tho"" this were done in a room where a good fire was ufually kept, lb that the m.arcafire was not only ilieltered from the rain, but kept in a dry air ^ yet after a while, 1 difcover'd, upon the glittering parts, an eiHorefcence of a vi- triolic nature. And afterwards meeting with a ponderous, and dark coloured mineral, which at the firft breaking difcover'd to the eye no appearance of any fait, nor i'o much as any iliining marcafitical par- ticles;, we found, neverthelefs, that a large qnantity of thefe hard and heavy bodies being kept expofed to the air, even in a room that pre- ferved them from the rain, tho', probably, they had lain many ages entire on the hill wherein they were found ^ yet in a few months, by the operation of the air upon them, they were in great part crumbled to a powder, exceeding rich in copperas. Nay, having laid up fome of thefe ftones in a room where I conftantly kept a fire, and m the drawer of a cabinet, which I did not often takeout to give them fre/h air, moft of them were covered with a large efflorefcence •, which, by its confpicuous colour, between blue and green, by its taft and fitnefs to make in a trice an inky mixture, witli an infufion of galls, fuffi- ciently manifefted it felf to be vitriol -^ the growth whereof, by the help of the contact of the air, is the more confiderable, becaufe it is not a mere acid fait, but abounds in fulphureous and combuftible parts, which 8o Hidden Qualities Nat.Hist. which I have feveral times adually feparated, or obtain'd from com- mon vitriol, without the addition of any combuftible body •, and fome- times without any addition at ail. It was alio uncommon, that our blackiih minerals required no longer time, nor any rain, to make them afford their vitriolic efflorefcencies ^ for I kept many of thofe mar- caiites, both glittering ones and others, of which they make great quantities of vitriol at Deptford, without perceiving in them a change, that came any thing near to what I have mentioned. And I have obferved thofe whofe trade it is to make vitriol, are often oblig'd to let their vitriol-ftones, as they call them, lie for half a year, nay, fometimes two years, expofed not only to the open air, but to the rain and fun, before they can obtain from them their vitriolic parts. That alfo the earth, or ore of alum, robb'd of its fait, will, in trad: of time, recover it, by being expofed to the air, we are aifured by the experienced ^r/Vo/^. I have likewife oblerved, that fome kind of lime in old walls and moift places, has, in time, gain'd a large efflorelcence, very much of a nitrous nature -^ as I was convinced, by having obtain'd falt-petre from it, upon barely dilTolving it in common water, and evaporating the filtred folution : and alfo in calcined vitriol, whofe faline parts have been driven away by the violence of the fire, particles of freili fait may be found, after it has lain a competent time in the air. But tho' thefe and the like obfervations have generally pals'd, with- out being calfd in queftion ^ yet it feems to me Ibmewhat doubtful,, whether the falts that appear in the forementioned caie?, are really produced by the operation of the air working as an agent, or alio concurring as an ingredient^ or whether thefe faline fubftances proceed- not from fome internal thing, analagous to a feminal principle, caufing in them a kind of maturation of lome parts ^ which being once lipeiAi, and perhaps ailifted by the moiflure of the air, dilclole themfelves in the form of faline concretions ^ as in the feculent or rartarous part of wines, there will, in tra£l: of time, be generated or produced, numerous corpufcles of a faline nature, that give the acid taft we find in tartar, elpecially in that of Rhenifl) wine. It may alfo be fufpefl:ed, that the falts found in marcafite.s, in nitrous and aluminous earths, &c. are made by the faline particles of the like nature :; th^.t among multitudes of other kinds Iwim in the air, and are attra£ted by the fimilar particles yet remaining in the terreftrial bodies, which are, as it were, the wombs of fuch minerals-, as fpirit of nitre will with fixed nitre, and lome other alkalies, compofe falt-peter • or elfe, that fuch aerial falts, alTified by the moiflure of the air, foften, open, and almoft corrode, or dilTolve the more terreffrial fubftance of theie wombs, and thereby follicit and extricate the latent falhie particles \ and by ^heir union with them, compofe thofe refulting bodies that re- ferable vitriol^ alum, c^c. However, if a convenient quantity of nitrous earth. in the Air. 8l €arth, or other proper fubftance, be kept in a clofe vefTel, whereto the Kat.Kist. air has no accel's, for as long a time as has been obferv'd fufficient to w<''''V"'^>i' impregnate the like fubftance, or a portion of the fame matter that was included, it may help to remove our fcruples •, for if the body tha;t was kept dole, have either gain'd fait at all, or very much lefs in proportion to its bulk, than that which was kept expofed, we may thence learn, what is to be afcribed to the air in the production of nitre, or other faline concretions. And having obferved none of thefe bodies, that would fo foon, and fo manifeftly even to the eye, difclofe a faline fubftance, as the blackilh vitriol-ore before mentioned ^ I judged this a very fit fubjed, wherewith to try what maturation, or time, the air being lecluded, wou'd do in this cafe. Accordingly, iiaving taken fome fragments of it, which we carefully freed from the adhering vitriolic eiflorefcence, we put of different fizes of them into two conveniently Ihap'd glafTes, which being hermetically fealed, were ■order'd to be kept in fit places •, by which means 'twas expefted, that even, without opening the glafTes, we fliould be able eafily to fee, hy the changed colour of the fuperficial parts, whether any vitriolic ellloreicence was produced ^ but thro' the negligence, or miftake, of thofe to whom the care was recommended, the experiment was never brought to an ilfue. Tho' after fome time I perceivM, that notwith- flanding the glafs had been fo clofely ftopp'd, there plainly appeared on the outfide of the mafs, fome grains of an effiorefcence ^ whole colour, between blue and green, argued it to be of a vitriolic nature. But although, till the fuccels of fome fuch trial be known, I dare not conftdently pronounce about the production or regeneration of falts, in bodies that have been robb'd of them, and afcribe it wholly to the air ; yet when I confider the feveral great effefts of the air upon Several other bodies, I think it not raili to conjefture, in the mean time, that the operations of the air may have a confiderable fliare in thele phe- nomena ^ and fo, that there may be latent qualities in the air ; thefe qualities being underftood in concrete^ together with the Hibftances, or corporeal effluvia, wherein they refide. And of fuch aerial qualities^ taken in this fenle, 1 ihall now proceed to mention fome other inftances. The difficulty we find in keeping flame and fire alive, tho' but for AvU»T fub' a little time, without air, renders it fufpicious, that there may be dif- T^f'^f*' •'» *^' perfed thro' the reft of the atmofphere, fome odd fubftance, either of *'**• a folcir, aftral, or other foreign nature \ on account whereof the air is fo necellary to the fubfiftance of flame. And this neceftity I have found to be more confiderable, and lefs dependent upon the raanifeft attributes of the air, than is ufually obferv'd •, for by trials purpofely made, it has appear'd, that a fmall flame of a lamp, tho' fed perhaps with a fubtile, thin oil, wou'd in a large glafs-receiver expire for want of air, in a far lefs time than one wou'd believe. And it will not much lelfen the difficulty to alledge, that either the grofs fuliginous fmoke in a clofe vefTel ftifled the flame, or that the preffure of the air is requifite to V o L. III. M impel §2 Hidden Qualities Nat.Hist. impel up the -aliment into the wieckj for to obviate thefe obje^lioiiSj ^.•'■V">«i» I have, in a large receiver, employed a very Imall wieck, with luch rectified fpirit of wine, as wou'd in the free air burn totally away • yet when a very fmall lamp, furnifhed with fuch a very flender wieck, was made to burn, and, filled with this liquor, was put lighted into a large receiver, that little flame, tho' it emitted no vifible fmoke at all, wou'd ufually expire within about one minute, and often in lefs ^ and this tho' the wieck was not fo much as fmg'd by the flame : nor indeed is a wieck neceffary for the experiment, lince highly reOiified fpirit of wine will, ill the free air, flame away without it. And it feems furprizng, what that fliould be \a the air, which enabling it to keep flume alive, does yet, by being confum'd or deprav'd, fo fuddenly render the air unfit to prelerve flame., It alio feems by the fudden wafl:ing or fpoili.ig of this fine fubftance, whatever it be, that the bulk of it is but very fmall in proportion to the air it impregnates with its vertue : for after the exciuftion of the flame, the air in the receiver was not vifibly, alter'd; and, for ought I could. perceive by- leveral ways of judging, the air retained either all, or at leafl: the far greateft part of its elafticity \ which I take to be its mofl: genuine and diflinguifliing property. And this undeftroy'd fprijgynefs of the air, with the ne- ceflity of frefli air to the life of hot animals, fuggefls a great fufpicion of fome vital fubfliance, if I may fo call it, diffufed thro' the air ^ whe- ther it be a volatile nitre, or rather, fome anonymous fubftance, fide- real or fubterraneal •, tho' not improbably of kin to that which feem.s fo necelTary to the maintenance of the other flames. By keeping putrefied bodies in glaffes hermetically feafd, and there- by fecured from the contaft of the external air, I have not been able to produce any infeflr, or other living creature ^ tho' fometimes I have kept animal fubflances, and even blood, fo included for many months; and one or two of them for a longer time :, and tho' thefe fubflances had a manifeft change made in their confifi:ence, whilft they remain'd feafd up. I fliall here add another obfervation, that I met with in a little dilfertation, de admirandls HungarU aquis^ written by an Hungarian nobleman \ where fpeaking of the native fait which abounds in their regions, he fays that '' in the chief mine of Tranfylvaniaj called De^ ** fienp.s^ there was, a few years before he wrote, a great oak, like a " huge beam, dug out of the middle of the fait ^ but tho' it was fo " hard, that it could not eafily be wrought upon by iron tools, yet " being expos'd to the air out of the mine, it became fo rotten, that " in four days it was eafy to be crumbled between the fingers." And of that corruptive, or diffolutive power of the air near thofe mines^ the fame author mentions other inftances, oemna! cot" Having found an antimonial preparation to prove emetic, in a cafe pufchsinthe where I did not at all expeci it-, 1 enquired of fome phyficians and ^k, chymiftsof my acquaintance, whether they had not taken notice, that A^timQmum-. dm^horeiicum wou!di become vomitivej if 'twere not kept froia in the Jir. 83 from the air? And more than one phyfician aiTured me, it wouM •, as Kat.Hist, they had found by particular trials. 1 find alfo, that the experienced v,-/""V~^-' Zwelfer gives a caution againftletting the air come at thefe antimonial medicines ^ left it ihould render them, as he fays it will in trad of time, not only emetic, but difpos'd to produce heart-burnings, faintings, and other bad fymptoms. And I learnt from a very ingenious phyfician, that having caretully prepared Antlmonlum diaphoreticum, he gave many doles of it whilft it was frefh, and kept ftopt in a glafs, without find- ing that in any patient it procured one vomit •, but having kept a par- cel of the fame remedy for a confiderable time, in a glafs, only covered loofely with a paper-, the medicine, vitiated by the air, prov'd ftrongly emetic tothofe, who neither by conftitution, nor foulnefs of ftomach,or on any ocher diicernable account, were more than others that had taken it, dilposM to vomit. By which obfervations, and what I before remark'd of falt-peter obtainable from lime, it lliould feem, as if either there were in the air a fubftance difpofed to beaflimilated by all kinds of bodies :i or that the air is fo vaft and rich a magazMie of innumerable feminal corpufcles, and other analogous particles, that almoft any body long expos'd thereto, may there meet with particles of kin to it felf, and fit to repair its injuries and loJfes, and reftore il to its natural ftate. M.de Rocheforty'm the account he gives of the fruit of the tree Jurjipa, the -^ Ihlyious juice whereof is employ ""d by the /?7<^/^«i to black their skins, that they P^op'*'0' '^^^^^ may look the more terrible to their enemies, obferves, that tho' the ftain or tindure of this fruit cannot be walh'd out with fo^p • yet with- in nine or ten days it will vaniih of it felf: which wouM mike one fufped, that there may be in the air fome fecret, powerful fubftance, that renders it a menftruum of more efficacy than foap it felf, to take away ftains. I have feen this fruit, but not whilft it was juicy enough to have a trial made with it, which I ihould have been glad of, becaufe the author does not clearly exprefs, whether this difappearing of the tinfture happens indifferently to the bodies it chances to ftain, or is only obferved on the skins of men : for as in the former cafe 'twill afford an inftance pertinent to our prefent purpofe -^ fo in the latter, I ihould llifped, that the vanifning of the tinfture may be due, not fo much to the operation of air upon it, as to the fweat and exhalations of a human body •, which abounding with volatile fait, may either de- ftroy, or carry off with them, the coloured particles they meet with in their paffage. I have (bmetimes, with wonder, obferv'd the excellency of the better yjpomr in fort of Damafco ftecl, in comparifon of ordinary fteel. And there i? tke air to one phenomenon, which, tho"* I am not fure it belongs to the latent change the nx- qualities of the air, yet becaufe it very well may, I wi'll here reiafe ir. fure of metals. Having enquired of an eminent and experienced artificer, whom I employ in fome difficult experiments, about the properties of Damafco fteel ; the honeft, fober man, averr'd to me, that when he made inftruments M 2 of 84* Hidden Qualities Nat.Hist. of it, and gave them the true temper, which is fomewhat different ♦"^'-'V''*-^ from that of other fteel, he generally obferved, that, the' when ra- zors, c^c. made of it, were newly forg'd, they would be, fometimes, worfe than thofe of other fteel ^ yet when they had been kept for a year, or two, or three in the air, tlio' nothing elle was done to im- prove them, they would much furpafs other inftruments of the lame kind, and what themfelves were before ^ fo that feme of them have been laid afide, at firft, as no ways anfwering the great expeftation conceived of them, which, after two or three years, they were found to exceed. And I have feveral times made a fubftance, that confifts chiefly of a metalline body, and is of a texture fo clofe as to lie for many hours undiiTolved in a corrofive menftruum ^ yet this fubftance, that was fixed enough to endure melting by the fire, without lofing its colour, would, when 1 had purpofely expofed it to the air, be dif- folved in a very fhort time, and have its fuperficial parts turnM al- moft black. changes of And this brings- to mind the very pretty obfervation, newly made colour- intra- jj^ j^^i^ ^y ^^ ingeiious man, who took notice, that, if after the Jirl / e Qpe,j|j^g of a vein, the blood be kept till it be concreted, and have ex- cluded the fuperficial ferum, tho' the lower part be ufjally of a dark and blackifh colour, in comparifon of the fuperficial parts, and there- fore be counted far more feculent ^ yet if the lump or clot of blood be broken, and the internal and dark colour'd parts of it expofed to- the air, it will, after a time, be fo wrought on thereby, that the new fuperficial part will appear as florid as the the upper part feemed be- fore. And this obfervation I found to hold in the blood of fome - beafts, whereon I tried it-, but I have found it to fucceed in much fewer minutes than the Italian experiment, on human blood, made me expeft. ''jipmtrin On the other fide, ! have often prepared a fubftance, wherein the- ^^/J-ri ^'^^ effed appears quite contrary to this. For tho' the faftitious concrete, midcoaguUt' v/hilft kept to the fire, or very carefully preferv'd from the air, be ting the fame of a red colour, almoft like the common opake bloodftone of the - kody. ftiops, yet if I broke it, and left the lumps in the air, it would, in a fhort time, perhaps, in lefs than a quarter of an hour, have its fuperficial parts turned ot a very dark colour, fometimes fcarce ■ at all fliort of blackneC*;, A very inquifitive perfon, of my acquaintance, making, by diftilja- tion, a medicine of his own devifing, chanc'd to obferve this odd ' property in it, that if it were kept ftopp'd, it would be coagulated almoft like oil of anifeed, in cold weather *, yet if the ftopple were taken cut, and accefs for a while given to the air, it would turn to a liquor, and the veflel being again ftopp'd, it would, tho' more flowly, coagulate again. . And defiring to fee this odd preparati- on^ I found it, when brought into the room where I was, not liquid, but confiftent ^ tho' of a flight and foft texture. And having taken out in the Air. 85 out the cork, and fet the viol in a window, tho' the feafon, being Kat.Hist^ winter, was cold \ yet, in a little time, I found the coagu'ated Tub- v.^'-V""-^-^ ftance almoft become fluid. And another time, when the fealbn was lefs cold, being where the vial was kept well ftopp'd, and cafting my eyes on it, 1 perceived the included lubftance to be coagulated much like oil of anifeed. And this fubflance having, as the maker af- fured me, nothing at all of mineral in it, nor any chymical fait ^ but conlifting only of two fimple bodies, the one a vegetable, and the other an animal fubflance, diftill'd together^ thefe contrary effeds of the air, (which feems to have a power, in Ibme circumftance?, to coieulate luch a body, and yet to difTolve and make it fluid, when freiii parts are allow'd accels) may deferve to be farther re- flected on, with regard to the leafonable operations the infpired air may have on the confiftence and motion of the circulating blood, and to the difcharge of the fuliginous recrements to be Separated from. it in its palTage thro' the lungs. There are two other phenomena which feem favourable to our fufpicion, there being anonymous fubftances and qualities in the air : the one is, the growth or apparent production of metals and minerals dug out of the earth, and expofed to the air. But of this we ihall treat more particularly hereafter ; tho' the caution formerly given about the regeneration of falts in nitrous and other earths^ may, mutatis mutandis^ be applied to this produftion of metalline and mineral bodies. The other phenomenon is afforded by the various Contagion? and odd contagious difeafe?, that at fome times, and in lome places, dif.afes occa- invade and deftroy numbers of beafls, fometim.es of one particular -/^".^^^ ^-^ ^^^ kind, and fometimes of another. Oi this we have many inftances in the books of approved authors, both phyficians and others ; and i have mv felf obferved fome notable examples of it. Probably the fubterraieal parts of the earth, fometimes, elpecially after earthquakes, lend up into the air peculiar kinds of venomous exhalations that pro- duce new i^nd mortal d'feafes, in animals of a particular fpecies, and not in thole of another ^ and in this, or that particular place, and not elfewhere ;, of which we have an eminent infliance in that odd plague, or murrain, of the year 1514^ which FcmeUus tells us, inva- ded none but cRts. And even in animals of the fame fpecies, fome- times one fort has been incr.mparably more obnoxious to the plague than another. Diomfma Halicarnajfeus mentions a plague that attacked none but maids: and the peitilence, that raged in the time of Geri' tillsy a fam'J phylician, kill'd but few women, and fcarce any but lufty men. Boterus, alfo, mentions a great plague, that alfaulted almoft on- ly the younger forts of perfons •, few pafl rhirty years of age being attack'd by it -^ which lafl obfervation has been, alio, made by leve- ral late phyficians. We mny add, what learned men of the faculty have no*'ed, at feveral times, concerning plague:^, that particularly in- vade thole of this or that nation, tho' confufedly mix'd with other peo- air. 8^ Hidden Qualities Nat.Hist, people. Cardan fpcaks of a plague at Bafl, with which only the ^-''^'V^**^ Switz.ers, and not the Italians, French^ or Germans^ were infefted. And Johannes Vtenhovious takes notice of a cruel plague at Copenhagen.^ which, tho' it rag'd among the Danes, fpared the Enfflijli, Vutch, and Ger- mans \ who freely enter'd the infected houles, and were not careful to avoid the fick. But I muft not be underftood to impute thefe effefts merely to the noxious fubterraneal fumes •, for I am far from denying, that the peculiar conftitutions of men are likely to have a great ihare in them ^ yet it feems lefs probable, that the peftileacial venom, dilfufed thro' the air, ihould owe its enormous and fital efficacy to the excels of the manifeft qualities of the air^ than to the peculiar nature of the peftilential poifon breath'd from the bowels of the earthy which poifon, when it is, by dilution, or diffipation, enerva- ted;, or by its progrefs, paft beyond the air we breathe in, or ren- dered ineifedual by fubterraneal or other corpufcles of a contrary quality, the plague, which it produced, either quite ceales, or de- generates into fomewhat elfe. And thus, perhaps, fome of thofe difeafes, called new, which either began to appear, or raged within thefe two or three centuries, as the fweating-ficknefs, in the fifteenth century, thefcurvey and the Morbus Hungaricus, the Lues MoravU, No- viis morbus Liinehurgenfs, and fome others, in the laft century, may be in part cauied by the heterogeneous fleams we are here confi- dering. Vfesofthis And now if our two fufpicions about fubterraneal and fiderial ^o^rim of effluvia iliaii prove well grounded, they may lead us to farther anTcelefltal thoughts about things of no mean conlequence ^ three of which I ihall effluvia in fhe here mention. And i. we may hence take occafion to confider, whe- »ir. ther feveral changes of temperature and conftitution in the air, both as to manifeft and latent qualities, may not, fometimes, be derived from the fcarcity, or plenty, and peculiar nature of one or both of thefe forts of effluvia. We find, in the moft approved writers, fuch ftrange phenomena to have, fev.:ral times, happen'd in great plagues and contagious difeafes, fomented and communicated, nay, began by fome latent peftiferous, or other malignant conftitution of the air, as have obliged many of the moft learned of them to have recourle to the immediate operation of the angels, or of the power and wrath of God himfelf ^ or at leaft to fome unaccountable influence of the ftars. But none of thefe folutions feem preferable to what may be ga- ther'd from our coiijeOiure ^ fnice of phyfical agents, whereof we know nothing fo much as that they are to us invifible, and, proba- bly, of a heterogeneous n^ature :, it need be no great wonder, that the operation flrould, alfo, be abftrufe, and the effefts uncommon. And there are clearer inducements to perfuade us, that another quality of the atmofphere, its gravity, may be alter'd by unfeen effluvia af- cending from the fubterraneou= regions of our globe. We have of- ten perceived, by the mercurial barometer, the weight of the air to be in the Air. 87 be confiderably increafed, when we could not perceive in the air, nor Nat.Hist- furface of the earth, any caiile to which we might aicribe lb great a change. And I have Ibmetimes doubted, whether even the fun it felf may not now and then alter the gravity of the atmolphere, other wife than by its rays or heat. I defned feme gentlemen of my accjuaintance to aiiift me to difcover, whether fome of the fpots that appear about the fun, may not, upon their ludden dilTolution, have lome of their difpersM matter thrown olf as far as our citmofphere^ and that in a quantity fufficient to produce fome fenfible alterations in it, at leaft as to gravity. 2^ Another thing which our two forementioned fufpicions, ifallow'd of, will luggeft, is, that poffibly fome bodies we are converfant witji^ may have a peculiar difpofition and fitnefs to be wrought on by, or to be aifociated with fome of thole foreign effluvia, emitted by unknown bodies, lodg'd under ground, or that proceed from fome particular planet. For what we call antipathies, depending really, on the peculiar textures, and other modifications ot" the bodies, between which thefe friendfhips and hoftilities are faid to be exercis'd, 1 fee not why it is impolfible, that there fhould be an affinity betwixt a body of a fit or convenient texture, efpecially as to the lliape and lize of its pores, and the effluvia of any other body, whether lubterraneal or lidereal. We fee, that convex burning glalfes, by virtue of their figure, and the difpofition of their pores, are fitted to be pervaded by the rays of light, and to refraft them, and thereby to kindle combuftible matter ^ and the fame rays of the fun will impart a fplendor to the Bolonian. ftone. And as for fubterraneal bodies, we have fometimes Ihewn, that two minerals being prepared in a peculiar manner, the fleams of the one afcending without adventitious heat, and wandering thro' the air^, will not fenfibly woi k on other bodies • but if they meet with a body that we prepared, they immediately operate upon it j and the eifeft will be both manifeft and lalling. 3. The third thing luppos'd by our fufpicions is, that if they are well founded, ic may be conlider'd, whether among the bodies we are acquainted with here below, there are not fome that may prove recep- tacle-, if not alfo the attra^lives of lidereal, and other foreign effluvia, that rove up and down in our air. By attradives, I here mean,, fuch magnetical bodies as are fitted to detain, and join vvith effluvia^ when, by virtue of the various motions that belong to the air as a iluid, thele happen to accoft them. Thus in making oil of tartar fer delicjulumj tho' the fiery fait is fuppo-'d to dr:;w to it the aqueous vapours, yet indeed it does but arreft and incorporate with fuch of thole that wander thro' the air, as come in their palfage to accoft it. And without receding from the corpufcularian principles, we might a'lovv fome of the bodies we fpeak of a great ref mblance to magnets-, which ma-', upon the bare account of adhelion, bv jux^'^-P'^flt'Oii, or contact, detain the effl-u via that wou'd glide along them^ andtha^emay be the more fir mijr 88 Hidden Qualities Nat. Hist, firmly arrefted, by a kind of precipitating faculty of the magnet, with '.-/'"'V^^^' regard to fuch effluvia ^ nay, 'tispolTible in fome circumftaiices of time and place, that one of our magnets may, as it were, fetch in fuch ileams, as wouM indeed pafs near it, but wou'd not otherwife come to ■~~ touch it. Thus I have made bodies, not all of them eledrical, attrad- without being excited by rubbing, crc far lefs light bodies than the effluvia we are fpeaking of. SECT. II. ceteftialand QJEVERAL bodies, which experience afTures us imbibe or retain aerial mag- ^ fomething from the air, as calcined minerals, marcafites, faits, *^^^^' factitious and natural, &€- may be often expos'd to it, and then weigh'd again, and farther diligently examined, whether that which makes the increafe of weight be a mere imbibed moifture, or fomewhat elfe \ and likewife, whether it be feparable from the body or not, or have endow'd it with any confiderable quality. And experiments may be varied with a good magnet, by expofing it long to the air, in regions differing much in climate, foil, or both ^ by expofing it by day only, or by night, at feveral feafons of the year, in feveral temperatures oi the air, at feveral confiderable afpe£ls of the ftars and planets, by making it more or lefs frequently part with what it has gained from the air ^ and in iliort, by having regard to that variety of circumflances which human fagacltywill fuggeft. For by thus diverfifying the experiment many ways, we may, perhaps, by one or other of them, make Ibme unexpected, and yet important difeovery, of the effluvia wherewith the air in particular places, at particular times, abounds^ and perhaps too of fome correfpondence between the celeftial and terreltiial globes of the world. Thefe, perhaps, will feem extravagant thoughts ^ but if I had heen fortunate in preferving all my obfervations, or other fruit, of fome experiments I once made of this kind, it wouM keep them from appearing ridiculous. To fhew, however, that the air may not only have a notable operation upon vitriol, even after a ftrong fire could work no farther on it ^ and that this operation was confiderably diverfify'd by circumflances ;, I ihall make ufe of an obfervation ot the experienced 2'irf//fr, who informs us ^ that " the colcothar of this mi- *' neral, made by a ftrong diftillation, is not corrolive •, and that no " fait can be obtained from it foon after diitillation, by the affufion of ^^ watery but, fays he, if it be for fome time expos'd to the ai", it '' will yield a fait, which is fometimes white, fometimes of a beautiful " purple colour; and this I have obtain'd in large quantities, and " fometimes alfo a nitrous kind." This in the Air. 89 This teftlmony has much the more weight with me, becaufe I find Nat.Hist. what he affirms of the raltlefTnefs of vitriol, newly and firongly cal- ^''^V'"'''^ cined, to be very agreeable to fome of my experiments upon colcothar of blue vitriol •, which is fo odd a concrete, that I more than once re- commended them?king experiments upon it to feveral curious perfo.is j owe of whom, an induftrious man, and versM in chymical opentions, affured me, that not only he had different kinds of falts from colcothar expos'd to the air for many months, and robb'd at convenient times of what it acquired ; but that in tra£l of time he found it fo alter'd, that he obtain'd from it a confiderable quantity of true running mercury. But there are two or three things that I wouM defire to be obferv'd ohfewathn about this odd Cafut mortuum. The firft is, that fome circumftances be to be made on regarded, which moft obfervers wouM overlook •, fuch as the tempera- "^^'''»^''' ture of the air, the month of the year, the winds, the weight of the atmofphere, the fpots of the fun, the moon's age, her place in the zodiac, and the principal afpefts of the planets, and other chief ftars : for tho'' it be a boldnefs to affirm, that any, or perhaps all thefe toge- ther, will beconcern'd in the produftion of the fair, or other fubftance to be made or dilclos'd in the colcothar -^ yet in things new and exor- bitant, it may be fometimes rafh and peremptory, to deny even fuch particulars as cannot without railinefs be pofitively afferted ; and in our cafc,the fmall trouble of taking notice of circumftances, will be richly re- warded,by theleaft difcovery made in things foabftrufeand confiderable. And as we cannot yet pronounce fo much as negatively, whether the libration of the moon, and the motion of the fun, and perhaps of fome of the other planets, about their own centers, and confequently their turning feveral parts of their bodies to us, may have an operation upon our atmofphere -^ fo, tor ought I know, there may be in thofe vaft internal parts of the earth, whofe thin cruft only has been here and there dug into, confiderable maffes of matter having periodical revo- lutions, accenfions, eftuations, fermentations, or in fhort, fome other notable commotions ^ whofe efftuvia may produce effefts yet unobferv'd on the atmofphere, and on fome particular bodies expos'd to it; tho' thefe periods may, perhaps, be altogether irregular, or have fome kind of regularity, different from what one wou'd expeft. Thus the fea has thofe grand intumefcencies, we call fpring-tides, not every day, nor at any conftant day of the month or week, but about the full and new moon •, and thefe fpring-tides are moft notably heighten'd, not every month, but twice a year ; at or about the vernal and autumnal equi- noxes : which obfervations are not near fo ancient, and fo well known, as the daily ebbing and flowing of the fea. The etefiaiis of the ancients I fhall not now infift on, nor the obfervations of the elder inhabitants of the Caribbee iflands % who, when the Eti^opeafjs firft reforted thither, had hurricanes but once in feven years ; afterwards they were molefted with them once in three years ; and of late they are troubled with them almoft every year. And a phyfician who lived there, told Vol. III. N me. 50 Hidden Qualities Kat.Hist. me, he had Icarce ever obferv'd them to fucceed one another in a lefs compafs than of two months. In which inftances, and feveral others that may be noted, of what changes happen to great quantities of matter, nature feems to afFe£t fomething of periodical^ but not in a way that appears to us regular. We may add, what the learned Fare- nim relates of thofe hot fprings in Germany ^ he calls Therm