CHAP. I. First what the Portable Baro­meter is, the Constitution of the Atmosphere, and how the Effluvia keep off the Airs Gravitation, and are the cause of the variation of its weight.

WHat I have to offer about a Portable Ba­rometer I once in­tended to shew the world in another manner, but since [Page] [...] [Page 1] [...] [Page 2]that could not be I am unwilling by reason of the extraordinary ser­vice it may be applied to in Phi­losophy, Hydrostaticks and Me­chanicks, they should know no­thing of it, yet know no reason after a great deal of Labour and Charge to give it away, but could rather wish there were something ordered for a present reward, ac­cording to the worth of every dis­covery, whereby every improve­ment would immediately receive a thousand improvements if it were capable, and the World the bene­fit at the same time: And for the Philosophical Reasons of the Na­tures of these things from Authors I never saw any, either of Me­teors or this, and as I suppose the thing is New, so I know nothing but what reason has taught me in the use of it, for about two years and a half. Therefore it cannot be supposed the Method, Reasons or Rules should be so smooth, Di­rect and Perfect the first time as they may be afterward, if I live [Page 3]and do well to make another Edition.

The Portable Barometer is an Instrument that weighs the Air, measures its Height, and foretells all the alterations of Weather both in Quantity and Quality, which for the better understanding it will be convenient to tell the reasons, which I shall do in ten Particulars, Then shew the man­ner in its use, and settle the Rules, for there is no alteration of Wea­ther, which is not preceeded by an alteration of the weight of the Air, both for Heat and Cold, as well as Wet and Dry, which comes to pass in this manner.

The continual motion of the Parts of Matter, of which all things are composed, and from whence they encrease and decay, begets a mighty Emancipation of Atoms, with constant Emanations from e­very part of all sorts of Bodies, which being pressed on every side [Page 4]by the Universal Fluid of Air gives them particular bounds, and so con­stitute an Atmosphere or Sphere of Attoms to every Body (and is thereby also the cause of Electri­cal Attractions) therefore the great Globe of Earth and Water, with all its consistent Bodies must needs have very Copious Effluvi­ums, and so make a very large Atmosphere, being by an Univer­sal Motion driven from every part of the whole, as far as the Power of that Motion, and the Pressure of the Air will give leave, which by that Pressure and their own weight are again returned like random-shot, from whence they are sent: This Sphere of Atoms (or at least our Hemispherical part thereof) is sometimes filled with more and less Emanations by the inequality of that Motion several Undulations, particular Eddies, and the Effluvia Circulations, which in like manner does more or less keep off the Airs Gravitation whereby a Cylinder of the Air [Page 5]cannot weigh so much in wet or Winds Weather as it does in dry Weather (and not as John Smith tells us by his Principle of Philo­sophy, that the Air is lighter by be­ing mixt with watery vapors, tho a thousand times heavier than its self, and mixes Water with Rectified Spi­rits of Wine for a Demonstration in his Horological Disquisitions pag. 75.) I say Winds as well as Wet keep off the Airs Gravitati­ons for Winds also being only humid bodies sufficiently dilated and by that Expansive force the strugling Atoms as strangely a­gitated, with numerous and powerful Attacks from multi­tudes of fresh Emancipations and Eruptions from our Aeolian Globe must needs keep off the Air's Gravitation, much more then o­ther Pacide Vapors (as I shall further Demonstrate in the third and fifth Chapters following) which in the Common Barome­ter make very considerable altera­tions, tho there be no Rain, [Page 6]and are easily discovered by seve­ral Hygroscopes by their surpri­sing Gravities, as I shall shew in the tenth Chapter. Thus our Aeo­lian Effluvia do not only keep off the Gravitation of the Air, but are the cause of the variation of its weight.

CHAP. II. How Rain and Snow are Generated and Produced, and why they make a Cylinder of Air lighter, and yet any other particular parcel of Air much heavier.

WHat I have to say upon the Contents of this Chapter, is not of the prime cause of Rain and Snow, but only a short account of their Generation and Production, in relation to their affections of the Atmosphere, for the better under­standing of the nature and use of the Barometer. Rain and Snow, then are generated of the same mat­ter: But for distinction I will first give an account of Rain, and then of Snow. Rain is generated of the Effluviums that constitute our Ter­raqueous Atmosphere, being by their Emancipated motion in a certain [Page 8]part thereof driven towards the ex­tremity of the Sun's reflections into a cooler Region, they soon con­dense in some little part first, which Condensation immediately makes room for the natural Elasticity of the Air, which as soon begins to carry a long with it all the other Effluvia round about to the first Condensation, where being by this Elastick force, first brought from all the neighbouring parts, the Efflu­vious Air then runs down by its own weight and Elasticity from every side to a vast extent, where being heaped and crowded toge­ther, they not only fall by their Innate Gravity, but by the same motion of Air (which now is Wind) are sent down sometimes with ex­tream violence, and thus not only the neighbouring Atoms are con­densed in a little Cloud and small Showers, but the whole Hemisphe­rical Effluvia are driven and drawn together and discharged upon a whole Country or national Hori­zon oftentimes, till the whole half Atmosphere is emptied of all those [Page 9]Vapors, and then having made a Current from every part beyond, all the other Emanations that are raised in other parts of the world as readily flow hither, to be dis­charged here in continual Rains for a long time together, till by a piarticuler Condensation in some other Place, the course is altered and the Current turned, and then it may be Dry as long; the Con­tinual stream of Atoms being car­ried away to other Places to be discharged there.

The difference between storms or a little wet, and lasting settled Rains, is that in the first Emanci­pated Atoms being not so thick or Copious as at other times in their elevating Motions, become Bounded by Particular Eddies of Air, which drives them so close together, that by this means they are formed into Clouds; and by their being driven yet closer to­gether, by the Power and strength of these Eddies, and the Addition of fresh Matter: The small Atoms fall so fast one into another by [Page 10]Cold and compressure that very large Drops are Immediately pro­duced and sent Down with more or less violence according to the Disposition of their Motion, the Season, and Air.

But in settled Rains, the Efflu­vious Vapors, having for some time before been continually filling our Hemesphere, from all parts without any discharge, in a still and quiet manner without di­sturbing the Air; at last receive a Condensation as above in some particular part, which Immediately makes way for the Airs Elasticity.

But being now every where filled, which these Vapors cannot unbend or move so fast; yet con­tinually brings the Neighbouring Vapors, and so are gently and continually sent down as long as they last-

Snow is generated of the same Effluvium's or small peices of moi­sture when the Sun is at a conveni­ent Distance, and the Country pro­per with Hills, Mountains, and Latitudes. The Calorifick Beams [Page 11]being easily hindred by them, or not tended far enough for the other, together with the Assistance of the Contrary Motions, or Interposi­tions of the Beams of the other Stars; or obstructed by the Nu­merous Effluvia that murales or or walls the whole Atmosphere, or by contrary currants of Air, or Winds: and the Heat being thus or any other ways kept off, and the Effluvious Vapours continuing their Pneumatick Motions, with­out any great pressure, they are not condensed into Drops, but are frozen in their own shapes, in some little part first: which is quickly extended to all the rest by the Frigorifick Saline, Particls as they use to tell us, universally dis­persed and mixed with these A­toms. But rather by the former privations, as will be further de­monstrated in the 6 Chapter. Then being driven a little closer they fall by their own weight in bigger or lesser Flakes, and with more or less driving according as the Motion, Cold and Pressure is. Then [Page 12]as for Hail, that is seldom any o­ther ways than in Storms, and is a kind of half frozen Snow and Rain mixed together. The manner of its generation and Production may be easily conceived by the ac­count I have given of Rain and Snow with better satisfaction than what they use to tell us of the drops freezing after they fall from the Clouds, which is almost impossible. But this being not so directly to my purpose, I shall say no more of it, but only demonstrate how Rain and Snow which thus thick­ens and fills the Air, yet make a Cylinder thereof much lighter, but any other particular parcel of Air much heavier. The reason why Snow and Rain make a Cylinder of Air lighter, is that the Effluvious vapours that constitute the Atmo­sphere and of which it consists, be­ing so very numerous from every part of Matter, and so constantly and powerfully sent out, that they not only make particular streams from the more fluid parts, but an universal stream from the whole [Page 13]Globe of Earth and Water, and all other consistent Bodies whatever. This universal stream or flood of Vapors being thus united in all parts of the world, make an intire screen of condensed or thickened Matter to a great thickness, being near a thousand times more solid than Air, before they appear in Clouds, and therefore must needs keep off or stop the Airs penetra­tion, and thereby its Gravitation, which yet does not require a gene­ral Rain or Snow, for a little that comes by particular Currents or Eddies in Storms will do it, for they being of no great height, want no great extent, to hinder both the direct and collateral pressure of the Air, as has been observed by com­mon Barometers in a little distance. Thus the Ethereal Particles are al­ways hindred by these Emanati­on, at all times, but much more in wet than in dry weather, and the nearer the Earth's Surface, the more they are obstructed, as ap­pears in the little heights of small Hills, by the same Barometers, so [Page 14]that it is impossible a Cylinder of Air should weigh so much in wet, as it does in dry weather, which I shall now demonstrate by Experi­ments also.

CHAP. III. How Winds, Storms, Tempests, Hurri­canes and Tornados are produced?

THe Portable Barometer, being an Instrument that discovers all the alterations of Weather, it will be convenient to give some account of Winds also, what they are, and how produced, for they are as well fore­seen by this as any other sort of wea­ther, and the reason we have had no better knowledge of them, is only for want of a true method in Science, to direct us in all natural observations to enlarge and confirm our knowledge, That have kept us from it, therefore what I have to say of Winds cannot be expected to be either so full or per­fect as what is dilivered of more ob­vious Subjects, being not so Cognisci­ble to our Senses, but are indeed of a Metaphysical Nature, of which few I [Page 20]suppose have made any great experi­ments, but only given us some Hi­storical relations of their strangeness, and tho Winds are only the motions of Air, yet their origines are almost as various as their motions, and can­not be had from any one cause, but we must ascend into the Regions of the Air, and descend into the Caverns of the Earth, and Waters of the Sea, to understand them, for we can never confine their original to any one effi­cient, nor (I believe) there never was any single Theory yet stated, that would resolve the whole Phaenominon of Winds, which may be generated these six ways, by Rarefaction, Com­pressure, Elasticity and Resilition, or by Subterraneal, or Submarine Erup­tions. The universal Efficient of the first four is chiefly the operations of the Sun Beams upon the Effluvious Air, and that of the other two from Subterranial Vutrano's and Calid Emo­tions of Mineral Heterogenities, as I shall successively shew.

First, by Rarification, that Air may be dilated to 100, 200, nay 13000 times its former extent, as the Ho­nourable [Page 21]Esquire Boyle, Mersennus and others have experienced without heat, by removing the Circumjacent Pressure of the other Aerial Particles, but let this or any such Rarefaction be pro­duced from what cause soever, either by the Sun Beams, or any other heat, or Condensation of some particular part, to make room for the natural Expan­sion of another, the effects will be all one, a Wind must insue by the Pro­trusion of other Air, which by this means crowd and Superonerate the former spaces, whereby that won­derful and admirable Emotions of the Atmosphere is produced, we call Wind, which is more or less violent according to the force and extent of the Rarefaction.

Secondly, Compressure is another way, by which Winds may be gene­rated, the Effluvious Air being in con­tinual motion, not in one, but several Currents must needs produce very numerous undulations, these together, almost as many Eddies, whether in pure Air, Efflvious Vapours, or Clouds, which in contrary Currents meet, with more or less violence, ac­cording [Page 22]to the Bigness, Strength, and Density of the Matter, by which means the Wind may (as the pressure is) vio­lently descend Perpendicularly to the Earth, or being reverted by cross or collateral obstructions, heaping and pressing Superonerations, makes as vi­olent Whirl-winds, Hurricanes or Tor­nadoes, &c. to blow from all the parts of the Compass at the same time, with amazing Displosions, as if the Heavens and the Earth were going to be torn in pieces, by these examinating Tem­pests. But their several Species is not my present business, only the use of the Barometer, but if Life and Leisure serve, it may be done in another Edi­tion.

Thirdly, Elasticity the natural sprin­giness of the Air is another cause of Winds, for tho we suppose our At­mosphere to be in never so still and quiet a posture, and all things most calm and sedate, yet 'tis impossible it should be all of one universal consi­stency, but must contain a great vari­ety of rare and dense parts, from the Local Diffirances the Emanations pro­ceed from, either Waters or Marshes, [Page 23]or dry Lands, and these different de­grees of fluid Densities, being upon a just and true Aequilibrium, a small strenght of other Elastick Particles between, turns them any way, which immedi­ately make room for a numerous succes­sion of other Auxiliaries to a vast ex­tent, that carries all before them in an impetuous Wind. So that when­ever any Aereal Particle has leave to unbend it self in any posture, it im­mediately gives way to the other neigh­bouring Particles Expansions, and as the motion is made, to others beyond, to a mighty extent, by which means their strength is also encreased to a mighty proportion, with the additi­on of their weight, to their Elastici­ty, and so carries all before them to the turning up of the strongest Oakes or Buildings, which continue till the Elastick Particles are driven to their utmost extentions, that the other pacid Particles will yeild to, and then they begin again to curl and fluctuate, and by degrees to settle in their native postures, and a quiet calm, till fresh causes give them new disturbances.

Fourthly, The Resilition of the At­mosphere is another cause that pro­duces wind, the Effluvious Air being easily taken and brought into currents by several Meanders, as well in the upper as in the lower Regions; in the upper by the Sun Beams, or the parti­cular constitution, or local position of the same Effluviums; and in the lower by the Waters in several Seas and Channels, and also with several Moun­tains and Valleys by Land, this tender fluid being so very tractable, so easi­ly susceptible and long retentive of the last Impression, that 'tis a kind of a perpetual Automata, which may by these or several other ways be brought into Currents; but yet it is almost im­possible these Currents should be con­tinued in even and uninterrupted Or­bicular courses, but must be met or obstructed by several Clouds and Densities in the Atmosphere, Hills, Mountains, the Sun Beams, contrary Currents of Air, Provincial Trade or Etesian-winds, Mascarets, &c. any of which obstructions forthwith be­gets this Resilition, and that more or less wind, according to the bigness [Page 25]and strength of the recoyling Protru­sions.

Fifthly, Subterraneal eruptions are another cause of Winds, which erup­tions are produced by the Calid Emo­tions and Effervescencies of Mineral Heterogeneities that plentifully abound in all parts of the world; and these Calid Emotions by the mixtures of the Effluvious Acids from Niter, and o­ther Salts, Vitriols, Sulphurs, Antimo­ny, &c. which will immediately heat only with a small quantity of fair water (as Spirits of Niter and Vitriol, &c. which are only their acid salts freed from their more Terrestrial parts, and united with a little Phlegm, mingled with water will do) the small Parti­eles of which are always at hand, and can never be wanting in no such places. And with bigger additions of other Auxiliaries, are in some places aug­mented to actual fires, by which means their acid Salts are made Alcaline, and so furnish the whole Universe with sufficient matter for Effervescen­cies, and fermenting Calid Emotions by the continual actions and reactions of their Acid and Alcaline Particles, [Page 26]as quick Lime and Water, or these with Sal Armoniack, &c. or any Acid Spirit with the ashes of Wood, Bones, Coals, or other Alcalies will immedi­ately heat and boyl without fire, with such strength and violence, that the strongest Vessel cannot contain them. Thus the Subterraneal Caverns are the Kingdom of Aeolus, and Nature's Chy­mical Furnaces, where all the nume­rous Cranies are Receptacles of Wind, from the internal Vulcano's. Rarefacti­ons, which are continually sent Night and Day from all those places, and constantly disturb our Atmosphere more or less, in one place or another, by their powerful Propulsions: For the Earth is the first Mother of Meteors, and contains all those restless Spirits and Effervescencies, that afterwards raise Storms, Tempests, Hurricanes, and Tornado's by Sea; several raging Winds and violent Storms by Land, Thunders and Lightnings in the Air, and Earth-quakes under ground, fre­quently known to come from the burn­ing Mountains in China, the Grotto's in Calabria and Sicily: The Alps and many other places of the World.

Sixthly, Submarine eruptions are produced in the same manner under the Sea, as the others are under the Ground, and generate Winds as they do, and are called Procella Coeca, they break out in a Cloud or Mist, from un­der the Water, and encrease and dif­fuse themselves, till they cover the face of the whole Heavens, and end in most dreadful Tempests, we have an account of one from our Fleet at Duncannon, by the Principal Officers to their Superiours in England, related by Esquire Boyle, that in a calm day, there suddenly ascended a black Cloud out of the Water, hard by them, in shape and bigness of a Barrel, which afterwards ended in so hideous and dreadful a Tempest, that it forced the Ships to Sea again, in the greatest dan­ger of total destruction, and had like to have cast them away. So in St. Owen's Bay, in the Isle of Jersey, when never so calm, and no Wind stirring, these submarine Tempests often appear, and the roaring of the Waves are heard all over the Isle, and 20 or 30 miles in­to France, and in the River Dourdongn near Bourdeaux; the Mascarets swell [Page 28]the Water into Mountains, and the People cry out Garde le Mascaret in Sum­mer time, and the calmest air. So the Gulf of Lions often threatens the adja­cent Country with a Deluge, the Lake of Geneva and several other places from the same causes.

CHAP. IV. That violent Tempests, Hurricanes, or Tornadoes, &c. seldom happen in cold Countries, Winter-seasons, Large Plains or great Seas.

WInds being generated according to the preceding manners, they may consist of almost infinite variety of Salts, Sulphurs, Spirits, Mineral and Subterraneous Juices, Damps, and Aeolian Ejections, Mists and rarified Vapours, Rain, or dissolved Snow, broken and dissipated Clouds, or agi­tated Air, and so may be hot, cold, dry, moist, &c. and thereby also more or less lasting or violent according to [Page 29]the matter, power and plenty of their Causes, yet must be raised in natural ways from their Fountains or proper Productions, which are very easily effected (without recourse to Occult Causes) upon so tender a fluid as Air, by the foregoing ways in the preced­ing Chapter, and may be as truly fore­told by the Portable Barometer not­withstanding all this variety, by the alterations they produce in the weight of the Air, but yet violent Winds, Storms, Tempests, Hurricanes, Tor­nadoes, &c. cannot be so easily pro­duced in cold Countries, hard frosty seasons, large Plains or great Seas, as [...]n warmer Regions, Rockey Countries, or narrow and craggy Seas, for in cold Countries, or frosty Seasons the Efflu­vious Air is too much Condensed into a kind of fixation, and thereby not on­ly keep the Effluvia in the same po­sture, but walls in very Atmosphere against all other Pneumatick Attacks whatever, that the most violent Pro­trusions of Exotick force can never dis­order their Perennial Structure, but can only displace some outward Par­ticles, which the standing force of the [Page 30]rest will take no notice of, nor can there be any internal disturbance to disorder their quiet, for the same cold that fixes the Effluvia keeps them so, and hinders all other commotions, and also shuts the pores of the Earth, hin­ders the Rarefaction of Vapours, and stops all manner of Effervescencies, and calid Emotions of Subterraneous Mineral Heterogeneous Spirits and E­jections, whereby the Atmosphere must needs be much more quiet and free from these raging disturbances in such places and at such times, than in hot mountainous or rocky places.

And so in large Plains or great Seas there can be nothing to interrupt or ob­struct the currents or course or the Air, but as it comes, so it continues its pro­gress, and goes away in a great body to a vast distance, and meets with nei­ther resilitions nor compressions, no Hills, Mountains nor Vulcanos, but is continued almost in a perennial Course, either with the Sun, Earth or primum mobile in all such places as well as the whole Torrid Zone, and some degrees on each side (except in Rocky Coun­tries, narrow Seas, &c.) In Trade, [Page 31]Etesian or Anniversary Winds, or with the Course of the Sea, or Air and Water, as the Levant and Provincial Winds in continued Streams, or at most in gentle puffs, and even Gales created by the motion of particular Clouds, soft Rains, moderate Storms, or Effluvious Densities that propell the Air before them in such undulous A sperities, but must be something ex­traordinary, or a great Complication of causes that can seldom happen to pro­duce a Hurricane, Tornado, &c. be­sides in cold Countries great Seas, large Plains, &c. the chief material efficients are wanting, a powerful Effervescency, confused Eddies, Transverse Resiliti­ons, strong Compressions and heaping Superonerations, therefore besides the freedom from these violent sorts of weather, these places must needs enjoy more mild and temperate seasons at all times (except heat in the Torrid Zone) than any other, yet heat and cold as well as all other sorts of weather, are caused by the particular temperature, disposition of the Atmosphere, assisted by the presence or absence of the Ca­lorifick Beams, and constitution of the [Page 32]place, and so may be as well foretold by the alterations they make in the weight of the Air as any other sort of weather, as I shall shew in the Se­venth and Eighth Chapters following.

CHAP. V. That they are easily foretold, because they produce the greatest variation in the weight of the Air.

WInds being only the motions or agitations of our Effluvious Air, it may at first seem strange how they should cause so great an alterati­on in the weight thereof above any o­ther sort of Weather, and will be al­most surprising to see a Cylinder of Air that now weighs 2020, or more, in a few hours, not to weigh above 1970 or less, and after the Wind is over, in a little longer time, to weigh 2020 a­gain, or more than it did before, til [...] the matter and causes are considered▪ If our Hemispherical part of the Atmo­sphere continue of an even thickness [Page 33]and the Effluvia in the same posture, a Cylinder of Air must needs conti­nue of the same weight; for as there is nothing to alter its density, so 'tis impossible it should alter its gravity, and continuing of the same weight, the Effluvia are neither dispersed, nor more heaped or crowded together, therefore being still there can be no wind, and the longer it holds the greater the calm, if it continues two or three days, a Feather will fall per­pendicular from a considerable height, so that let the weight be what it will, or can, when ever it stands it is al­ways calm, which may be further said to be almost more than true (if pos­sible) for it may continue to increase or decrease one, two, or three parts in 24 hours, and yet it will continue calm from the highest to the lowest variation.

And so for violent Storms, Tempests, Hurricanes and Tornados, they being produced by such means related in the third Chapter, it will be impossible any of them should happen, when the weight of the Air does not alter above two, three, four, five, or six parts in twenty four hours, nor indeed in half [Page 34]that time, let the alteration be in what part of the variation it will, tho be­tween 2020 and 1980, five or six parts will be near as much as ten in any o­ther part: for if it be more than 2020, the Air is too dry or fair, so there is nothing to put it into motion, and if it be less than 1980, it is too wet, or too much filled, and thickned every where with the Effluvious vapours to receive any such disturbances; and the reasons why none of these violent tem­pests never come when the weight of the Air alters no faster, are that the Effluvious Vapours come smoothly on, and the Atmosphere thickens by de­grees, and by that means our Hemi­spherical part thereof is gradually filled to a greater or lesser depth and thick­ness, and therefore must be leisurely discharged in the manner related in the second Chapter about Rain, for thus our Hemisphere is secured from all manner of violence, from outward at­tacks, or inward disturbances of strong Compressions, confused Eddies, and heaping Superonerations; yet when any of these violent Tempests do come a calm must preceed, and our Hemi­spherical [Page 35]part of the Atmosphere must continue very still for some time before (for if the Air be in motion, tho in never so gentle a course, there can no such thing happen, because it will be carried off by that current as it comes) that their productions may be the better collected and kept together; than in such places as are subject to these violences, they may be reasona­bly expected from some Cavernous Vulcanos, Calid Emotions, strong Ef­fervescencies, Subterraneous or Sub­marine Eruptions, either single or complicate, from one or more places, the Emanations being powerfully sent up perpendicularly from the Hori­zon or inclining (as the disposition of the Air is) for a considerable time, in such a calm season, (like smoak from Chimneys) they propel the Air before them, and so make room for the other Effluvia that follows with the same swiftness, and the rest of the Atmo­sphere to unbend, if it inclines with its whole Elasticity, that makes as quick a current, till the propelled Air being strengthned by a mighty Turba, can be driven no further, and the other fol­lowing [Page 36]lowing with as great strength, they become fenced on every side, with such mighty pressures, that they fill the whole lower Region, and there­by in a manner keep off the whole body of superior Air from any gravi­tation, till at last it is discharged in so dreadful a manner, with such ama­zing displosions. And thus these Tempests by a small inclination at their first risings may be carried a considera­ble distance from their local originals, and their skirts may chance to make so great an alteration in the weight of the Air, that they may be expected there, if not carefully observed, and so in lesser Storms, and also in showery Seasons of temperate Countries, the weight of the Air will sometimes al­ter in this manner, when no Rain can come within eight or ten miles of the place, but if these Tempests in their perpendicular ascensions are equally dilated on every side, they are in a little time discharged very near the place of their first productions, with more or less violence, accor­ding to the plenty of the Matter and disposition of the neighbouring Air.

Thus all these Tempests are easily foretold, for if in two, three, or four hours time the weight of the Air de­creases 20, 30, 40, or 50 parts, we may be certain some of these sorts of weather will follow, tho sometimes the Winds will blow when the weight of the Air increases 10, 15 or 20 parts in six, eight or ten hours, but then it must decrease leisurely before, and a little rain before it rise. The several sorts of Tempests may be distingui­shed by the particular parts of the variation the decrease is made from, with respect to the Country and Sea­son, yet if it begins about 2015, and decreases to 1980 or less, it will Thun­der tho in Winter; if it begins a­bout 2010, and rest about 1970, it will be only Winds with very little Rain, but such Winds as very seldom hap­pen. We had an example on the sixth of February 1698/9, at 10 over night be­fore, a Cylinder of Air weighed 2011, the same morning at 7 it weighed 1991, at 10 in the forenoon it weigh­ed but 1965, which was 36 parts in three hours time, and 20 the night before, which were 56 in all, in twelve [Page 38]hours time. It rested at 1965, till a­bout nine the next morning, at two afternoon it weighed 1970, and at night it weighed 2011 again, at 7 the next morning, which was the eighth, it weighed 2022. How strong and tempestuous a wind we had at that time, not (I suppose) be re­lated, few Houses escaping its fury, and many Houses and Barns blown quit down; and many thousands of Elms in the Kingdom, and several Oakes, one near Hamsted 5 miles from London, twisted like a Withe, of great Bigness.

CHAP. VI. What Frost and Thunder is? A conjecture at their Causes ond Production.

WHat I have to say upon these two difficult Subjects, is chiefly from Experiments and Notions that have reciprocally directed one another in some further and more easie ways of their productions, by the use of this In­strument, yet am not arrived beyond conjectures, but hope they will eluci­date these things to a further discove­ry of the very truth it self. Frost and Thunder then, I believe, are not pro­duced by such means as have been formerly maintained, the first from nitrous Saline particles dispersed in the Air, and was only thought to be the last effect or production of Cold, and the other from Nitro-Sulphureous par­ticles in the same manner dispersed, but then collected, and afterwards by ve­ry [Page 32]hard or difficult means set on fire in the midst of so much Water. But Thunder I suppose may be much easier produced from a collection of the So­lar Rays, by a particular disposition of the Effiuvious Vapours or Clouds, and Frost by a privation of those and other Calorifick Corpuscules, which create a certain stifness, from a contrary ten­dance, and want of motion. But first of Thunder, our Atmospherical Efflu­via having no other original than the Terraqueous Globe and its productions, how plentifully soever they are sent from the burning Mountains, Grottos and Vulcanos in Japan, China, Suma­tra, Fez, Fogo, Sicily, the Alps, Cali­fornia, New Spain, or other places, (some of which are said to cast their Ashes two hundred Miles about) either of Niter, Sulphur, Bitumine or any o­ther simple or compounded combusti­ble matter from any other parts all of the Earth or Sea; they are all too much mixed with the Aqueous Particles that accompany them or the Clouds they compose, to be set on fire in the Air, or to Thunder there, any other ways than with their Echos or Winds they [Page 33]produce, they may indeed thunder in these Vulcanos under the Earth or Water, shake and tear it in a terrible manner, and produce many fiery erup­tions from such places, but can never be re-inkindled in the Air, or any other distant places from their local originals, for if these Effluvia of Niter and Sul­phur be distilled or sublimed from these places, with never so great a fire, the first will be liquified with its own Phlegm (after the manner of o­ther distillations) and the other by these, and other humid vapours in the thun­dring Clouds or Air, and so can never be set on fire after they are raised from their Concrets, for Thunder in the Air, I believe, is never without a Cloud and some Rain, nor can the spirits of Niter, Sulphur, Salt, Vitriol, Aquafortis or Regis, produced by these or any other distillations, being any ways mixed, ei­ther with themselves or any other things, be brought to any more than a heating Bullition, and not to an actual fire; and if we should suppose the At­mosphere to consist of two third parts of Niter and Sulphur in substance (when it is impossible there should be one, in [Page 34]proportion to the other parts of the world) and to be driven never so close by Winds and Compressions, the other third part will prevent the Ignition of the rest, which is easily experienced by taking Niter, Sulphur, and Water of each alike in a Crucible, that will hold two or three times as much, well luted, and set it on a gentle; fire at first, the Crucible may be very red without any fire breaking out, and if then a vent be made through the Lute, to let it boyl over, which it will im­mediately do into the fire, yet it will not kindle till the water is evaporated. We have another common Experiment in the tryal of Spirits of Wine, with Gun­powder, the most inflammable of any thing we know, by taking the Spirits of Wine in a Spoon, with some Corns of Gunpowder at the bottom, and set­ing it on fire, if there be but a little Phlegm in the Spirits, the Gunpowder will be left almost dry at the bottom, yet not fired, tho surrounded with the fire, and kept stirring all the while. Thus it seems almost impossible Thun­der and Lightning should be produced from any thing of Niter or Sulphur, or [Page 35]any Terrene Effluvia without some o­ther assistance, but rather from a Con­cave Collection of the Promethean Fire, by several Nebulous Conical Profun­dities, which cannot be when the Air thickens by degrees for continual Rains, for then the Sun Beams are equal­ly mixed with the Effluvia, only some few excluded; and the Atmo­sphere being of one consistency, there can be no such disturbance but when it is somewhat still, and in a little dry­ish time and place, when the Effluvia are sent up by more plentiful streams from some particular places, and fewer from others, by which, if those streams receive a circumjacent pressure, by their propulsions through the Effluvi­ous Air, or be but kept from dilating, they will naturally terminate in Cones, but whether Conical or Cylindrical, those nearest the Earth will be most united, and thereby form the Solar Rays into erect or inclining Conical figures amongst the Clouds, which by the Atmospherical Eddies and Cur­rents, that are then very deep, both Fire and Water becomes more and more compressed, and cannot be car­ried [Page 36]very far before they are dischar­ed, some indirect Coruscations, which they may gain by that motion, and o­thers in collateral or inclining one, which they may be brought to in the same manner, so that whenever the Effluvious Vapours receive or acquire, such a disposition, with sufficient depth and density, it may Thunder tho in Winter; and for further confir­mation, if we take an ordinary Con­cave-Glass, and concenturate the Sun Beams, but upon a Bason of Water, they will quickly put it into a Bullition, and if kept steady upon the same place for some time, they will at last give it the same motion and sound of Thunder, with that in the Clouds; but if with a onveniently shap'd and sized Glass, like a Boult-head, with a long neck, being exactly placed and filled with fair water, and with a good Concave-glass, the Sun Beams be con­centurated upon that solid body of Water in the other Glass, with care to heat it leisurely, that the fire may not crack the Glass, till throughly warm, and then kept steady upon the same place as before, these Igneous Corpus­cles [Page 37]will not only bring that water to the same Thundring Bullitions with that in the Clouds by the various im­pulsive motions of its rising and falling, but these very Beams by those impul­sions will variously penetrate both glass and water in diverse linghtning flashes. Thus we have no occasion to fill the Air with so much Niter and Sulphur to save the Phaenomenon of Thunder and Lightning, but it will be sufficient to have it seasoned like other products, then for the Lightnings coming downwards, either right, side ways, or inclining, and as it was thought contrary to the nature of o­ther fire, whose flame was also thought would go no other ways but upwards, till by melting Niter in some Iron or other Sulphureous Vessels, that spiri­tuous and penetrating Salt by that heat mixing with the imbibed Oyl or con­cetred Sulphur, as soon as it has ac­quired a compleat red body of fire (I say a body of fire) whose Atoms ha­ving the same passages, can as well go back, as they came in, and these Saline Particles can now (we see) by the help of that Oyl or Sulphur accompa­ny [Page 38]them with natural Coruscations, for Niter being made a body of fire that consists of such subtile or rather spi­rituous parts, to what part soever the Oyl or Sulphur, or any other combustible matter is contiguous, from thence the flashes must proceed (there being nothing to hinder) as well downwards, inclining or side­ways as right up, and so from any other body of fire, that is not fuel, as well as Niter, for Niter is no ways inflammable of its self, which may soon be proved in a Crucible at any time, but it is impossible the flame of any com­bustable matter alone, however dispo­sed should go any other ways than up­wards (except the Air incline it other ways, because the Terrene Propulsions are made that ways, and increased by the heat if near, and most such things growing liquid, by inversion, and that weight are extinguished, but yet it is as unlikely if not impossible that any fiery flashes should be produced from any Terrene Concrete to be continued to half that strength and distance that Lightning is known to be of, nor can they by any means be brought to a [Page 39]true resemblance, not those of Niter and Sulphur, to them of Lightning, whose Rays being universally defu­sed, are easily collected, and may be compressed a thousand times more than a little Air in a wind Gun, to solve the Phaenomena of many other Consequen­ces; but the hardest of all is, that it is often times known to Hail with Thunder and Lightning, how these Clouds that contain so much fire, should yet freeze the water is very strange, that it cannot in thundring weather well be thought to freeze in falling, as was formerly asserted, but rather that in warm seasons, as some places become dry, so the moist ones send up more plentiful Effluvia, where­by these plentiful Effluvia become li­mited to such places, and more Jejune Effluvia to the dry ones, which being augmented to a sufficient depth and density, they will both exclude, and collect the Solar Rays at the same time, the more powerfully by this dis­position, and their contrary qualities; and so may Hail and Thunder at the same time, tho in hot weather, this also is the reason why commonly the [Page 40]Spring time (and not in Summer) is more windy and stormy than any other Season, and from hence another of more wet in Autumn, but will be too much for this short account, tho it would further elucidate the matter, and give an explication to that of Frost, which I shall now endeavour to evince by these Experiments.

Frost then being only an ultimate (but may be not the most ultimate) effect of Cold, is produced by greater or les­ser degrees of that, and that not by a­ny subject of Inhaesion, but by a priva­tion of heat, Paucity of Calorifick Corpuscles, and want of motion, or lesser agitation, and contrary tenden­cy: Frost therefore being only an ef­fect, or product of Cold, is either more or less intense, according to the degrees of its Cause, and cold more or less freezing according to the privation of heat, and Paucity of Calorifick Cor­puscles. What this heat is, and from whence these Corpuscles come, must therefore be considered; the heat is of two sorts, either Terrene, or from the Heavens; the first from several Vulca­nos, internal Bullitions, and ferment­ing [Page 41]Emotions, all which are subject to intermissions, and obstructions, because they proceed from no universal matter, or cause, and several subsidences may both obstruct, and extinguish them; the other from the Heavens cannot be thus extinguished, but may be seve­ral ways hindered or obstructed by Hills or Mountains, and several dispo­sitions of the Effluvious Vapours, or may be carried off some other way by the winds or particular currents of Air, or by the Central motion of the Sun to parts of less heat, or not extended far enough for the Latitude of the place, these obstructions or privations of heat makes a Chasm between these and those incorporated in the parts of all natural Bodies, the incorporated particles (as all heat and fire do) soon fade and die, which for want of that con­tinuance, as soon leave all the external parts, especially less active, more extend­ed and therefore more stiff, more porose, and more bulky, which are the common qualificatiens of Frost, and from these all the other may be easily deduced.

CHAP. VII. That there never is no settled Frost to hold, when the Air continues to weigh 2020 or more, nor never no Thunder when it weighs but 1980, or less.

HAving now given some account what Frost and Thunder is, tho my Experiments have not enabled me to observe all the circumstances relating to the Title of this Chapter, we hav­ing had no great Frosts or Thunders since I have been Master of it, yet by reason of many other Meteorologi­cal Concurrencies in the alterations of the weather, which I have often ex­perienced, that are in some sort like a Magnetick Clinatory, being plainly applied, shew only South and North, yet by these we are also shewn East and West, and all the other points without removing it to them Plains, so I hope by the Experiments I have [Page 43]made in other alterations, and some few I have made in these, to tell the truth of both without staying any longer for these sorts of weather be­sides being but the reverse of the for­mer Chapter, as to the effects upon the Barometer, it will the more easily ap­pear.

First, Then there can be no Frost to hold, when the Air continues to weigh 2020 or more, yet no settled fair weather (except Frost) if it weighs 10 or 15 parts less, and yet I believe there have been no lasting Frosts yet known, but in fair weather, how Frost then which is only an effect of [...]he privation of heat should continue when there is nothing that appears [...]o hinder the Sun Beams, and that [...]here should be no such frosty wea­ [...]her when the Atmosphere continues [...]o be crowded with the thickest Clouds of Rain, Hail, Snow, Mists, [...]r other Vapours, which seems whol­ [...] to obstruct, them is somewhat [...]range, till we consider that all these [...]ffluvia, whether of Rain, Hail, or [...]now, &c. are the products of some [...]bterraneal Bullitions, or other fer­mentations, [Page 44]or of the Sun's reverbora­tions, but let it be from which of them it will, the same effects will fol­low, for that Heat or Motion that raises them, or the Calorifick Corpus­cles conjoyned, do we see keep them all fluid beneath, therefore we may be sure there must much more heat con­tained amongst those particles that are near a thousand times more dense than those of Air, to maintain their fluidity, and keep them from freezing, thus it is almost impossible we should have any Frost on Earth, when we have such a fuming Sea about us (yet we oftentimes feel it more Cold in such sorts of weather than in clear and frosty Seasons, because our corporeal Emanations can easier keep of a lighter than a heavier Medium or Pressure, therefore our Sensories can make no true distinctions of the degrees of Cold) but as soon as ever the Rain or Snow is over, it will immediately Freeze, but can never hold when the Atmo­sphere is thus filled, for the former reasons, but when the Air weighs 2005, 10, 12 or 15, if the Latitude of the place, disposition of the Country, and [Page 45]Season of the Year be proper, it will certainly freeze, yet not at the extreami­ties of the Sun Beams, or Earths sur­face first, for those Igneous Atoms in­corporated there, by their own pre­sence, and some few emotions will prevent that, and make the first be­ginnings so far in the Air, as those emotions reach from the earth, which gradually as these emotions, cease and dye for want of renovations, is extended more and more down, till the out­ward surface of the earth it self is thus deprived and frozen, many of which frozen particles being constantly emit­ted, do as well fill the Atmosphere as other Vapours, so that the Air can ne­ver weigh 2020 if the frost continues, but less and less by the frosty emissions filling the Atmosphere, for if it weighs 2020, the Sun Beams will come unob­structed upon us, and give no place to any such thing, which they can never do near the Poles, or in other cold Countries, these are the Reasons that the Quicksilver in the Common Baro­meters in some places is quit lost be­low the Register Plate, and in others far above it, which the Portable one discovers before hand.

Then for Thunder, if it be pro­duced by the ways related in the for­mer Chapter, we may be almost sure when the Air weighs but 1980, the Atmosphere will be too much filled with the Effluvious Vapours, and much more disposed for continual Rains (which will too much wet the Fulminous Particles) then for Thun­der or Storms, except Jupiter should send a Messenger amongst them, for tho Thunder (I suppose) is not known to be without Rain, yet it is not known neither I believe in continual Rains, besides in Summer Seasons and warm weather, the Air does for the most part weigh the more, and not often times less, not long together, for if it should I am sure the weather would be very unnatural, as well as unseasonable to the Summers pro­ducts, and might rather be called Winter than Summer; but when it weighs 2014, 2020, 25, 30, or 40, and the weight decreases 15, 20, 25 or 30 parts in 12 or 24 hours, it will be sure to Thunder more or less accor­ding to the parts of variation it has decreased, and the time it was made in, [Page 47]for then the Sun Beams being more ra­diant are more powerful, and by their dispositions in the former Chapter are more easily collected, and thereby greater Thunders and Lightnings pro­duced, so that when ever the weight of the Air alters, tho never so much, if it did not weigh above 1980 before the alteration began, we may be sure there will be no Thunder, but only tempestuous Winds, and Rains, nei­ther here nor in no other parts of the world, for in cold Countries it does not often weigh a great deal more, nor in hot ones not often a great deal lefs, which is easily proved without go­ing into them places, with several years continuance to make the experi­ments, and will without doubt be of further use in many other respects, if improved and applied as it may be to several other natural discoveries; and by abstractions, in time, to the very Center of Beings, the Almighty, Grand and Catholick Efficient, that is in and through all things.

CHAP. VIII. That tho a Cylinder of Air weighs much less in wet or windyweather, than it does in dry weather, yet in a settled frost, tho the Air appears never so clear and dry, it weighs much lighter than at any other time.

THis seeming Paradox, and may be that about weighing the winds would both of them been much more strange, as well as hard and dif­ficult to clear without this Instrument, which is so easie to carry whereever we go, and as easie at all times and places to weigh the Air with, That if the Honourable Esquire Boyle had been so happy, he might have known the reason why the Air was so thick in Nova Zembla, that the Hollanders Clock would not go without the charge he was willing to give to know the weight of his Aeolipile full of that Air in the midst of Winter, in his Physico-motion: [Page 49]Exper. pag. 148. And in his Hist. of Cold pag. 91. he has many suggestions about the same Clock, and Captain James's Clock, and Watch that win­tered at Charleton, and at last says they are but conjectures) for by this it is easier to make a hundred Experiments in weighing the Air, than one either with an Aeolipile, or the Air Pump, and thus in time to discover a great many more particulars, hard and unthought of qualifications that may be would never have been known other ways, for if according to the Rules, or Laws of Hydrostaticks and Philosophy, se­veral qualifications of Liquids are dis­covered by their Gravity, this that both weighs and measures at the same time must needs discover many more in all natural bodies, as well as this of Air, and has already discovered some much more subtile than the common Air, and will easily go where that cannot, and may be produced in one weeks time, what this discovery may lead to I know not, but am sure that which discovered it is capable of many o­thers.

That the Air weighs less in wet or windy weather, than in dry weather our Experiments proves, and have told the reasons in the Second and fifth Chapters but how it should weigh less in hard frosty weather, which seems to be more dry, is yet to be in­quired into, for that cannot be from a greater plenty of the Effluvious Va­pours, because by this they are now all imprisoned (in a manner) within the Earths surface, nor from an extra­ordinary agitation of the Air with vio­lent Winds, because there is nothing to put it into such a motion when the Air is so clear. But because those al­most inconceiveable minute Igneous Particles that are so easie collected in a Concave Glass, and may be constitute the whole Aether, and disperse them­selves throughout all the Terraqueous Effluvia are by several causes or obstru­ctions mostly hindred, the other grow­ing Languid fade and die in the same manner as the Atoms of our common Culinary Fires do, and want a conti­nual supply like them, with other suc­cedanums to maintain those curious agitations of the Atmosphere, that [Page 51]keep it from Congelation, these being wanting the Effluvious Vapours be­come more and more stiff, unactive, cold, or frigid, and at last to a perfect Gelicidation, this continuing makes the whole Hemispherical part of the Atmosphere like one Gelicidi­um, that with longer time grows thick­er and harder, reaching higher and higher, and so more and more keeps off the Airs Gravitation which it can hard­ly penitrate, because Ice is much more inpenetrable than the greatest winds or Clouds of Rain, Hail, Snow, or other Vapours, whereby a Cylinder of Air must weigh much less in a long and setled Frost than at any other time, and yet the Air for the most part much more clear there in the hotest or dryest seasons, (for they sometimes want a good rain to clear it) it being easier to see through the straight particles of Ice, than the curvid ones of mists and other Vapours, and thus places at a further distance may be much more easily seen, and the Stars more numerous, and yet the refraction very much greater by this Glaciation, all which Captain James relates in his Jour­nal [Page 52]to the Islands of Charleton, that on the thirtieth and thirty first of Janu­ry, he saw two third parts more Stars than ever he had seen before, pag. 62, and the Cloud in Cancer full of small Stars, and the Sun to rise twenty mi­nutes before it should, and set so much later, by reason of this Glaciating re­fraction pag. 64. and yet not more North than we in England, in the Latitude of 52°, or little more, pag. 46. But the Hollanders at Nova Zem­bla saw the Sun 14 days sooner than he should have appeared, by this mighty refraction; this made the Air so clear, yet so thick (or rather stiff) as Esquire Boyle calls it, that the Hol­landers Clock would not go at Nova Zembla, nor Captain James Clock nor Watch at the Island of Charleton, thus these Herculian Contradictions are re­conciled, and the usefulness of this Instrument further manifested, tho never at the Island of Charlton, Nova Zembla, or Green-Land to weigh the Air in those places, where an Aeoli­pile of Air in the midst of Winter hardly weighs more than this of ours in clear weather, and the midst of [Page 53]Summer, for I dare undertaken to guess the exact weight of an Aeolipile of Air with this Barometer in any sort of Weather, Place or Time, tho according to the Experiments in the Second Chapter an Aeolipile of Air sometimes weighs lest when a Cylinder of Air weighs heaviest, and some­times otherways. I say sometimes, for if it were always, that would as well foretell the alterations of weather as the Barometer, and thus also, besides it is easie to prove that Igneous Atoms as well as other Particles have their proper mediums of Retention as well as Incorporation, and our Atmospheri­cal Air being so thin a fluid, it can hold them but a little while, tho ne­ver so much incorporated, they having so great a liberty do as swiftly pur­sue it, and as quickly arrive at the li­mits of their Extensions and Extin­ctions, therefore it cannot retain them, except it would also prevent their Extentions, but if the Atmosphere be constantly filled with a great plenty of Effluvious Vapours, tho the Pro­methean Fire be wanting, that which remains and Reverberates with the [Page 54]Terraqueous Emotions constantly assi­sting (and being in a thicker medium, tho there be a less degree of heat in appearance, yet it will be longer re­tained) will keep it from freezing, all which is further demonstrable from all other liquids, if heated the thicker they are the longer they keep hot, or whether actually heated or not, a com­mon Thermometer will discover River or Pond-water in Winter time, (and sometimes in a warmer Season) to be hoter than the Air; and Sea or Salt­water to be warmer than those, and Oyl of Tartar or Vitriol hoter than the Salt-water; and Quicksilver the hea­viest liquid we know, which all the world look upon to be very cold, to be warmer than any of them, and so many others likewise.

CHAP. IX. Whether the planetary Beams or influences can cause an alteration of weather, to be foretold by them.

WHat some Astrologers have told us about the alterations of the weather from the Planets, is no ways satisfactory, and very strange it should be continued down to these times, that some of our Vertuosi have not told us something about that as well as o­ther natural discoveries, that we might be no longer imposed upon, by telling us the several sorts of winds and wea­ther, &c. are appropriated to the seve­ral Planets, but have told us neither Reason nor Cause of this Appropria­tion, and others that the several Planets are Authors of these sorts of winds and weather: and another that has writ only of the Weather tells us the Seven visible Planets in the Skies have their Correspondent ones, in the Air, and in the Bowels of the Earth, [Page 56]that are night and day at work in making those forts of weather for us, and thereby undertakes to tell the cause of all the vulgar Prognosticators errors, and the true way of judging the weather, with as much truth as the rest: For indeed it is impossible that either Winds, Rain, or fair wea­ther, Frost, Snow, or Thunder should proceed from the Planets, they being composed of no such matters, nor are they intelligent to effect it, yet it must be acknowledged that the Sun and Moon, and the rest of the Planets, and other Stars have their particular Rays of Light (but whether these Rays of Light are Beams of fire or not, and differ only in quantity, and not in quality, as their different lights appear, and from whence they have their lights, whether inate or not, will be too much for this short account) and that those from the Sun (especi­ally) at any time of the year (but too apparent to be questioned in Summer time) are of sufficient power to dis­perse several Vapours, Mists and Clouds raised from our Terraqueous Globe, for 'tis the Earth, and not the [Page 57]Sun, Moon, or Stars that is the first Mother of Meteors, 'tis the Terrene Emotions with some new modificati­ons that gives birth to them all, ac­cording to the first, second, and third Chapters, and not the Planers conjoyn­ed in watery Signs, where may be they placed the watery Windows of Heaven, spoken of in the seventh of Genesis, that makes their Apertio Por­tarum, or opening the Gates of Heaven, and those that rained Fire and Brim­stone on Sodom in fiery Signs, and others in Airy ones, but we never heard what from earthly signs, therefore as none of these sorts of weather can proceed from the Planets, so neither can they from any of the Signs, nor the Planets con­joyned in them, but the Effluvia being raised in the preceeding manner are in­determined Precisely, both to time and place, yet by several Eruptions, Propul­sions, Rarefactions, Compressions, and Resilitions they may receive, or meet with as well in their first ascensions as afterwards, they may be driven, spread and discharged to and in several di­stant places, without any other assi­stance, but these chiefly happen in the [Page 58]Torrid Zone, or in some Hilly or Moun­tainous Countries, or near some Vul­canos, &c. by Paroxysms, and not often in more open and plain Coun­tries or Temperate Climates, and are constant no where, whereby the Efflu­via are sometimes in the first sort of places left, and at most times in other places, to the disposal of the Beams or Influences of the Heavens, which I believe may be evinced, of sufficient power to alter and disperse them: First of the Sun Beams, which in most Countries are known every day they appear, but a few hours to disperse all foggy Mists and Vapours, and turn a dark Cloudy morning into a clear and fair Day, not by any occult property, but by a manifest one, as all other heat in Boyling, Distilling, or other Co­ction does: and so for winds, the ge­neral or Trade Winds, are always ac­cording to the Course of the Sun or Earth, as far as these Beams and the inferiour Tract is conformable or proper, some degrees beyond the whole breadth of the Zodiack on ei­ther side, they constantly propelling all humid Vapours and Air before them, [Page 59]and so likewise the Monsoons, which Sir Thomas Herbert in his Travels, says, begin exactly at the Sun's entrance into a Sign of the Zodiack, and blow half a year constantly that way, till the Sun enter into the opposite De­gree, and then they blow in the same manner the other way. Captain Swanly says, the Monsoons raigns five months on one side of the Compass, and five months on the other, and that there are two months in which they change, are variable (or break up, as some term these alterations) in March and September, when the Sun crosses the Line, and as long as the Sun is on the north side of the Aequator, to the Tro­pique of Cancer, the winds are to the northward, and veery more northerly according to the course of the months, and when on the South side of the AE­quinoctial, the winds blow from thence in the same manner, and thus also there is half a year of fair Mon­soons, and half a year of Rainy and fowl Monsoons, and that the fair Monsoons blow off the Shoars, and the Rainy Monsoons on the Shoars, and that near all Lands, between the [Page 60]Tropicks, Eastwards of Cape-Bon-Es­perance in the rainy Monscons there happen some fair intervals, but in the dry Monsoons seldom any rain, and to this purpose many other relations might be as easily transeribed, but that the certain knowledge and expe­rience of all our own, and other Coun­try Seamen to those places make it needless, thus we see the Beams in those neighbouring Regions are so plentiful and turgid, that they drive all before them in winds, with con­stant dry weather, if of the Land side, and with almost continual rains, if from the Sea, thus also these tumultuous and unequal crowds of Effluvia make that inequality of heat and cold that A­riesta relates, and complains of in the burning Zone, where he had the Sun for Zenith and expected to be scorched with heat, he was forced to go into the Sun-shine for warmth, and that he saw Snow, Hail and frozen water on the tops of Mountains, and the cold so bitter that all the Grass was withe­red, and Men and Beasts benumed that passed that way, pag. 101 and 109: and this North and South, wind [Page 61]heat and cold, wet and dry weather proceeded from the Sun's local positi­on, on the North or South side of their Zenith, or Equator, as his Rays de­cline from their perpendicularity, and not from fiery, airy, watery, or earth­ly Signs, for the Sun beams are not earthly in us, nor watery in ♉, but fiery in ♋, and always so powerful in the Torid Zone, that they are the chief efficients of all these sorts of weather, without any assistance from the other Planets, there being hardly any room for any of their beams to crowd in.

Secondly, of the beams of the Moon, these being from a lesser light have not so many manifest operations as those of the Sun, yet are known in several places of India, and the Torid Zone to cause contractures in the Bodies of those that are too long exposed to them, as well to the Natives as Strangers, tho more to the latter, and that several are made Lame, or else have had some of their Limbs contracted for several weeks, and some for as many months, and others to their lives end, if they happen to sleep where the Moon shines upon them, which several of our Sea­men [Page 62]who go to those places have also seen, and a friend of mine, a Relation and Merchant that Traded and Lived sometime in the Island of Sunda at Achem in Sumatra, and Bantum in Java and had traveled many other parts of India, assured me he had seen several that had their Limbs contracted, and their Mouths or Necks so drawn aside and twisted by the beams of the Moon, that they were very surprising to be­hold, and that he himself when he came first into those parts, before he was acquainted with it, took up his Lodging after an extream hot day (according to the custom of the place) in the open air, with slender cover­ing, where the Moons beams could fully come for good part of the night which being past before he waked, when he went to rise, he found the left side of his neck, and up to his Ear, and the same Arm and Soulder (which was very much exposed) so stiff that he was scarce able to stir himself, and was forced to keep with­in eight or ten days to be cured, which was done by the constant use of in­ward and outward Aromaticks of the [Page 63]Country for that time, and that the Country people told him the next morning, if he had acquainted them with his design, or had passed the night where they did, he would have prevented that mischief by lodging in a place unexposed to the Moons Beams.

The reasons of these disasters must be that the beams of the Moon like those of the Sun, do propel the Ter­rene Effluvia before them, but having no such heat as they have, these Ef­fluvia thus driven, enter the Pores of the Body in the exposed parts with a contrary tendency, and much less agitated than the Animal Spirits and Humours, and thereby cool and ob­struct their natural motions, and circu­lations, these Nutricious Spirits and Juices being thus hindred, a paucid Lympha supplies (which has no such motion) and thereby Tumefies, Contra­cts and hinders the proper motion of the part it possesses, which the heat of the body soon exsiccates (may be as it comes), and so confirms it: and as these people say, it is only the beams of the Moon, so neither can we sup­pose [Page 64]it should be any thing else, for it should proceed from the Wind or cold Damps, then it might be as well when the Moon did not shine upon them, or in some other parts than those on which it did shine, which is not known, and when they do take up their lodging in the open air we cannot suppose neither that the Wind should be concentred upon them through any crack or hole: besides be­ing in the open air, the continual Streams or Effiuvia of their own bodies both warm and keep off the neighbour­ing air from every part, equal to the pow­er and strength of their motions, and so secures them in all places that are but moderately calm and still. Then for the Beams of the other Planets and Stars, there is none can say they are refracted, either by the Aether, Air, or Atmosphere, but that they pass directly down upon us, and so penetrate every part of all these in their descensions, as we see and know their light is sent down thus far; these beams therefore having so great a power, (notwithstanding the con­stant Diurnal Circumgyration of the Earth or Heavens) to continue their [Page 65]direct courses hither, must needs move, alter and impell the Effluvious Air before them (but yet no other ways than according to their direct positi­ons) and so may either bring or car­ry from us misty, rainy or snowy Vo­pours, or otherways may put the Air into a direct or contrary motion, and so produce Winds, Storms, Tempests, Thunders, Hurricanes, &c. which may thus be foretold at any time, and from what quarter the Wind will blow, with as much certainty as their Motions, and Positions are known, and by this means there will be (or rather is) a new account of their As­pects, according to the Lines and An­gles they make at the earth, and not amongst themselves, nor from fiery, airy, watery, or earthly signs, for nei­ther of these can have any respect to us, of which this Barometer has given a Diagram, that by taking the Planets places from an Ephemeris to their true places in that, all the alterations of weather, and winds from their Quarters may be foretold at any time.

And further tho not so proper here, these beams that are able to penetrate, move and alter the air, which we can no ways subsist, nor live one hour without, are as capable to penetrate our bodies as that (which we know the beams of the Sun does, &c.) and move and alter our spirits, and so the spirits of all other bodies which can­not be less subject to these motions and alterations than ours are, and if our spirits and the spirits of all other bodies may be moved and altered by these beams, then these spirits being the immediate causes, and only princi­ples of Life, Power, Vertue, Force and Strength, it will be impossible they should be altred and changed, and no alterations made in the bodies them­selves; therefore a less limit of the power of these beams cannot be set, than what must at length terminate as well in the bodies themselves. All which I hope to demonstrate further by infalliable proofs, if life and leisure serve, in a Treatise by it self, what these Beams and Motions are, that they have power to cause all the alte­rations of winds and weather we are [Page 67]acquainted with, and all other com­mon alterations in our and other Ani­mal Bodies and Spirits, by the Lines and Angles they make at the Earth, and not by their beholding one ano­ther, by Sextile, Quartile, Trine or Opposition, which may serve till then, for tho it be the first, yet I believe the most that ever was published before in this way, and question not but future Observations will confirm (not the Names and Motions, but) the Laws of the Stars thereby, for from hence there is a reason why the Planets, Poles of Positions, and the Divisions of the Heavens are taken according to the Latitude of the Place, in an Oblique Sphere, and many other things as perti­nent, butreferred till then.

CHAP. X. That it is impossible by any Hygroscope, Thermometer or other Invention to know the true state of the Air.

HAving now given a short account of the preceding Heads, it will be convenient to say something of the common Instruments that are used to foretell the alterations of weather by; or that the alterations of the Air are used to have an influence upon; and such are of three sorts. First such as imbibe the Effluvious Air, and are Cal­lid Hygroscopes. Secondly, such as have a parcel of Air included with ting'd Spirits and sealed up in Cylindrical Glasses, and are Callid Thermometers: or thirdly, such as contain some spi­rituous or other liquid in a Cylindri­cal pipe of Glass, clos'd at one end, and open at the other, and inverted into an open Vial or Cistern of the same [Page 69]liquor, exposed to the open Air, and are Callid Thermoscopes or Baro­scopes, &c.

The Hygroscopes are of several sorts, but the most Fam'd one is that of a wild Oat-beard, described in Mr Hookes Mirrographia, page 147, others are made of Sheeps Gutts or Fiddle-strings, Pieces of Leather, Ropes, Cords, Sponge, Wool, Paper or Deal-shavings, &c. and may be made of any other thing that will imbi be the humid Air, or that the Air can easily penetrate, as Willow, Sallow, Ozier, Alder, and other soft woods.

That of an Oat-beard turns and un­turns in dry and moist weather, and is fitted with an Index that points to all the variations; Sheeps-guts, Fid­dle-strings, Pieces of Leather, Ropes and other Cords are fastened against some Wall, Board or Timber, and ex­tended either Horizontally or Per­pendicularly, and then a convenient weight hung on the middle or other end will rise and fall in wet and dry weather.

Sponge, Wooll, Paper, or Deal-shavings, &c. are tyed together with [Page 70]some string, or in a thin Silk or Li­nen Case, or Bag, in a round or oval form or balance, with Scales and Weights, which will be heavier or lighter in wet or dry weather.

The imperfections of all which are easily seen, first, in respect of them­selves and their adjustings; and second­ly, in respect of the alterations of the Air, in respect of themselves, the Oat­beards will in a little time grow much more stiff, hard, close, and brittle, and instead of two, three, or four times turning about will not turn once, and not long before it will not move at all, which it gradually comes to as it grows more and more Ramalious, or sare and Dead, for which reason also there can be no certain adjusting of that, for by the time it can be adjusted at first, the Tex­ture of its parts will be so much altered in relation to its motion, that it will want a new adjustion, and so Sheeps-gutts, Fiddle-strings, Pieces of Leather, Ropes, or other Cords, do all alter in the same manner; nor can Sponge, Wooll, Paper, or Deal-shavings, or any other such thing? be preserved or any ways secured from the same inconvenience? [Page 81]but if they could, it would yet be impos­sible they should shew any alteration of weather with any manner of cer­tainty, for as they only imbibe, and are receptacles of the subtile Humid Vapours, that sometimes fill the low­er Regions before it rains, so they can shew no other alterations, but what they make in their coming and going, which are sometimes much more in Mists after it has rained, or when there is no rain follows, or upon the going a way of a Frost, or melting of a Snow, than at coming of the greatest rains, and so on the contrary, when these Vapours cannot come so low in frosty or windy weather, they will shew no alteration till after the rain is come, and Snow seldom makes any al­terations in them, except it melts as it falls: And in Summer time and dry Seasons, it is so also, no alteration till the rain is coming, or that it have rained, but if a misty morning happen, they will alter much more. Besides, if all these inconveniencies could be preven­ted, they cannot well be put into a travelling Security, by reason of the several alterations they will be subject [Page 82]to from the heat of the Body, Warmth, and Fires in Houses, and the different tempers of the Air abroad.

Secondly, those that have a parcel of Air included with tinged Spirits, and sealed up in Cylindrical Glasses, these for distinction are called Hermetick Thermometers, and of a later inventi­on, and thereby thought by some to exceed all other discoveries for heat and cold, but are not pretended, nor intended, to shew any thing else, which by the natural Expansion and Contraction of the included Air with heat, and cold, gives way for the ri­sing and falling of the Spirits, and have no manner of tendency for wet and dry, and therefore of very small use or service; for we know the wea­ther is sometimes very cold, yet fair and dry, and sometimes as cold when it rains, snows, or blows, and sometimes fair and dry in hot weather, and some­times as wet or windy. But as the former are deficient in wet and dry, so are these in heat and cold, and it is impossible they should shew any truth in what they pretend, for no body has yet told us the proportion between [Page 83]the Head and the Cylinder, nor can they make two to rife and fall alike, with the same Spirits, nor have they told us what is best to put in them, whether Spirits of Wine, Vinegar, Salt, Vitriol, Tartar or Sulphur, or Oyl of Turpentine, Amber, Wax, or Anis, &c. or other things, besides all liquids are expanded, and contracted with Heat and Cold, so apparently, that our Seamen have observed their Ships to draw less Water in Cold and Frozen Countries (tho the Water is not in those places so Salt, therefore not naturally so heavy) than they do in warmer places, so that the Water is thicker and heavier in cold than in warmer places, and seasons: and the Honourable Esquire Boyle has observed it to Dilate and Contract it self in the same day, by a Hermetick Glass Bub­ble, that would sink in Water at noon time, and rise and swim night and morning. Therefore if Water will thus visibly Dilate and Contract it self in such large quantities and places, it will be much more so in the slender stem of a Thermometer, and any sort of volatile spirits, a great many times [Page 84]more than Salt or other Fountain Wa­ter, and thus also some Spirits will Dilate and Contract more than o­thers, which makes all these things the more uncertain, and no body knows how much these spirits will Dilate and Contract themselves by Heat or Cold; yet there is a way to make a Thermometer free from all these exceptions, which I have per­formed in another way: then for the other sorts that are called Thermo­scopes, &c. that alter both with Heat and Cold, Wet and Dry, by having Air in the top of the Cylinder, and ex­posed to the pressure of the air at the bottom, these are the greatest confu­sion that can be, for they shew no­thing of truth but by chance, nor can any body tell when they do, or do not, for if it be cold and wet, the cold will contract the air above to make it rise, and the wet will lighten the Atmo­spherical Cylinder to make it sink, thus it is unpossible it should rise and fall at the same time, and so in hot and fair weather, the heat will dilate the air above to make it sink, and in fair weather the Atmesphere presses [Page 85]the heaviest at the bottom, to make it rise, and thus whenever they rise or fall no body can tell whether it be for heat or cold, wet or dry weather.

Then for the Quicksilver-Glass, or Common Barometer, there is none that have them but know they will some­times fall or sink very considerably, yet no rain follow, and at other times rain if it sink never so little, and a­gain sometimes it will be fair, tho it rise, but little, and at other times very wet when it rises considerably: Nor have they given us any certain rules to know when it will rain or be fair, so that all these Instruments are very im­perfect and can no ways be trusted to. And thus I have told the Reasons, and next for the Use of that, that will do all these things.

CHAP. XI. The use of the Portable Barometer, how to weigh the Air, Measure its Height, and foretell all the alterations of wea­ther.

HAving now given a short account of the reasons for the use of this Barometer, and the insufficiency of all others to foretell any alteration of the weather by, it will now be conve­nient to shew how to use it, to weigh the Air, Measure its height, and fore­tell the alterations of the weather by it. First how to use it.

Let the Barometer hang perpendi­cular in one hand, and by more o [...] less weights with the other bring i [...] to a true Aequilibrium or even Ba­lance, so have you the exact weigh [...] of any quantity of Air you desire, an [...] the measure of its height, by the second and fourteenth of the Twelfth of Eu­clid's [Page 87] Elements of Geometry. First, by the second of the Twelfth thus;

Circles are in the same Ratio, as are the Squares of their Diameters, which is thus wrought as the Square of the Standard Diameter is to the Square of the Diameter proposed; so is the weight of this to the weight of that, and the bigness of the former, to that of the latter.

Then by the fourteenth of the twelfth, that Cylinders and Cones, having the same Base, are in the same Ratio as are their heights, which are thus wrought, as the Base of the Stan­dard Cylinder or Cone, is to the Base of the Cylinder or Cone Proposed, so are the heights of those, to the heights of these, and the Contents of the former to those of the later, thus we have not only the exact weight of any parcel or quantity of Air at any time, but the measure of its Height at all times, and in all places.

And thus also we may weigh any other liquid in its Fountain, and mea­sure its Depth: If we desire only its weight, we need only to put in the Instrument to balance any particular [Page 88]quantity, so we have the exact weight by measure, but if to measure the Depth as well, it must be balanced at the bottom, whereby we have the Depth by weight, and the weight of what quanti­ty we please. Thus these instruments will be of service for a thousand uses in Weighing, Measuring, Gaging, Sur­veying the Heights, Depths, Weights, Extentions of all manner of Liquids from one drop or grain of any thing, to a Fountain of Sea or Air, and by that means discover both their Quanti­ties and Qualities.

2. For the alterations of the weather; they are known by the variations of the weight of the Air according to the former Chapters, the Increase and De­crease of which variation I have not yet observed to be more than one in Twenty, Ten in two Hundred; or a Hundred in two Thousand Parts, but will suppose it may alter a hundred and twenty in two Thousand Parts, so that if a Cylinder, Cone, or other Particles of Air weighs now two thou­sand Grains, Scruples, Drachms, Oun­ces, Pounds, or Hundreds, it may sometimes weigh two thousand and [Page 89]Sixty, and at other times not above one Thousand Nine Hundred and Forty, (the reason why I make use of this number of weights, I have told in the Second Chapter.) The parts of which variation may be thus call'd

The words above the Figures as the Air grows heavier, and those below it as the Air grows lighter, but for the exact knowledge of the weather, to foretell all the alterations in quan­tity and quality, we must observe the rules in the following Chapter: And thus I have by two plain and easie Ge­ometrical Propositions shewn the manner, and now give the World leave to judge of the Probability, Pos­sibility, and usefulness of this Instru­ment, in many other things, than can possibly be thought of, or applied to in this Age, and to consider if they please, what it may lead to further in divers other respects, and what ad­ditions they may in time be able to make to it, for it is capable of many improvements, and will recompense the Industrious that understand it with several advantages in their own private business, if they bestow but one tenth part of the time, pains, and cost, upon it that I have done.

CHAP. XII. Rules for the more certain knowledge of all the alterations of weather, both in quantity and quality.

FIrst, to have the Barometer alwaies with us, that we may alwaies know the weight of the Air, and how it has been two, three or four days before, whether growing lighter or heavier, and in what part of the variation it is. Then first in Summer it may weigh near 2060, and if it decrease 3 or 4 parts in 24 hours, it may hold till it comes to 2010, before it rains, which will be but little.

2dly. If it decrease from about 2060, to 2040 in 24 hours or less, it will be windy, yet clear and dry, but it will hold but a little while, for it will soon increase again, but this sel­dom happens.

3dly. If it weighs 2040, and de­creases 16, 18 or 20 parts in 24 hours the wind will blow, and it will rain a little, but it will be only a Storm, and after that it will increase again in an hour or two, and be fair.

4ly. If it weighs 2030 and decrease to 2020 in 18 or 24 hours, it will be windy for a day, but if it rain it will be only a small shower or two of a few minutes continuance.

5ly. If it weighs about 2030 and decrease 2 or 3 parts in 18 or 24 hours, it may decrease to 1980 or less before it rains, which will then be for a whole day, with a soft driving wind.

6ly. If it weighs 2030, and decrease to 2000 in 18 or 24 hours it will Thunder, Lighten, Rain and Blow in a very violent manner, and pour down a Sea of water in a few hours, with terrible Displosions of Wind and Thunder, hardly to be distinguished.

7ly. If it weighs about 2030, 2026 or 24 and decrease to 1990, 1985, or 80, in 16 or 18 hours, it will be a most violent Hurricane with most vi­olent Winds, Thunders and Light­ning, [Page 93]as if the whole Heavens were on fire, with as violent rain poured down by whole Seas, for some hours or half a day together.

8ly. If it weighs about 2020, and decreases to 1980 in 18 or 24 hours it will Rain, Thunder and Lighten, and be as great a Tempest as we com­monly have in these parts, and may hold the bigest part of a day, or night as it begins.

9ly. If it weighs but 2010, and decrease to 1980 in 18 or 24 hours, it will Thunder and Lighten and be very Windy and Tempestous with large Hail and Rain, to the turning up of several Houses and Trees, tho in January.

10ly. If it weighs about 2010, and decrease to 1980, 1975 or 70 in 12 or 16 hours it it will be Windy to a Miracle with little or no rain, but if it be 24 or 30 hours, in making this decrease it will then be Windy and Rainy with Hail and Thunder.

11. If it weighs about 2000, and decrease to 1980 or near the matter, in 18 or 24 hours it will be stormy [Page 94]with Rain and Hail and Winds, but calm intermissions.

12. If it weighs but 1990, and decrease to 1970, 65 or 60 in 18 or 24 hours, it will be very tempestuous with Wind, small Hail, Rain and Thunder, but most Wind, and that Wind like Thunder.

13. If it weighs about 1990, and decrease 2 or 3 parts in 24 hours, if it decrease never so long it will rain all the while, but if it stands or increase a little, tho it weighs but 1970 or less it will be fair.

14. If it weighs but 1980, and de­crease 2 or 3 parts in 24 hours there will be very cold Rain all the while, and if it weighs but 1970, and so de­creasing it will Snow tho at Midsum­mer and be very cold and very wet, more like Winter than Summer.

15. If it weighs but 1960 as, it can­not weigh much less two days toge­ther in Summer, so we may be sure it will be very cold wet and win­terly.

16. And from what weight soever it decreases 3 or 4 parts in 12 hours, [Page 95]if it have stood 2 or 3 days before, it will be windy with fresh and pleasant Gales: And if it increase 5 or 6 parts in 12 hours from any weight, after it have stood as before, it will be a lit­tle windy.

There should be 3 or 4 Rules more for the increase, but that being for the most part fair or windy, except between 1980 and 2000, they may be omitted for the present: Thus for the decreasing to the Winter, and tho Winter have brought it to so small a weight, yet it will not hold, except it begins about 2000 or 1995 at least.

17. Therefore if it continues to weigh 2000 or 1995 parts, two or 3 days in Winter, it will freeze, & the longer it holds, of that weight the more, but if it increase 2 or 3 parts in 24 hours, two or three days together it will go away, and if it decrease two or three parts in 24 hours, it will continue and Freeze harder and harder, as long as it so decreases, till at last it may not weigh above 1945 or 1950, and yet it will be very fair and clear, but very sharp [Page 96]Frost as long as it holds of that weight

18. Thus being of the least weight it can be, if it increase from 1945 or 50, to 1960 in 24 hours, it will be windy, but very clear and extreme sharp and freezing; and so also if the weight decrease from 1960 to 1950 or less in 24 hours time, it will be such a freezing wind, but if it increase or decrease but one or two parts in 24 hours between these two, there will be very little alterations, only clear and freezing.

19. If it increase from 1960 to 1970 in 24 hours, it will Snow the next day in Storms, but it will soon be over, and decrease again, but if it increase from 1960, 2 or 3 parts in 24 hours till it weighs 1970, or 1975, it will Snow considerably, and if in Snowing the weight increase, it will Snow the more, but if it decrease it will be the less.

20. If it increase from 1970 to 1980, or 1985 in 24 hours time, it will be very windy, and at last Rain, and then decrease again, and Thaw, [Page 97]but if it increase again, the Frost will not remain, as it will notwithstanding the rain if it decrease, and if it in­crease 2 or parts in 24 hours till it weighs 1980 or 85 the frost will cer­tainly go with plenty of rain.

21. If it increase from 1980 to 1990 it will be fair and freeze again, and if it increase 2 or 3 parts in 24 hours will hold till it weighs 2318 or 2020, but then it will grow warm and misty (first thawing in the Air) and the frost will go away without rain, nay so much without, that it will be fair and clear all the while it is go­ing, tho in the midst of Winter.

22. If it increase from 1999 to 2000 in 12 or 16 hours it will be windy the same day, and then decrease a lit­tle and rain the next, but if it increase but a little it will hold fair and be calm.

23. If it increase from 2000 to 2020, 2030, or 40 in 18 or 24 hours it will be windy, but fair, yet rain the next day by storms, and after that a set­tled warm rain, but if it increases leisurely it will hold fair all the while.

24. If it increase to a bigger weight, it will be more like Summer than Win­ter, very fair clear and warm, with­out any frost. The truth of all which is very plain from the former Chap­ters, and the following Experiments.

In December 1696, when I was sure I could weigh and measure any parcel of Air, observing some alterations of weather, that I could not then give a­ny reason for, I bought a common Ba­rometer or Quicksilver-Glass, and then an Hermetick Thermometer, by which I made several other sorts to com­pare my own, and all their differen­ces with the alterations of the weather in a Diary, which I continued to June 1699, on the 12 of January 96/7 a frost began (which proved to be the hardest since the great one, 13 years before;) the Air weighed that day 1996 and continued with very little alteration till the 16th, after which it decreased 2 or 3 parts, and sometimes 4 in 24 hours, to the end of the month, when it weighed but 1950; the se­cond of February it increased a little and weighed 1962; on the fourth when there was so sharp a freez­ing [Page 99]wind, that my hand on the Iron handle of a Pail or Well-Bucket, it would cleave so fast to it that it was ready to pull off the skin to take my hand off again, or to try with my fing­er as several others did, by dabbing on a fresh place of the Iron, it immediate­ly stuck so fast it made it very sore to pull off, and could not indure to do it above a time or two. After the fourth it decreased again till the seventh, when it weighed but a little above 1949, where it continued 12 days to the 19th, and was very sharp, but after that it began to incerase a­gain slowly, till the 6th of March, when it weighed 1968, and went a way a few days after. About the 20th of January when the weight of the Air was abated about 19 parts, and the Quicksilver sunk between three and four tenths, I began to think the weather would alter in a few days to Rain or Snow, but weighing thus till the end of the month, the Air growing lighter and lighter all the while, and the Quicksilver at last near half way below Rain, and yet the weather clear, and more sharp and [Page 100]freezing by the Hermetick Thermo­meter, was I thought the strangest thing that could happen, I therefore weigh­ed and measured several quantities or particles of Air, in Cylinders, Cones, Globes and other figures of several dementions, some times 18 or 20 times in a day in several distant pla­ces, Tops of Hills, Vallies, Deep­wells, Mines, and Coal-pits, warm fire Rooms, Stoves, and open Air; And thus at last with a great deal of Pains and Cost found the Air it self was frozen, and thereby kept off the Superiour Gravitation, and by continu­ing these means, the reasons of all the other alterations of weather as well hot as cold, wet and dry, Wind, and Thunder, &c.

November the 28th 1697, a little frost began of about 8 days, that day the Air weighed 1972, the 30th it weighed 1997, the 3d of December it weighed 2022, the 5th 2034, being very fair all the while (and froze very hard about the 1d and 2d) the next day it grew warm, but then decreased to 2003 in 24 hours, there was first a lit­tle Snow, then small Rain, and the frost went away.

But December the 3d 1698 having been frosty for sometime, the weight of the Air increased to 2020, the 4th was very fair yet thawed apace, the mornings and evenings a little misty with the thaw, but otherways very clear and so went away without any Rain.

The 29th. of October at night 1697 the Air weighed 2018 the next morn­ing it weighed but 1996, the day was very windy but no Rain.

But the effects of the Greatest wind that have been for many years are rela­ted in the 5th Chapter.

April the 10th 1699, the Air weigh­ed but 1978, the 11th it weighed 1996, there was first a little small rain, but after that very windy, the 12th in the morning at six it weigh­ed 2018, at 10 but 1990, at 12 1988, about 3 or 4 in the afternoon, being near Maidenhead, there was a very strange and unusual Tempest in the adjacent parts of Buckingham, and Bark­shire, of Wind and Thunder and Light­ning, with Hail, and Rain, with that violence or strangeness, that the Dis­plosive Crackes of Wind and Thun­der [Page 102]were hardly to be distinguished.

April the 16th following, being near London at noon the Air weighed 2005, at 9 at night but 1987, the 17th at 6 in the morning it weighed but 1970, about 2 afternoon it began to be a little Stormy, and at 4 a great Tempest of Thunder and Lightning, Hail and Rain. I have many other remarkable alterations of Rain, Snow, Cold, Hot, Wet and Dry weather, but reserve them with the several other things for another opportunity.