CHAPTER XXXXIII.

Section 232. Whoever consults Antiquity,[54] or is acquainted with modern Mèteorism, will ascent to the Truth of the Facts there recited, viz. That the Storms of +dispersion+ called _Prester-John_, and _Ox-Eye_ over Table Bay at the Cape of Good-Hope (not to mention those of +collection+, as _Whirlwinds_[55] and _Waterspouts_;) _descend_ on Sea and Land from the _middle_ Regions of the Air, often _perpendicularly_ +downwards+: and then blow violently from a Center, to all Parts of the Compass at once: a necessary Consequence of their beating _forcibly_ upon the Land or Water.

The Ancients maintained that the Origin, of Wind was a mere _Depression_ and _Percussion_ from the Cold of the middle _Region_: and it shoud be remarked that their Observations were made on the _Continent_, and in _warm_ Climates.

Now what is seen to Excess in the _hottest_ and _coldest_ Climates;[56] most probably takes Place, in a less Degree, in temperate ones.

Therefore, on a Change of Weather, the upper Atmosphere _descends_: whether its Effects are _Cold_, as in Winter; _Warmth_, as in Spring; _Wind_ or _Wet_; at the proper Seasons of the Year.

233. The Balloon, with which Dicker Junior ascended at Bristol, April 19, 1784, on a +windy+ Day, proved the Truth of the Conjecture: for tho’ the Aironaut threw out most of his Ballast; yet after each Ascent and Recovery, he was repeatedly darted _downwards_ +even+ with the Ground.[57]

234. A similar Event happened to Crosbie, in his Passage over the Sea from Dublin to England; for, tho’ he too discharged his Ballast, the Wind kept him _down_ and +even+ with the Water.

The Weather at that Time seems to have been an Εκνέφιας, Procella, Percussion, Squall, or Tornado, i.e. a Storm of +depression+, and +dispersion+.

235. The Eknèfiai Winds come from cool Points on each Side the North.

Bacon also observes that all +boisterous+ Winds, as Procella, Typho, and Turbo, have the evident Direction of a Precipice, or Projection _downwards_, more than other Winds: they seem to rush down like a Torrent or Cascade: and are then reverberated or beat back from the Earth, in all Directions.

Stubble, Corn, or Hay in the Meadows are raised, and spread around in the Form of an +extended canopy+, (_inverted Cone_, _elliptic Solid_, and _hyperbolic Curve_.) See “Bacon’s Historia Ventorum”, Pag. 43, ad Articulum 10.[58]

236. If then it be allowed to reason from that Analogy which took Place in most of the Cases already mentioned; the _gentler_ Depression. of Balloons over Water in _milder_ Weather, may be owing to a Cause somewhat similar, tho’ not so evidently an immediate Object of the Senses, viz. _an actual tho’ invisible Descent of Air upon the Water_.

237. Blanchard in his Passage over the Sea from Dover to Bologne in France, when near the Middle of the Channel, suffered an unexpected Depression, and at the same Time was nearly +becalmed+.

A +calm+ also took Place on the Irish Sea: which must have prevented Crosbie from landing,—without _Wings_, or some _propulsive_ Machinery, connected with the Balloon.

238. Lunardi rose from Liverpool when the Wind blew _boisterously_: yet was _becalmed_ twenty Minutes over the _broad_ Turn of the Mersey near Ince, when above the Level of the Wind: and, descending into the same Stream of Wind, was hurried along towards Beeston-Castle in Cheshire.