Note b — BOOK I.
Reading edition
It is well observed in my Lord Howards Voyage to Constantinople, that at Vienna they have frequent Winds, which if they cease long in Summer, the Plague often ensues: So that it is now grown into a Proverb, that if Austria be not windy, it is subject to Contagion. Bohun of Wind, p. 213.
From some such Commotions of the Air I imagine it is, that at Grand Cairo the Plague immediately ceases, as soon as the Nile begins to overflow; although Mr. Boyl attributes it to nitrous Corpuscles. Determ. Nat. of Effluv. Chap. 4.
Nulla enim propemodum regio est, quæ non habeat aliquem flatum ex se nascentem, & circa se cadentem.
Inter cætera itaq; Providentiæ opera, hoc quoq; aliquis, ut dignum admiratione suspexerit. Non enim ex unâ causâ Ventos aut invenit, aut per diversa disposuit: sed primum ut aera non sinerent pigrescere, sed assiduâ vexatione utilem redderens, vitaiemq; tracturis. Sen. Nat. Quæst. l. 5. c. 17, 18.
All this is more evident, from the Cause assigned to malignant epidemical Diseases, particularly the Plague, by my ingenious, learned Friend, Dr. Mead; and that is, an hot and moist Temperament of the Air, which is observed by Hippocrates, Galen, and the general Histories of Epidemical Diseases, to attend those Distempers. Vid. Mead of Poisons, Essay 5. p. 161. But indeed, whether the Cause be this, or poisonous, malignant Exhalations or Animalcules, as others think, the Winds are however very salutiferous in such Cases, in cooling the Air, and dispersing and driving away the moist or pestiferous Vapours.