Note 387 — ON AIRS, WATERS, AND PLACES.

It will be remarked that our author uses meteorology and astronomy almost as synonymous terms. In his time meteorology was looked upon by practical men as a visionary subject of investigation, which had a tendency to make those who engaged in it atheists, and the enemies of Socrates took advantage of the prejudices then prevailing against it to represent him as a meteorologist. See Aristophanes (Nub. 225.) Aristophanes, who would appear to have been always too ready to pander to the popular prejudices of the day, also represents the physicians as being “meteorological impostors,”—μετεωροφένακας. (Ibid. 330.) The enlightened mind of Aristotle, however, regarded meteorology in a very different light, and accordingly he wrote a work on the subject replete with all the astronomical and geological knowledge of his time. In it he professes to treat of the heavenly bodies and atmospherical phenomena, including winds, earthquakes and the like; also of minerals, fossils, etc. See the introduction to his Meteorologica.