It having bin explained in the Beginning of this Discourse, how those
Influences of the Heavens, which favour the _Returns_ of _Diseases_, may
likewise raise _Winds_ at the same times; and that We feel the different
Effects of _These_ according as other Causes do concurr to the Motion of
the Air; it will not be amiss, to shew in one Instance or two, how much
Natural History confirms this Reasoning.
There happened on the 26th of _November_, 1703. a little before
Midnight, a most terrible _Storm_ of _Wind_, the Fury of it is still
fresh in every ones Mind, which lasted above six Hours.
It is not to the present purpose to relate its History and Causes; What
we observe is, That the Moon was at that time _in Perigæo_, and just
upon the change to _New_. Upon both which accounts its Action in raising
the Atmosphere must be great; And hence indeed the _Tides_ which
followed were also very great, and the _Mercury_ in the _Barometer_, at
least, in most places, fell very low.
This Influence was, without all doubt, assisted by some such other
Causes of _Winds_, as we have mentioned; These we can't know, but may
however take notice how much the manifest State of the Air contributed
to this Calamity.
After a greater quantity of Rains than ordinary had fallen in the Summer
and Autumn, in those places where the Storm was felt, the Winter came on
much warmer than usual; so that the Liquor in a Thermometer, of which
the 84th Degree notes Frost, never fell below the 100th.[52]
Hence we may very well believe, that the Atmosphere was at that time
fill'd with Atoms of _Salts_ and _Sulphur_, out of the Vapours raised by
the Heat from the moist Earth, which being variously combined and
agitated, gave that deadly force to the Motion of the Air.
A Proof of this we have not only from the frequent _Flashes_ of
_Lightning_, observed a little before the Storm, but also from what the
Country People took notice of the next day, that the Grass and Twiggs of
the Trees, in Fields remote from the Sea, tasted very salt, so that the
Cattle wou'd not feed on them.
Our Histories mention another Storm, which if not equal to this last in
Violence, is however thought the greatest that had then ever been known
and memorable from the time at which it happened, _viz._ on the 3d of
_September_, 1658. the day on which the Usurper _O. Cromwel_ died.
No _Ephemerides_ that I know of relate the Condition of the Air that
Year, but it is sufficient to remark, That whatever other Causes
concurr'd, their force was accompanied with a _Full Moon_, just before
the time of the _Atumnal Equinox_.
Upon the same score it comes to pass, That in those Countries which are
Subject to frequent _Inundations_, these Calamities are observed to
happen at the times of the _Moon_'s greatest Influence, so that the
Learned _Baccius_[53] has rightly enough laid the Cause of such
Mischiefs upon immoderate _Tides of the Ocean_, being unhappily
accompanied with the _attractive Force_ of some or other _Stars_.
Dr. _Childrey_ in his _Britannia Baconica_[54] has from several
Instances shewn the _Lunar_ Action in Damages of this kind.
Such and the like _Natural_ Causes have _Storms_ and _Tempests_; for as
to the Question of Divine Power, whether or no Calamities of this kind
do not sometimes, by the Anger of Heaven, happen out of the Course of
Nature, it is not my Business to Dispute, nor would I by any means
indeavour to absolve Mens Minds from the Bands of Religion. For although
we must allow all the Parts of the Machine of this World to be framed
and moved by Established Laws, and that the same Disposition of its
Fabrick, which is most beneficial to the Whole, must of necessity, in
some few Places now and then occasion Hurts and Mischiefs; it is however
most highly reasonable, that we should yield to the Supreme Creator an
absolute Power over all his Works; Concluding withal, that it was
perhaps agreeable to Divine Wisdom, to order the Make of the World after
such a manner as might sometimes bring Mischiefs and Calamities upon
Mankind, whom it was necessary by the Frights of _Storms_, _Thunder_ and
_Lightning_ to keep in a continual Sence of their Duty.
[52] _Vid._ Philos. Transact. N 289.
[53] _Del_ Tevere, lib. 3. p. 228.
[54] Pag. 97.
_The End._