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Show Wa the faline Matter diffolved and imbibed by the Rivers in their Progrefs, and difcharged with their /Vaters into the Ocean ; and confequently that the Degree of Saltnefs is continu- ally and gradually increafing. Wa Near Armogh in Ireland, isfaid to bea Lake, wherein a Staff being fix’d fome Months. the Part that ftuck in the Mud will be turned into Tron, and that Part encompafs’d with the 7. ter, into Hone, the reft remaining as before, thod for determining the Age of the World : There are Waters fuppos’d to tranfmute Iron into Copper. For two Experiments of the Degree of Saltnefs, made at a large Interval of Time, will, Poifonous Waters are occafioned by their creeping thro’ arfenical, antimonial, or mer- Onthis Hypothefis he even propofes a Me- by the Rule of Proportion, give the Time, curial Earths, and being impregnated bytheir wherein it has been acquiring its prefent De- Fumes ; fuch as the Lacus A/phaltites, and gree of Saltnets, Philof. Tranf: No. 344. divers others about the Alps, &c. which im. Without /Vater there can no Fermentation mediatelykill thofe who drink: But thefe are be raifed. moft of them fill’d up with Stones, which is Thus, if you grind a Plant into Duft and one Reafonfo few are known. Farina, it will never ferment, even tho’ you Saline Waters are generated two Ways; add Yeaft or Spirit of Wine thereto; but either they are derived from the Sea by fome Water being poured on it, the Eermentation fubterraneous Paffage, or are generated from table Bodies are likewife perform’d by means of Water alone ; and without it there would be no fuch Fffeét in all Nature. Water is of great Service in dire@ting and determining the Degree of Fire or Heat. This wasfirft difcovered by M. Amontons, from an Obfervatton that Vater over the Fire grows gradually more and morehot,till it comes to Boiling or Bubbling Waters are producd either by a fulphureous, or a nitrous Spirit readily rifes.. Mineral Salts, which they meet withalin their All Putrefactions both of animal and vege- Paffage ere they arrive at their Springs. mix’d with the Water in the Earth: Ifit be fulphureous, the Water is hot; if nitrous, cold: Forall the 4aters that boil asif hot, are not fo, but fome few arecold. There are divers other Waters that havefins gular Properties, not reducible to any ofthefe boil; but then ceafes to increafe, and only Claffes ; fuch, t. Is that Spring in Portugal, which abforbs maintains its prefent Degree of Heat, even tho’ the Fire was ever fo much enlarg’d, or was continued ever fo long. This therefore affords a Standard or fix’d Degree of Heat all over the World ; boiling Water, provided it be equally pure, being of the {ame Heat in all Bodies caft into it, although the lighteft; And not far fromit there was anciently ano- ther, in which no Bodies, not the heaviett, could fink. 2. There is faid to be a Lake in Andalufia Greenland as under the Equator. Mineral Waters are of feveral Kinds ; 1. Acid Waters: 'Thefe arife from the Admixture of Vitriol, Nitre, Allum, and Salt. Thefe are cold, and very frequent, there being reckon’d not lef$ than a thoufand in Germany alone: Some of which are four as Vinegar, and ufed inftead thereof ; others vinous, and ferving for Wine ; others aftringent, €e. Hot-waters arife from the Admixture of which foretels approaching Storms, by mak- no Fire can bring Water to equab, and which Vifcoufnefs, which makes its Parts ftick to onc another, and to other Bodies, as to Wood, and clean Glaf3, in fuch.a manner, that a large ing a terrible Bellowing, that may be heard at eighteen or twenty Miles Diftance. 3. In Granada isa Well, whofe Waterdif- folves Stones. 4. There are Springs in divers Parts of England and Wales, Spain, &c, which ebb and flow daily with the Flux and Reflux ofthe Sea; and fome are faid even to ebb and flow againft the Tide. fulphureous Particles and Fumes: Of thefe, M. Mariotte, in his 'Treatife of Hydroftathe hotteft is {aid to be that of Fapan, which ticks, tells us, That there isin /Vater a kind of keeps hot thrice as long as ourboil’d Water, Oily and fat Waters arife from bituminous and fulphureous Matter, as Amber, Petroleum Drop of Water will hang upon the Wood or Pitch, Naphtha, &c. : Glafs without falling ; and if you pour Water Bitter Waters are produced from an impure into a clean Glafs, without filling it, that Part Sulphur, Nitre, and Copper: Such is the of the Water which is next to the Glaf will Lacus Afphaltites. Very cold Waters have their Rife froma Mixture of Nitre and Allum; or of Mercury, rife above a Line and a half higher than the Level of the reft. And tho’ we cannottell wherein this VifcoufnefS confifts, yet its Ef Tron, &c. The Depth of the Source or Spring fects are always fenfible. too has fome Effect. Fi After this manner, two diftinét Drops of There are alfo divers Waters which change Water will unite into one as foon as they touch the Nature of Bodies. one another everfo little. In the northern Part of User in Irelandis The fame Thing will happen to two Drops reported to be a Spring, which in the Space of Mercury, or two Drops ofOil laid foftly of feven Years petrifies Wood, or converts it into Stone. The like are faid to be found in divers other Parts, as in Hungary, Bur- gundy, &c. Vitruvius mentions a Cappadocia, which converts Wood Lake in into Stone in one Day, upon Water, if you bring them to touch one another. The fame will alfo happen to thole Bubbles of Air which are at the Bottom of 4 Dith full of Water, whenit has ftood a while upon the Fire ; for if you pufh them towards each other, with a Pin or anything elfe, ne Wil, will, after the fame manner, run into one another. WaA Directions, Breadth and Bounds of the Winds, and of the /Veather they bring with them ; the ‘Lo explain the Reafon ofthis Vifcoufnefs, Correfpondence between the eather in divers as well as we can, we might fay, that each of Places, and Dependence between one Sort and thefe Subftances having their Particles in con- another at the fame Place: And thence we ftant Motion, the Particles of each kind have might in time learn to foretel divers great a Figure proper to hook and unite themfelves Emergencies; as extraordinary Heats, Rains, to thofe of the fame kind, and that they faften Frofts, Droughts, Dearths, €¢, But in order to each other as foon as by their Motion they to this, a compleat Hiftory of the Weather come to touch. will be required. There is another Conjecture, viz. That Indeed there have been fome Effays made the Air having a {trong Spring, endeavours to this Way by the Membersof our Royal Society, reduce thofe fluid Bodies to the leaft Space they the French Academy of Sciences, and divers can take up, which is a fpherical Figure: But if this was true, then a Drop of Mercury, and a Drop of Water would be reduced into a Globe. Befides we find, that in the exhaufted Receiver of an Air-pump, Drops of Water or Mercury keep their, globular Figures, and unite into one in that rarefy’d Air, as they do in commonAir. There are alfo Bodies that Water will not itick to, or not without Difficulty, as Tallow, Colewort-Leaves, before they are handled, Swan or Duck Feathers; if it lies upon thofe Subftances, it isin round Drops ; or if it be in a pretty large Quantity, its Out-fide is round, and the reft is a level Surface. WEATHER is the State or Difpofition of the Atmofphere, with regard to Moifture or Drought, Heat or Cold, Wind or Calm, Rain, Hail, Froft, Snow, Fog, &c. other Perfons of Note; but the Drinefs of the Subject has put a Stop to their Progrefs in that Matter. As for Inftance, Eraf Bartholinus has Obfervations of the Heather every Day throughout the Year 1671. And Mr. Werle made the like at Oxford for feven Years, from the Year 1337 to 1343. Dr. Plot did the fame at the fame Place for the Year 1684. Mr. Hiller at Cape Corfe for the Years 1686 and 1687. And Mr. Hunt, &c. at Grefham College for the Years 1695, 1696. Mr. Derbam at Upminfter in Effex for the Years 1691, 1692, 1697, 1698, 1699, 1703, 1704, 1705. Mr. Jownly in Lancafbire for the Years 1694, 1698. Mr. Cunningham at Emin in China for the Years 1698, 1699, 1700, 1701. Mr. Lock at Oats in Effex 1692. Dr. Scheuchzer at Zurich in 1708. And Dr. Tilly at Pifa the fame Year. The moft certain Signs and Prognofticks of As tis in the Atmofphere that all Plants good and bad Weather may be colleéted from and Animals live and breathe; and as that thofe Things that are nearer to us than the appears to be the great Principle of moft animal and vegetable Productions, Alterations, &c, there does not feem any thing in all Philofophy of more immediate Concernment to Orbs of the Planets; nor need we go any farther than this our fublunary World for the moft probable Conjectures in relation to the Weather, and may deduce our Prognofti- cations in relation us than the State of the Weather. In effect, all living Things are only Affem- Vegetables, &c. thereto, from Animals and It is certain, that agreat Paft of the Brute blages or Bundles of Veflels, whofe Juices are kept in Motion by the Preffure of the Atmo- Creation have a Senfibility and Sagacity this {phere, and which by that Motion maintain Way beyond Mankind, and that without any Life: So that any Alterations in the State of Means or Difpofition thereto, more than we ; the Rarety or Denfity, the Heat, Purity, €c. except that their Veffels, Fibres, €c. being of the Atmofphere, muft neceffarily be at- in other refpeéts in one equable Habitude tended with proportional ones with thefe : The fame, or a proportionable Caufe from Almoft every Body knows, what vaft, yet re- without, has always a like or proportionable gular Alterations a little Change of Weather Effect on them; that is, their Veffels are remakes in a Tube fill’d with Mercury or Spirit gular Barometers, &c. affected only from one of Wine, by Barometers, Ibermometers, Hy- external Principle, viz. the Difpofition of the grofcopes, &c. and we fhould not fail to feel Atmofphere: Whereas ours are aéted on by as great and as regular Alterations in the divers from within, as well as without ; fome Tubes, Chords and Fibres of our own Bodies, of which check, impede, and prevent the were it not partly for our Inattention, and Aétionofothers. Animals that live in the open Air muft nepartly for our unequal and intemperate Courfe ceflarily be fuppofed to have a quicker Senfe of living. The Knowledge of the Weather is of great of it than Men that live Within-doors ; and Service in Gardening and Agriculture ; but the efpecially the Airy Inhabitants, the Birds, who imaginary Prognoftications of Almanack Wri- live in the freeft and cleareft Air, and are ters have been found to be a mere delufive more apt, by their Flight and other Motions, Cant and Jargon. There is nothing more as well as their Voices, to difcover their Senwanting than a juft Theory of the Weather on {ations of it. Therefore thofe who have apply’d themMechanical Principles. Were Regifters carefully kept in divers felves to the Obfervations of the Signs and Prognofticks ofgood or bad Weather, have laid Parts of the Globe for a good Series of Years, we might by them be enabled to determine the downthefe following Rules, Signs |