252 Mr Black on the Climate 



land. The reason of such phenomena not occurring at once, on 

 a change of wind to the southward, arises, it seems, from the 

 first of the southerly wind being only that body of the air which 

 had lately blown from the opposite or northerly quarter, and 

 which must precede the true current of the south, with its cha- 

 racteristic properties. It is for this reason, that we often found 

 a cold southerly or south-east wind at sea, where no localities 

 could have immediately influenced the temperature, such as at 

 Malta and off' Cape Spartinento. From this cause, also, the 

 longer a Sirocco blows, the drier it becomes ; and, in the vicinity 

 of such elevated land as the Albanian ridge of mountains, this 

 partial change to warmth with moisture, in the Sirocco or south 

 wind, may be considered indicative, in the fall of the year, of a 

 thunder storm, or the lesser electrical phenomena, with a fall of 

 rain, and a change of wind. 



It is evident, also, that besides the humidity and heat, which 

 form a great difference between winds proceeding from the op- 

 posite points of north and south, there is something else con- 

 nected with the air and the surfaces over which its currents 

 pass, that aiFects the animal system in that remarkable man- 

 ner which is witnessed during a Sirocco or southerly wind. 

 On a change taking place to this direction, the inhabitants of a 

 place, and those who have lived but a short time in it, sensibly 

 experience a languor and relaxation of both the mental and phy- 

 sical energies ; while diseases, depending on laxity of fibre or 

 emunctory, become at the same time aggravated. Thus dys- 

 peptic complaints, chronic catarrh, and cynanche, make no pro- 

 gress towards recovery ; and if the Sirocco blows immediately 

 after a cool northerly breeze, it often proves the cause of de- 

 veloping such diseases. 



What this depressing something is, it may at present be pre- 

 mature to dogmatize about. There is an era, however, to which 

 medical science is fast hastening, when this will no doubt be ex- 

 plained ; since the progress, which all the auxiliary sciences are 

 making, point out to us that such a consummation will happen. 

 To elucidate somewhat this intricate portion of our subject, we 

 shall make the best use of the data we possess, and the observa- 

 tions we have made. 



As far back as 1770, it was conjectured by Brydon the tou- 



