[ a62 ] 



From the above comparative fketch of the climate of Ireland, in 

 the middle of the 17th century, with its conflitution for a few^ years 

 paft, it will appear, that advantages might be derived to agricul- 

 tural fcience from a yet more extended comparifon. But this is not 

 all ; another very important benefit might be reaped from fuch a 

 comparifon, in a medical point of view. Although I do not be- 

 lieve that, in thefe latitudes, health, or difeafe, ' follow ftill the 

 motions of the moon,' yet I am firmly perfuaded, that thefe cir- 

 cumftances of the human body are materially influenced by the 

 conditions of the element in which we dwell, and feed, and have 

 our being. Indolence, ignorance, and other caufes have led men 

 to neglc(S, or defpife inveftigations concerning the application of 

 meteorology to medicine; and, perhaps, no caufe has contributed 

 to this effed more than the want of comparative eftimates. Dur- 

 ing many ages, it was the fafhion to regard the obfervations which 

 had been made on thofe fubjeds in Greece and Rome, as applica- 

 ble to the air and inhabitants of countries in feveral refpeds differ- 

 ing from thefe and from one another; and meeting with difap- 

 pointments in transferring the rules of what was called the flandard 

 fituation to other places, the inquirers have given up the purfuit 

 as vain and ufelefs. But had a fufficiently extended comparifon 

 been accurately made between the air and inhabitants of the 

 refpedive countries, each inquirer would probably have learned an 

 inftrudive lefTon concerning the climate and difeafes of his own 



diftria. 



