r 406 ]■ 



Accortfing to La Cotte, the order of fucceffion in ihe middle lati- 

 tudes is foLith-weft, north, vveft, north-eaft, fouth, north-weft, 

 eaft, fouth -caft. 39 Roz. Journ. p. 267;. 



Of the Sc'irocco. 



This is a fouth, or fouth-eaft wind, known in the fouthern 

 parts of Italy, Sicily and Malta^ diftinguifhed by peculiar debilitat- 

 ing effcifls, well defcribed by Brydcne, and by Dolomieu in his. 

 treatife on the temperature of Malta. The latter has fhewn that 

 its malignity refults from the conftitution of the air it conveys, and 

 not merely from its temperature, which is variable, from 55*' to 

 80°. It contains a much fmallsr proportion of oxygen than air 

 ufuaily does. The conftitution of the African wind, called Har- 

 mattan, is as yet unknown ; it is, at Icaft on land, loaded with 

 fome unknown undiflblved vapour, and is much hotter and drier 

 than the Scirocco, but not debilitating, and even wholefome for 

 animals ; for though it parches their fkin it deftroys infedion and 

 cures feveral diforders. See Phil. Tranf. 1781, p. 46, &c. Its 

 direction is alfo weftwards. 



Section 



