, 
372 On the Saline Impregnation 
about init ; for, the water resolving into steam 
will desert the salt; and this being found in 
infinitely fine particles, will be so much the 
less inclined to descend, and may be carried 
even farther than the sea-water, in conse- 
quence of the particles being of superior 
tenuity. If this reasoning be correct, sea- 
air, whether immediately over the sea or on 
the coast, will scarcely ever be entirely free 
from salt, either in rainy or fair weather ; 
and hence we are led to perceive what is 
most probably the cause of the sea-air being 
salubrious to one constitution and insalubrious 
to another. May not the diseases incident 
to a sea-faring life, and even sea-sickness it- 
self, be more or less ascribed to the slow but 
incessant operation of this modification of 
the atmosphere ?* 
* Happening to be at Leeds on the 5th December, 1823, there was in the 
night and ensuing morning, « violent storm of wind and rain, scarcely 
inferior to that of December 5th the preceding year. The wind too was 
from the S. W. and W. I took the opportunity to examine the rain 
caught in the gage order of the Philosophical and Literary 
Society of that place. Tcould find no trace of muriatic acid in the water, 
more than might be expected from the combustion of coal in so large a 
place. Hence ii would seem the extent of that storm, as far as regards 
the salt rain, was limited, 
