;32 Cold Winds vihichjjfut out ofthF-'^ti. 



preference, by ap^ilying liis ham*- to the ground. The cool air, which, even without any 



coiiftruilion, is perceptible, induced hi:n to build a cave. 



In the cave which M. Be SauflTurc faw built, there was only the interior wall raifcd, io 

 that its external face was, at that time, abfolutely in the open air ; ncvcrthelefs his 

 thermometer, placed at the entrance of thefc vcntiges. Rood at 4 degrees. He plunged his 

 thermometer to the depth of 8 inches iajdie ground of this open cave; it then ftood at 

 7 degrees; and at 8, when merely laid on the ground ; but on the floor of a clofe cave it 

 Jtood at 5. The thermometer, as already rcm.irla-d, ftood at iS degrees in the open air. 



This cold air has no fenfible quality different from pure atmofpheric air cooled to the 

 fame degree. It has neither fmell nor taftc ; but, as the author obferves, it would. certainly 

 be curious to analyfe it. 



The eonllruclor of thefe caves, who appeared to be an intelligent man, exprefTed liis be- 

 lief to M. De Sauflure, that the cold air comes from the infule of the mountain, and ilTues 

 from clefts concealed beneath the rubbifli : but that neverthelefs there was no knowledge, 

 exifting of any cavern or natural rcpofitory of ice in this mountain, in which the fnows 

 might accumulate during the winter. The mountain is not high enough to preferve vifible 

 fnow during the fummer. It is neceflary however, according to M. De Sauflure, that the 

 caufe of this phenomenon fliould be very extended ; for he was certainly informed that 

 thefe caves exift as far as Capo di Lago, at the diftanee of eight miles from Caprino, and 

 even at Mendrifio, which is a league farther oiF. There are fome alfo on the oppofite fliore 

 of the lake. It is afRrmed that there are feveral on the banks of the lake of Come ; which 

 M. De Sauffure more readily believes, becaufe he found the water of the intermitting 

 fpring at the Villa of Tliny, fituated on the banks of the lake, to be as'cold as -,[ degrees. 



The lad caves defcribed by De Saufiure, from whence cool ftreams of air are emitted, 

 are thofe of Hergifweil. Thefe were the only ones he faw on that fide of the Alps. At 

 Winckel, a village at the diftanee of one league from Lucerne, he embarked on the lake ; 

 and in lefs than half an hour he was oppofite Hergifweil, a village belonging to the canton 

 of Underwald, fituated at the bottom of a fmall bay, and furrounded with meadows and 

 vineyards, in a pofition highly rural and romantic. At the diftanee of ten minutes from 

 the village, at the foot of the mountain, are the cold caves, which are nothing but huts of 

 wood except the bottom wall. This wall, like thofe at Lugan, is applied to the accumulated 

 fragments at the foot of the mountain. The ftones of the wall are not bound with mortar ; 

 and it is through the interftlces between them that the cold'wind enters, which ifiues from 

 the fragments of the mountain. 



On the 31ft of July 1783, at noon, the thermometer ftood at 18,3" in the fiiade, and 

 3,3° at the bottom of the cave. The mafter of tlie houfe affiired him that milk could be 

 kept in the cave for three weeks without change, fle(h meat a month, and ftrawberries from 

 one year to the other. Near this hut there was another of the fame kind, in which fnow 

 is kept for fale at Lucerne in the fummer ; but there was no fnow in the cave where he 

 obfervcd the temperature. Clofe to the hut, under the fame roof, a fire was kept for do- 

 meftic purpofes, without any apprehenfion of its aftefting the temperature of the cave.' 

 In winter it freezes in thefe huts rather later than in the open air, butaftcrwards, as thfey 

 affirm, more ftrongly ; no doubt, fays M. De Sauflure, by reafon of the returning current of 

 \\x into thefc fubtcrraneous cavities. ' The 



