216 Trejenfat'ion of Animals of Changes m the Weather. 



duced inftances ; elfc one might confider the fliutting and ex- 

 panding of ninny plants as foreboding variationsof the weather. 



The dog, on the approach of rainy weather, expreflos figns 

 of uneafinefs ; fcratches hinifelf, becaufe the fleas then bite 

 him with more violence ; digs up the earth with his feet, 

 runs round, and cats grafs : he is accuftomed, however, to do 

 the latter when he is vcrv hot, perhaps to cool hinifelf, and 

 in general a Itorni follows foon after. Before a fiorm he eva- 

 porates more ftrongly, fo that his fmcll becomes intolerable ; 

 he creeps in a dejecYed manner to his mafter, and lies quiet. 

 7'he cat alfo fecnis to have this in common with the dog, that 

 Ihe creeps to her malter alfo on the approach of a Itorni. But 

 all thefe phaenomena require a further explanation. 



The moft perfeft of all animals, man, is on the approach 

 of ftorms only fubjeft to certain unpleafant fenfations ; but 

 thcfe niuft teach him, in the moft rtriking manner, that his 

 fpiritual part, even though it difengages itTelf fo much from 

 oppreflive cares, is irremediably connected here below with a 

 lluggifli body, which frequently exercifes tyrannic fway over 

 the foul. Men in a found ftate of health are fubjeflcd, oa 

 the approach of (lorniy weather, to a hcavinefs'of body and 

 mind, a want of capacity to perform their ufual occupations, 

 ft yawning and relaxation, which are highly difagrceable. 

 Thefe are often accompanied alfo with a fenfation of heat. 

 All thefe phienomena appear in feme more and in others lefs, 

 and in fome do not take place at all : but the laft cafe hap- 

 pens very rarclv. Sick pcribns, or thofe whofe juices are 

 corrupted, experience, befides the above, an itching heat in 

 thofe parts of their bodies which are covered ; and many who 

 have old woimds, ulcers, and the like, have in thefe uncom- 

 mon fenfations. Many of thefe mav be afcribed to perfpira- 

 tion checked by the great beat; though, as Weikard, a phi- 

 lofophic phyfician, alferts, the want of elcftric matter in the 

 body may have fome fliare in them alfo. 



When llormy weather happens in winter, thefe fenfations, 

 as well as the before-mentioned prefenfalion of animals, do 

 not take place ; at leaft no one has ever obferved them. This, 

 in all probability, arifes from the influence of the feafon. 



I mutt conclude this eflliy with requefling, that what I 

 have here faid may be coilfidered, as it really is, an hypo- 

 thetic explanation of well known fads. 



XXXVIII. Aq~ 



