268 HISTORY OF 



Bodies of a softer nature are obviously destroyed 

 by the air.* Mr Boyle says, that silks brought to 

 Jamaica, will, if there exposed to the air, rot, even 

 while they preserve their colour; but if kept there- 

 from, they both retain their strength and gloss. 

 The same happens in Brasil, where their clothes, 

 which are black, soon turn of an iron colour, 

 though in the shops they preserve their proper 

 hue.t In these tropical climates also, such are 

 the putrescent qualities of the air, that white sugar 

 will sometimes be full of maggots. Drugs and 

 plasters lose their virtue, and become verminous. 

 In some places they are obliged to expose their 

 sweetmeats by day in the sun, otherwise the night 

 air would quickly cause them to putrefy. On the 

 contrary, in the cold arctic regions, animal sub- 

 stances, during their winter, are never known to 

 putrefy ; and meat may be kept for months with- 

 out any salt whatsoever. This experiment hap- 

 pily succeeded with the eight Englishmen that 

 were accidentally left upon the inhospitable coasts 

 of Greenland, at a place where seven Dutchmen 

 had perished but a few years before ; for killing 

 some rein-deer for their subsistence, and having 

 no salt to preserve the flesh, to their great sur- 

 prise they soon found it did not want any, as it 

 remained sweet during their eight months conti- 

 nuance upon that shore. 



These powers with which air is endued over 

 unorganized substances, are exerted in a still 

 Stronger manner over plants, animals of an in- 



* Buffon, vpl. iii. p. 62. f Ibid. vol. iii. p. 63. 



