WINDS, 



ingly probable, that the aqueous vapours which 

 are sustained by the air, from whence come clouds 

 and rains may be one great cause of irregular 

 winds. It has been determined, from very accurate 

 experiments, that one inch of water when evapo- 

 rated, will fill more than 2000 inches of space : 

 from hence it appears that the water which falls in 

 drops of rain, &c. possessed more than 2000 times 

 the space when it floated in the atmosphere in 

 vapours j the condensation thereof must therefore 

 occasion vacuities of such a nature as will cause 

 winds of different kind and degrees, according to 

 the deficiency which is to be supplied. 



The oeconomy of winds, an illustration of which 

 has been here attempted, is admirably adapted to 

 the various purposes of nature, and to the general 

 intercourse of mankind : if the earth had been 

 fixed, and the sun had revolved about it, the air 

 over the torrid zone, and particularly about the. 

 equator would have been almost always stagnant : 

 and in the other zones the winds would have had 

 little variation either in direction or strength; in 

 this case navigation would have been greatly 

 impeded, and a communication between the two 

 hemispheres by sea rendered impracticable. Oil 

 the present system of things, however, the irregu- 

 larity of winds is of the happiest consequence, by 

 being subservient to navigation : and a general 

 circulation of air constantly takes place between 

 the eastern and western hemispheres, as well as 

 between the polar and equatorial regions ; by 

 reason of which, that diffusion and intermixture 



of 



