BOOK III, CHAP. Vir. 597 



inf.ilutary, nor inconvenient, fo long as it is attended with moderately 

 dry weather, and regular breezes. But the greateft heat obferved in 

 this town is many degrees inferior to the greateft lieat at Charles 

 Town. The whole range of thermometrical motion at Charles Town 

 in one year was about 82 degrees, and at Spanifli Town not more 

 than 19. 



At the former it has been remarked, that the atmofphere is 26 de- 

 grees warmer lometimes on the fame day, between fun-rife and fun-fet; 

 and, on the contrary, that in the fpace of twenty- four hours, it be- 

 came 46 degrees cooler than it had been on the preceding day. A 

 tranfitioii fo amazingly great and fudden may well be thought to af- 

 fcdi the inhabitants in a very fenfible manner, efpecially when it is con- 

 fidered, that fuch an alteration of weather, as precipitates the thermo- 

 meter fuddenly 10 or 12 degrees, makes it neceffary to put on warmer 

 cloathing. 



On February 17, 1752, the thermometer at the Cape of Good Hope 



(about 54" 30' S. lat.) was up at . 94 



On the 22d of the fame month, at ^y^ 



At midnight, it funk to 61 



This fudden variation of 36 J degrees was immediately followed by an 

 epidemic diilemper, which Iwept off great numbers of people. 



It is not, therefore, a high degree of heat which renders a climate 

 unwholefomc, but it is the fudden change from great heat to (compa- 

 ratively) great coolnefs, and vkc verja. It is the happinefs of the Ja- 

 maica atmofphere, to be exempt from thefe noxious variations; and it 

 may, therefore, juftly be prekimed far hcalihier than thofe parts of the 

 world which are liable to them, even though they may be fituated 

 many de_2,rees nearer, cither to the North or South Poles. 



Yet, colonel Purry, the Swifs adventurer, in his memorial of 1724 

 lays it down, for a certainty, that the latitude of South Carolina {ji^-^ to ■ 

 3 :;) ii the happieft on the globe. " A latitude (faj-s he) which, by the 

 " mcdiTot'rAi of its heat, and temperature of its air, fiieds fruitfulnefs 

 " upon the earth, and happinefs on mankind." Surely this gentleman . 

 mufl have taken up merely fpcculative ideas, or hav e yielded to the 

 deluiions of a lively imagination.^ or he would not thus have ventured . 

 to extol 'he moderation of heat, and temperature of air. where the 

 best is known from lepeated experiments to raife the thermometer to 



upwards 



