178 EFFECTS OF WEATHER CHAT. 5. 



of various ages, -of dissimilar constitutions and 

 habits of life, and at different places, become , 

 the subjects of disorder at the same time, which 

 appears often to be the case, it is rational to 

 attribute their malady to some general cause 

 then prevailing. And the occurrence of dis- 

 order in particular kinds of weather, at particular 

 monthly and daily periods, or at stated seasons 

 of the year, which some persons experience, 

 naturally suggests the idea that such cause 

 resides in the air. 



But it appears to me, that it is not the heat, 

 nor cold, nor dampness, nor drought of the 

 air, which is chiefly concerned in producing 

 disorders, nor the sudden transition from one 

 to another of those states ; but that it is some 

 inexplicable peculiarity in its electric state, as 

 I have before hinted at in section the seventh. 

 The pain felt in limbs which have been formerly 



tute one of the severest libels on human nature ever uttered 

 by any misanthropist whatever. Between these alternatives, 

 I do not presume to offer any opinion of my own, nor would 

 I willingly involve myself in so fearful a dilemma; but having 

 taken the trouble to examine whatever journals of the weather 

 I could get at for years past, I am enabled to say that, at the 

 period of the alledged cures, there were no particular changes 

 recorded, as having taken place in the electricity, heat, 

 weight, or moisture of the air. 



