184 EFFECTS OF WEATHER CHAP. 5. 



But it would seem that there was a more 

 immediate connexion between the peculiar state 

 of the air, and the kind of disorders which 

 might be thereby excited, than this. For it 

 may be observed, that even of those disorders 

 which are not generally admitted to be conta- 

 gious, one particular kind will prevail for a long 

 time. Thus, in winter, the different symptoms 

 of that state of body which we call a cold, 

 appear, in some measure, to prevail and vary 

 together ; so that it is common to hear people 

 talking of the fashionable complaint. Coughs, 

 for a while, are the prevailing symptoms ; then 

 sore throats are the most common. It is in 

 spring that certain kinds of cutaneous eruptions 

 usually appear; and in autumn, that those 

 irregularities in the functions of the digestive 

 viscera, called cholera morbus, &c. happen, be- 

 sides the many diseases that in tropical climates 

 accompany particular winds or weather. It 

 is possible there may be different states of 

 atmosphere, which act as specific stimuli, and 

 produce their corresponding pecular diseased 

 nervous actions, having as it were a joint cause, 



regulate the bowels, either by medicine, diet, or exercise, so as 

 to effect the desired changes in the Animal Economy. 



