BOOK II.] History of Nature. 79 



longer Time in struggling, then Lightning-flashes are seen. 

 With these the Cloud is cloven ; with the other, burst in 

 sunder. The Thunders are the Blows given by the Fires 

 beating hard upon the Clouds : and therefore presently the 

 fiery Rifts of those Clouds do flash and shine. It is possible, 

 also, that the Wind, elevated from the Earth, being repelled, 

 and kept down by the Stars, and so restrained within a 

 Cloud, may thunder, while Nature choketh the rumbling 

 Sound all the while it striveth ; but sendeth forth a Crash 

 when it breaketh out, as we see in a Bladder puffed up with 

 Wind. Likewise it may be, that the same Wind or Spirit is 

 set on Fire by Attrition, as it violently passeth headlong 

 down. It may also be stricken by the Conflict of the Clouds, 

 as if two Stones hit one against another ; and so the Flashes 

 sparkle forth. But all these are Accidents. And from hence 

 come those insignificant and vain Lightnings, which have no 

 natural Cause. With these are Mountains and Seas smitten : 

 and of this Kind be all other Explosions that do no Hurt to 

 living Creatures. Those that come from above, and of fixed 

 Causes, yea, and from their proper Stars, foretel future 

 Events. In like Manner, it may be that the Winds, or rather 

 Blasts, proceed from a dry Exhalation of the Earth, void of 

 all Moisture : neither will I deny that they arise from Waters 

 breathing out an Air, which neither can thicken into a Mist, 

 nor gather into Clouds : also they may be driven by the 

 Impulsion of the Sun, because the Wind is conceived to be 

 Nothing else but the flowing of the Air, and that by many 

 means. For some we see to rise out of Rivers, Snows, and 

 Seas, even when they be still and calm : as also others out of 

 the Earth, which Winds they name Altani. And those verily 

 when they come back again from the Sea, are called Tropcei: 

 if they go onward, Apogcei. 



CHAPTER XLIV. 

 What is the Reason of the Resounding of the Echo. 



BUT the Windings of Hills, and their close Turnings, 

 their many Tops, their Ridges also bending like an Elbow, 



