Chap. 40.] TTTNDS. ^ 



CHAP. 49. (48.) — ^BOITEPHIAS AlTD TTPHOIT. 



And now respecting the sudden ^sts*, which arising firom 

 the exhalations of the earth, as has been said above, and 

 felling down again, being in the mean time covered by a 

 thin film of clouds, exist in a variety of forms. By their 

 wandering about, and rushing down like torrents, in the 

 opinion of some persons, they produce thunder and light- 

 ning'. But if they be urged on with greater force and 

 violence, so as to cause the rupture of a dry cloud, they pro- 

 duce a squall', which is named by the Greeks Ecnephias^. 

 But, if these are compressed, and rolled up more closely to- 

 gether, and then break without any discharge of fire, i. e. 

 without thunder, they produce a squall, which is named Ty- 

 phon', or an Ecnephias in a state of agitation. It carries 

 along a portion of the cloud which it has broken ofl*, rolling 

 it and turning it round, aggravating its own destruction by 

 the weight of it, and whirling it from place to place. This 

 is very much dreaded by sailors, as it not only oreaks their 

 sail-yards, but the vessels themselves, bending them about 

 in various ways. This may be in a slight degree counter- 

 acted by sprinkling it with vinegar, when it comes near us, 

 this substance being of a very cold nature*. This wind, 

 when it rebounds c^ter the stroke, absorbs and carries up 

 whatever it may have seized on. 



^ " flatus repentini." 



* Cicero refers to an opinion very similar to this as maintained by the 

 Stoics ; De Div. ii. 44. » " procella." 



* " 6K v€<povs, ex. nube, erumpente spiritn." Hardouin,in Leniaire,L343. 

 Perhaps it most nearly corresponds to the term " hurricane." 



• a rv^w, incendo, ardeo. We have no distinct term in onr language 

 which corresponds to the account of the typhon ; it may be considered 

 as a combination of a whirlwind and a hurricane. 



• Plutarch, Sympos. Qusest. iii. 5, refers to the extraordinary power of 

 vinegar in extinguishing fire, but he ascribes this effect, not to its cold- 

 ness, but to the extreme tenuity of its parts. On this Alexandre remarks, 

 " Mehus factum negassent Plinius et Plutarchus, quam causam inaneia 

 rei absurdissim® excogitarent" Lemaire, L 344. 



