32 The Natural Hiftory of the Book I. 
Providence hath provided Plants, Minerals, &c. in the fame Cas we 
upon a thorough Search into their Qualities, are capable of affording no 
only great Relief, but alfo moft effe@tual and fpecific Remedies. r 
That they are not already found, ‘is rather an Argument, that we is 
not been fufficiently inquifitive, than that there are no fuch Plants endue 
with thefe Virtues. < : 
TheHeatof ‘The feveral Difcoveries that have enriched the Materia Medica plainly 
futiimeat thew, that the Virtues of Plants and Minerals are inexhauftible. And 
mesuices. we may likewife obferve, that the Heat of the Sun in thefe hot Climates 
wis fo intenfe (efpecially upon thofe Plants which grow fheltered from the 
Wind), that it fublimates their Juices, Salts, and Spirits, to a far greater, 
Degree of Perfection, ‘than a chemical Fire,~ by its inconftant Heat, can 
poflibly effect. ; 
Hence it is, that the moft valuable Gums and Balfams are brought from 
hot Climates. Witnefs that of Gilead and Peru. ’ 
It is obferved by the ableft Praditioners in Phyfic of this Ifland, that 
Peripneumonies and Pleurifies are almoft the conftant Attendants of the 
Change of Wind, if of any Continuance, from the true Trade-Wind, efpe- 
cially to a fultry South-weft Wind. 
The Difference of Purity between this and our Trade-Wind, is eafily 
difcovered ; for the South-weft Wind blows from a very hot moift Part 
of the Continent of America, which is not above 254 Miles diftant from 
this Ifland: And as this is by far hotter than our ufual Air, it adds too 
great a Relaxation to the Animal Syftem. feeds 3 ; 
ie ee This, with the different Degrees of Circulation in all the Juices (which 
ftitutional fuch a Difference in the Air muft caufe), gives Birth to various Difeafes : 
eens, nh- Whereas the Trade-Wind, by its Frequency, or ‘rather by its Conftancy, 
_is not only conftitutional to the Inhabitants, but it is in itfelf purer than 
the other, becaufe it blows upon the Ifland at Eaft-north-eaft ; and 
as the neareft Part of the Continent, upon that Point, is 3127 Miles 
from us, the Air muft be far colder by paffing over fo much more Water, 
than the South-weft Wind, and confequently more wholfome. 
The learned Dr. Mead, in his Treatife de Pefie, obferves, that it was 
the Opinion of Hippocrates, that the Conftitution of the Air that prece- 
ded peftilential Fevers, was mixed with great Heats, much Rains, and 
Southerly Winds. And Galen takes notice, “ that no other than a moift 
“ Air brings the Plague.” Lucretius is of the fame Opinion, in his admira.. 
ble Delcription of the Plague of Athens. “ Thefe Difeafes, fays he, either 
“* come from the Air, or rife from the Earth.” ic 
- - - - Ubi putrorem bumida nafta of, 
Lntenpeflivis pluviifg, & folibus ia.” 
: Lucrer. Lib. VI, Ver, 1098. 
In 
