Chap. 40.] 
79 
CHAP. 49. (48.) — ECNEPHIAS XNJ) TYPHOK. 
And now respecting tlie sudden gusts ^, whicli arising .from 
tlie exhalations of the earth, as has been said above, and 
falling 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 squalP, 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 ofi*, 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 breaks 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 after the stroke, absorbs and carries up 
whatever it may have seized on. 
^ " flatus repentini." 
2 Cicero refers to an opinion very similar to tMs as maintaiaed by the 
Stoics ; De Div. ii. 44. 3 » proceUa." 
^ " eK v6(povs, ex nnbe, ennnpente spiritu." Hardouin,in Leinaire,i.343. 
Perhaps it most nearly corresponds to the term " hurricane." 
5 a ri;0cu, incendo, ardeo. We have no distinct term in our language 
which corresponds to the account of the typhon ; it may be considered 
as a combination of a whirlwiad and a hurricane. 
' ^ Plutarch, Sympos. Quaest. iii. 5, refers to the extraordinary power of 
vinegar in extiaguishuig 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 PUnius et Plutarchus, quam causam inanea) 
rei absurdissimsD excogitarent." Lemaire, i. 344. 
