SECT. IV. 
Bad effects 
of Sea Air. 
io NATURAL HISTORY 
ready to fall. Thefe and many other variations which might 
be mentioned, are the neceflary refult of meteors, vapours, and 
air intermixed in feparate portions, and acting with reciprocal, 
but generally very different powers; however, between the Tro- 
pics thefe varieties are over-rul’d, and fuperceded by the inceflant 
heat of the fun, which produces regular, or trade-winds : but 
to finifh this excurfion and return, I am not here to attempt a 
Theory of the regular and irregular Winds ; let it fufflee, that 
the caufes of Winds in general, and their feveral velocities, may 
be very rationally attributed to the rile and fluctuation of va- 
pours, the fhape and flze which their combinations afliime in 
the firmament, and the different condenfations and rarefactions of 
the air. 
The air of Cornwall mu Pc needs partake of the falts of the fea 
adjoining, in a great degree, and therefore corrodes iron in a very 
fhort time, and near the fea, more than in the inland parts ; the 
bars and frames of windows, and every thing elfe made of iron, 
prefently giving way to the fait fpray, let them be painted ever 
fo well. This faltnefs of the air is alfo very unfavourable to fcor- 
butic habits ; the fea-vapour not being fufHciently corrected by a 
proper quantity of effluvia from the land. It is alfo very pre- 
judicial to fhrubs and trees ; and near the fea fhores, efpecially 
towards the Weft, whether mix’d with the North or South winds, 
will permit a tree to rife very little above it’s flielter, which is very 
difeouraging to all new plantations. Indeed there is reafon to think, 
that vapours in general, rais’d from the land and dropping in rains, 
are much more nourifhing to plants than thofe exhal d from the 
fea. For vapours from the land are charg d with the particles of 
the foil they rife from, and fupply the plants and trees, wherever 
they fall, with a kindly juice, mix’d with frefh and new earth ; and 
this is the reafon that the more water is diftill’d (that is, forc’d 
to depofit it’s terrene faeces) the lefs it nourifhes plants : now 
vapours rais’d from the fea can be no other than ftrain’d or diftill’d 
fait water, and therefore cannot be fo fit for vegetation, which is 
confirm’d alfo by this obfervation, that moft trees thrive better at 
a little diftance from the fea, than near it’s brink. 
This Sea-air is pernicious to plants in proportion to their ten- 
der, or robuft nature, and the force with which it is driven upon 
them ; for after a ftorm we ufually find the young fhoots of plants 
fhrivell’d, according as they were more or lefs expos’d, and to the 
taft of a very pungent faltnefs : the fibres are firft bruifed by the 
violent gufts of wind, and the fait air coming in quick fucceflion, 
infinuates itfelf into the wound, fcorches the fap veflels, and 
vegetation 
