Page images
PDF
EPUB

three chief heads and fountains of its impulsion, or driving forward, from whence it flows and derives; whence also precepts may be taken to increase and strengthen it.

2. The first spring comes from the quantity of the wind which is received; for questionless more wind helps more than less; wherefore the quantity of wind must be carefully procured, which will be done if, like wise householders, we be good husbands, and take care nothing be stolen from us. Wherefore we must be very careful that no wind may be lost.

3. The wind blows either above the ships or below them, to the very superficies and surface of the sea; and as provident men use to look most after the least things, (for the greater no man can choose but look after,) so we will first look after these lower winds, which questionless cannot perform so much as the higher.

4. As concerning the winds which blow chiefly about the sides of the ships, and under their sails, it is the office of the main boarsprit-sail, which lies low and sloping, to gather them into it, that there may be no waste nor loss of wind; and this of itself does good, and hinders not the wind which fills the other sails. And about this I do not see what can be done more by the industry of man, unless they should perchance fix such low sails out of the middle of the ship, like wings or feathers, two on each side when the wind blows right.

5. But, concerning the bewaring of being robbed, which happens when the hinder sails (in a fore-right wind) steal the wind away from the foresails, (for in a side wind all the sails are set a-work,) I know not what can be added to the care man hath already taken to prevent it, unless when there is a fore wind, there may be made a kind of stairs, or scale of sails, that the hindermost sails of the mizzenmast may be the lowest, the middle ones at the mainmast a little higher, the foremast, at the foremast, highest of all, that one sail may not hinder but rather help the other, delivering and passing over the wind from one to another. And let so much be observed of the first fountain of impulsion.

6. The second fountain of impulsion consists in the manner of striking the sail with the wind, which, if through the contraction of the wind it be acute and swift, will move more; if obtuse and languishing, less.

7. As concerning this, it is of great moment, and much to the purpose, to let the sails have a reasonable extension and swelling; for if they be stretched out stiff, they will, like a wall, beat back the wind; if they be too loose, there will be a weak impulsion.

8. Touching this, human industry hath behaved itself well in some things, though it was more by chance than out of any good judgment. For, in a side wind, they gather up that part of the VOL. III.-58

sail as much as they can which is opposite against the wind: and by that means they set in the wind into that part where it should blow. And this they do and intend. But, in the mean season, this follows, (which, peradventure, they do not perceive,) that the wind is more contracted, and strikes more sharply.

9. What may be added to human industry in this, I cannot perceive, unless the figure of the sails be changed, and some sails be made which shall not swell round, but, like a spur or a triangle, with a mast or piece of timber in that corner of the top, that they may contract the wind more sharply, and cut the outward air more powerfully. And that angle (as we suppose) must not be altogether sharp, but like a short obtuse triangle, that it may have some breadth. Neither do we know what good it would do, if there were, as it were, a sail made in a sail; if, in the middle of a greater sail, there were a kind of a purse, not altogether loose, of canvass, but with ribs of wood, which should take up the wind in the middle of the sail, and bring it into a sharpness.

10. The third fountain or original of impalsion, is in the place where the wind hits, and that is twofold; for, from the fore side of the ship the impulsion is easier and stronger than on the hinder part; and from the upper part of the mast and sail than from the lower part.

11. Neither seems the industry of man to have been ignorant of this, when, in a fore-wind, their greatest hopes have been in their foremasts, and in calms they have have not been careless in hoisting up of their topsails. Neither, for the present, do we find what may be added to human industry in this point, unless concerning the first we should set up two or three foremasts, (the first upright and the rest sloping,) whose sails shall hang downward; and, as for the second, that the foresails should be enlarged at the top, and made less sharp than they usually are: but, in both, we must take heed of the inconvenience of danger, in sinking the ship too much.

The Motion of Winds in other Engines of Man's

Invention.

1. The motion of windmills hath no subtilty at all in it; and yet, usually, it is not well explained nor demonstrated. The sails are set right and direct opposite against the wind which bloweth. One side of the sail lies to the wind, the other side by little and little bends itself, and gets itself away from the wind. But the turning and continuance of the motion is always caused by the lower part, namely, that which is farthest from the wind. But the wind, overcasting itself against the engine, is contracted and restrained by the four sails, and is constrained to take its way in four spaces. The wind doth not well endure that compression; wherefore, of necessity it must, as it were, with its elbow hit the sides Q

of the sails, and so turn them, even as little whirligigs that children play withal, are turned with the fingers.

2 If the sails were extended even and equally, it would be doubtful which way the inclination would be, as in the fall of a staff; but when the nearer side which meets with the wind casts the violence of it upon the lower side and from thence into distances, so that when the lower side receives the wind, like the palm of the hand, or the sail of a ship's boat, presently there is a turning on that side. But this is to be observed, that the beginning of the motion proceeds not from the first impulsion, which is direct and abreast, but from the lateral impulsion, which is after the compression or straitening of the wind.

3. We made some proofs and trials about this, for the increasing of this motion, as well to be assured we had found the cause, as also for use; feigning an imitation of this motion, with paper sails, and the wind of a pair of bellows. We, therefore, added to the side of the lower sail a fold turned in from the wind, that the wind being become a side wind might have somewhat more to beat upon, which did no good, that fold not so much assisting the percussion of the wind, as in consequence hindering the cutting of the air. We placed behind the sails, at some distance, certain obstacles as broad as the diameter of all the sails, that the wind being more compressed might hit the stronger; but this did rather hurt than good, the repercussion dulling the primary motion. Then we made the sails of a double breadth, that the wind might be the more restrained, and there might be a stronger lateral percussion, which at last proved very well; so that the conversion was caused by a far milder gale, and did turn a great deal more swiftly.

Mandate. Peradventure this increase of motion might more conveniently be made by eight sails, than by four, doubling the breath, unless too much weight did overburden the motion; which must have trial made of it.

Mandate. Likewise the length of sails doth much conduce to the motion. For in wheelings a slight violence about the circumference is equivalent to a far greater about the centre. But then this inconvenience follows, that the longer the sails are, the more distant they are at the top, and the wind is so much the less straitened. Peradventure the business would go well if the sails were a little longer and broader towards the top, like the outermost end of an oar. But this

we are not sure of.

it swiftens the motion of the sails) the whole frame of the mill.

4. It is reported that in some countries there are coaches and wagons which move with the wind; but this must be more diligently looked after.

Mandate. Chariots moving by virtue of the wind can be of no use, unless it be in open places and plains; besides, what will be done if the wind allays? It had been better to have thought of easing the motion of wagons and coaches by sails, which might be set up and taken down, to ease the oxen or horses which draw them, rather than to make a motion by wind alone.

Prognostics of Winds.

To the two-and-thirtieth article. Connexion.

The more divination useth to be polluted by vanity and superstition, so much more is the purer part of it to be received and honoured. But natural divination is sometimes more certain, some times more slippery and deceitful, according to the subject with which it hath to do; for if it be of a constant and regular nature, it causeth a certain prediction; if it be of a variable and irregular nature, it may make a casual and deceitful one: yet, in a various subject the prediction will hold true, if it be diligently regulated; peradventure it may not hit upon the very moments, but in the thing itself it will not err much. Likewise, for the times of the event and complement, some predictions will hit right enough, namely, those which are not gathered from the causes, but from the thing itself, already inchoated, but sooner appearing in an apt and fitly disposed matter than in another, as we said before in the topics concerning this two-and-thirtieth article. We will now, therefore, set forth the prognostics of winds, of necessity intermixing some of rain and fair weather, which could not conveniently be separated, remitting the full inquiry of them to their proper titles.

1. If the sun appears hollow at its rising, it will the very same day yield wind or rain; if it appears as it were a little hollow, it signifies wind: if deeply hollow, rain.

2. If the sun rises pale, or (as we call it) waterish, it betokens rain; if it set so, it betokens wind.

3. If the body of the sun itself appears at its setting of the colour of blood, it betokens great winds for many days.

4. If at sunrising its beams appears rather red than yellow, it signifies wind rather than rain, and the like if they appear so at its setting.

Motion. If these experiments be made trial 5. If at sunrising or setting its rays appear of in windmills, care must be taken of the wind-contracted or shortened, and do not shine out mill posts, and the foundations of it; for the more bright, though the weather be not cloudy, it sigthe wind is restrained, the more it shakes (though nifies rain rather than wind.

6. If before sunrising there appear some rays as forerunners, it signifies both wind and rain.

7. If the sun at its rising diffuses its rays through the clouds, the middle of the sun remaining still under clouds, it shall signify rain, especially if those beams break out downwards, that the sun appears as it were with a beard. But if the rays break forth out of the middle, or dispersed, and its exterior body, or the out parts of it, be covered with clouds, it foreshows great tempests both of wind and rain.

8. If the sun, when it rises, be encompassed with a circle, let wind be expected from that side on which the circle opens. But if the circle fall off all at one time it will be fair weather.

9. If at the setting of the sun there appears a white circle about it, it signifies some small storm the same night; if black or darkness, much wind the day following.

10. If the clouds look red at sunrising, they are prognostics of wind; if at sunsetting, of a fair ensuing day.

11. If about the rising of the sun clouds do gather themselves about it, they foreshow rough storms that day; but if they be driven back from the rising towards the setting of the sun, they signify fair weather.

12. If at sunrising the clouds be dispersed from the sides of the sun, some southward, and some northward, though the sky be clear about the sun, it foreshows wind.

13. If the sun goes down in a cloud, it foreshows rain the next day; but if it rains at sunsetting it is a token of wind rather. But if the clouds seem to be as it were drawn towards the sun, it signifies both wind and storms.

14. If clouds at the rising of the sun seem not to encompass it, but to lie over it, as if they were about to eclipse it, they foreshow the rising of winds on that side as the clouds incline. And if they do this about noon, they signify both wind and rain.

15. If the clouds have encompassed the sun, the less light they leave it, and the lesser the orb of the sun appears, so much the more raging shall the tempest be; but if there appear a double or treble orb, as though there were two or three suns, the tempest will be so much the more violent for many days.

16. New moons presage the dispositions of the air; but especially the fourth rising of it, as if it were a confirmed new moon. The full moons likewise do presage more than the days which come after.

17. By long observation the fifth day of the moon is feared by mariners for stormy.

18. If the new moon do not appear before the fourth day, it foreshows a troubled air for the whole month.

19. If the new moon, at her first appearance, or within a few days, have its lower horn obscure

or dusky, or any way blemished, it signifies stormy and tempestuous days before the full moon; if it be ill coloured in the middle, tempests will come about the full of the moon; if it be so about the upper part of the horn, they will be about the decreasing of the moon.

20. If at the fourth rising the moon appear bright, with sharp horns, not lying flat, nor standing upright, but in a middle kind of posture between both, it promises fair weather for the most part until the next new moon.

21. If at the same rising it be red, it portends winds; if dusky or black, rain; but, howsoever, it signifies nothing beyond the full moon.

22. An upright moon is almost always threatening and hurtful, but it chiefly portends winds; but if it have blunt horns, and as it were cut off short, it rather signifies rain.

23. If one horn of the moon be sharp and the other blunt, it signifies wind; if both be blunt, rain.

24. If a circle or halo appear about the moon, it signifies rain rather than wind, unless the moon stands directly within that circle, for then it signifies both.

25. Circles about the moon always foreshow winds on that side where they break; also a notable shining in some part of the circle, signifies winds from that part where the shining is.

26. If the circles about the moon be double or treble, they foreshow horrible and rough tempests, and especially if those circles be not whole, but spotted and divided.

27. Full moons, as concerning the colours and circles, do in a manner foreshow the same things, as the fourth rising, but more present, and not so long delayed.

28. Full moons use to be more clear than the other ages of the moon, and in winter use to be far colder.

29. The moon appearing larger at the going down of the sun, if it be splendent and not dusky, betokens fair weather for many days.

30. Winds almost continually follow the eclipses of the moon, and fair weather the eclipses of the sun; rain comes after neither.

31. From the conjunctions of any of the planets, but only the sun, you may expect winds both before and after; from their conjunctions with the sun, fair weather.

32. At the rising of the Pleiades and Hyades come showers of rain, but calm ones; after the rising of Arcturus and Orion, tempests.

33. Returning and shooting stars (as we call them) signify winds to come from that place whence they run, or are shot; but if they fly from several, or contrary parts, it is a sign of great approaching storms of wind and rain.

34. When such little stars as those which are called Aselli are not seen generally all over the sky, it foreshows great tempests and rain within

some few days; but if they be seen in some places, and not in other some, it foreshows winds only, and that suddenly.

25. The sky, when it is all over bright, in a new moon, or at the fourth rising of it, portends fair weather for many days; if it be all over dark, it foreshows rain; if partly dark and partly fair, it portends wind of that side where the darkness is seen; but if it grow dark on a sudden, without either cloud or mist to dim the brightness of the stars, there are great and rough tempests abreeding.

36. If an entire circle encloseth a planet, or any of the greater stars, it foreshows wind; if it be a broken circle, winds from those parts where the circle is deficient.

45. If at sunsetting there arise black and dark clouds, they presage rain; if against the sun, namely, in the east, the same night; if near the sun in the west, the next day, with winds.

46. The clearing of a cloudy sky, if it begins against the wind which then blows, signines clear, fair weather; with the wind it betokens nothing, but the thing remains uncertain.

47. There are sometimes seen several, as it were, chambers, or joined stories of clouds, one above the other, (so as Gilbertus affirms, he hath seen five of them together,) and always the blackest are lowermost, though sometimes it appears otherwise, because the whitest do more allure the sight. A double conjunction of stories, if it be thick, shows approaching rain, (especially if the lower cloud seem, as it were, big with child;)

37. When the thunder is more than the lightnings, there will be great winds; but if the light-more conjunctions presage continuance of rage. nings be thick amidst the thundering, it foreshows thick showers, with great drops.

38. Morning thunders signify wind; midday thunders, rain.

39. Bellowing thunders, which do as it were pass along, presage winds; and those which make a sharp and unequal noise, presage storms both of wind and rain.

40. When it lightens in a clear sky, winds are at hand, and rain from the part where it lightens; but if it lightens in diverse parts, there will follow cruel and horrid tempests.

41. If it lightens in the cold quarters of the heavens, namely, the east and north, hail will follow; if in the warmer, namely, south and west, we shall have rain and a warm sky.

42. Great heats after the summer solstice, and commonly with thunder and lightning, and if those come not, there will be wind and rain for many days.

43. The globe of flame, which the ancients called Castor, which is seen by mariners and seafaring men at sea, if there be but one, presages a cruel tempest, (Castor is the dead brother,) and much more, if it stick not close to the mast, but dances up and down; but if they be twins, (and Pollux the living brother be present,) and that when the tempest is high, it is a good presage; but if there be three, (namely, if Helen, the plague of all things, come in,) it will be a more cruel tempest: so that one seems to show the indigested matter of the storm; two, a digested and ripe matter; three or more, an abundance that will hardly be dispersed.

44. If we see the clouds drive very fast when it is a clear sky, we must look for winds from that way from which the clouds are driven; but if they wheel and tumble up together, when the sun draws near to that part in which they are tumbled up together, they will begin to scatter and sever; and if they part most towards the north. it betokens wind; if towards the south, rain.

48. If clouds spread abroad like fleeces of wool here and there, they foreshow tempests; but if they lie one atop of another, like scales or tiles, they presage drought and clear weather.

49. Feathered clouds, like to the boughs of a palm tree, or the flowers of a rainbow, are prognostics of present rain, or immediately to follow.

50. When hills and hillocks look as though they wore caps, by reason of the clouds lying upon them, and encompassing them, it presages imminent tempests.

51. Amber, or gold colour clouds before sunsetting, that have, as it were, gilded helms or borders, after the sun begins to be quite down, foreshow fair, clear weather.

52. Grayish, and, as it were, clay-coloured clouds, show that rain, with wind, are drawing on. 53. Some petty cloud showing itself suddenly, having not been seen before, and all the sky clear about it, especially if it be in the west, and about noon, shows there is a storm a-coming.

54. Clouds and mists ascending, and going upward, presage rain, and that this be done suddenly, so that they be, as it were, sucked up, they presage rain, but if they fall, and reside in the valleys, they presage fair weather.

55. A big cloud growing white, which the ancients called a white tempest, in summer, is a forerunner of small hail, like comfits, in winter, snow.

56. A fair and clear autumn presages a windy winter; a windy winter a rainy spring; a rainy spring, a clear summer; a clear summer, a windy autumn. So that the year (as the proverb goes) is seldom its own debtor, and the same order of seasons will scarce happen two years together.

57. Fires upon the hearth, when they look paler than they are accustomed, and make a mur muring noise within themselves, do presage tempests. And if the flame rises, bending and turning, it signifies wind chiefly; and when the snuffs of lamps and candles grow like mushrooms with broad heads, it is a sign of rainy weather.

58. Coals shining bright, and sparkling over- and melancholy upon the sand, or a crow walking much, signify wind. up and down, do presage wind only.

59. When the superficies of the sea is calm and smooth in the harbour, and yet murmurs within itself, though it doth not swell, signifies wind.

60. The shores resounding in a calm, and the sound of the sea itself, with a clear noise, and a certain echo, heard plainer and further than ordinary, presages winds.

61. If, in a calm and smooth sea, we espy froth here and there, or white circles or bubbles of water, they are prognostics of winds; and if these presages be very apparent, they foreshow rough tempests.

62. If, in a rough sea, there appear a shining froth, (which they call sea-lungs,) it foreshows a lasting tempest for many days.

63. If the sea swell silently, and rises higher than ordinary within the harbour, or the tide come in sooner than it uses to do, it foretells wind.

73. Dolphins playing in a calm sea are thought to presage wind from that way they come; and, if they play and throw up water when the sea is rough, they presage fair weather. And most kinds of fishes swimming on the top of the water, and sometimes leaping, do prognosticate wind.

74. Upon the approach of wind, swine will be so terrified and disturbed, and use such strange actions, that country people say that creature only can see the wind, and perceive the horridness of it.

75. A little before the wind spiders work and spin carefully, as if they prudently forestalled the time, knowing that in windy weather they cannot work.

76. Before rain, the sound of bells is heard further off; but before wind it is heard more unequally, drawing near and going further off, as it doth when the wind blows really.

64. Sound from the hills, and the murmur of 77. Pliny affirms for a certain, that three-leaved woods growing louder, and a noise in open cham-grass creeps together, and raises its leaves against pion fields, portend wind. Also a prodigious murmuring of the element, without thunder, for the most part, presages winds.

a storm.

78. He says likewise, that vessels, which food is put into, will leave a kind of sweat in cupboards, which presage cruel storms.

Monition. Seeing rain and wind have almost a

65. Leaves and straws playing on the ground, without any breath of wind that can be felt, and the down of plants flying about, feathers swim-common matter, and seeing always before rain ning and playing upon the water, signify that wind is near at hand.

66. Waterfowls flying at one another, and flying together in flocks, especially sea-mews and gulls, flying from the sea and lakes, and hastening to the banks and shores, especially if they make a noise and play upon dry land, they are prognostics of winds, especially if they do so in the morning.

67. But, contrariwise, sea-fowls going to the water, and beating with their wings, chattering, and bathing themselves, especially the crow, are all presages of storms.

63. Duckers and ducks cleanse their feathers with their bills against the wind; but geese, with their importunate crying, call for rain.

69. A hern flying high, so that it sometimes flies over a low cloud, signifies wind; but kites, when they fly high, foreshow fair weather.

70. Crows, as it were, barking after a sobbing manner, if they continue in it, do presage winds, but if they catchingly swallow up their voice again, or croak a long time together, it signifies that we shall have some showers.

71. A chattering owl was thought by the ancients to foretell change of weather; if it were fair, rain; if cloudy, fair weather. But, with us, the owl making a clear and free noise, for the most part, signifies fair weather, especially in winter.

72. Birds perching in trees, if they fly to their nests, and give over feeding betimes, it presages tempest. But the hern, standing, as it were, sad

there is a certain condensation of the air, caused by the new air received into the old, as it appears by the sounding of the shores, and the high flight of herns, and other things; and seeing the wind likewise thickens, (but afterward in rain the air is more drawn together, and in winds, contrariwise, it is enlarged,) of necessity winds must have many prognostics common with the rain. Whereof advise with the prognostics of rain, under their own title.

Imitations of Winds.

To the three-and-thirtieth article. Connexion. If men could be persuaded not to fix their contemplations overmuch upon a propounded subject, and reject others, as it were, by-the-by; and that they would not subtilize about that subject in infinitum, and for the most part unprofitably, they would not be seized with such a stupor as they are; but, transferring their thoughts, and discoursing, would find many things at a distance, which near at hand are hidden. So that, as in the civil law, so we must likewise in the law of nature, we must carefully proceed to semblable things, and such as have a conformity between them.

1. Bellows with men are olus his bags, out of which one may take as much as he needeth. And likewise spaces between, and openings of hills, and crooks of buildings, are but, as it were, large bellows. Bellows are most useful either to kindle fire or for musical organs. The manner of the working of bellows is by sucking in of the air

« PreviousContinue »