CHAP. 49. (48.)—ECNEPHIAS AND TYPHON.

And now respecting the sudden gusts[1], which arising from the 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 lightning[2]. But if they be urged on with greater force and violence, so as to cause the rupture of a dry cloud, they produce a squall[3], which is named by the Greeks Ecnephias[4]. But, if these are compressed, and rolled up more closely together, and then break without any discharge of fire, i. e. without thunder, they produce a squall, which is named Typhon[5], or an Ecnephias in a state of agitation. It carries along a portion of the cloud which it has broken off, 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 counteracted by sprinkling it with vinegar, when it comes near us, this substance being of a very cold nature[6]. This wind, when it rebounds after the stroke, absorbs and carries up whatever it may have seized on.

1. "flatus repentini."

2. Cicero refers to an opinion very similar to this as maintained by the Stoics; De Div. ii. 44.

3. "procella."

4. "e)k ne/fous, erumpente spiritu." Hardouin, in Lemaire, i.343. Perhaps it most nearly corresponds to the term "hurricane."

5. a tu/fw, 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 whirlwind and a hurricane.

6. Plutarch, Sympos. Quæst. iii. 5, refers to the extraordinary power of vinegar in extinguishing fire, but he ascribes this effect, not to its coldness, but to the extreme tenuity of its parts. On this Alexandre remarks, "Melius factum negassent Plinius et Plutarchus, quam causam inanera rei absurdissimæ excogitarent." Lemaire, i. 344.