Читать книгу The Natural History of Pliny (Vol. 1-6) - Pliny the Elder - Страница 57

Table of Contents

And now respecting the sudden gusts383, 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 lightning384. But if they be urged on with greater force and violence, so as to cause the rupture of a dry cloud, they produce a squall385, which is named by the Greeks Ecnephias386. 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 Typhon387, 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 nature388. This wind, when it rebounds after the stroke, absorbs and carries up whatever it may have seized on.