BOOK Now," continues he, "I am about to shew how we ought XVII. to investigate and ascertain each of these circumstances."* Is it not clear, according to this phrase, so vaguely rendered by all translators, that the intention of Hippocrates was not to compose a treatise upon physical climates, the materials for which were not collected together in his time, but that he meant nothing more by detailing his own local observations than to point out to his successors the path to be followed for the purpose of making new ones? This modest intention of the author has been overlooked, or at least but indistinctly pointed out. His work contains observations highly interesting, but confined exclusively to the countries which extend from the Sea of Azof to the mouth of the Nile, and from the borders of the Euphrates to the shores of Sicily; but these local observations, by being made general, have been converted into false and danSoutherly gerous ones. We shall here produce some examples: Hippocrates represents to us "countries entirely exposed to the hot winds of the south, as necessarily abounding in brackish and unwholesome waters; for these waters, in general, not being deep, are warmed in summer, and cooled in winter." He then describes the maladies which will prevail in such regions: "The inhabitants have heads full of humidity and phlegm-they are destitute alike of strength and activity."+ climate. These observations refer to the southern coasts of Greece and of Asia Minor, in the neighbourhood of the island where Hippocrates was born. According to Mariti, the whole of the south coast of the island of Cyprus frequently experiences an unwholesome state of the atmosphere; brackish waters are in abundance there, and the country is very unhealthy. The same observations hold true as to the coasts of Caramania, or ancient Cilicia. At Satalia, at Agas, and at Adana, the bad air compels the inhabitants, during summer, to retire towards the mountains. And * Exitei nai Baoanew; literally, to look for and bring to the test. why is the southern exposure of these countries so unwhole- BOOK some? Strabo and Quintus Curtius tell us the reason. XVII. "Because Silicia is a narrow plain, bounded on the north by the chain of Mount Taurus; and the winds which flow from the south being reflected by the mountains, cause suffocating heat; besides, there are marshes and stagnant ponds on the coast."* On the other hand, Cicero informs us, that the snow rendered the passage of Mount Taurus difficult before the month of June.† This is the reason why the temperature of the air and of the waters of Cilicia experience variations too great not to be hurtful. This observation undoubtedly admits of being applied to other countries where the same combination of circumstances takes place; the southern wind is known to be generally damp, hot, and unwholesome, upon the shores of the Mediterranean. In the island of Lesbos, according to Vitruvius, southern winds often cause epidemic complaints: in Attica, they once occasioned the plague. Virgil describes them as winds "whose damp breath is injurious to orchards, corn, and flocks."‡ Let us extend this general character to the coasts of the Gulph of Persia. The southern winds there bring on the rainy season, and suffocating heat. At Susa, says Strabo, the inhabitants dare not expose themselves to the heat of the sun in the middle of the day. At Bassora, according to Otter, the southern wind paralyzes all the strength of the human body. But let us pass to the opposite coast of Africa. Aris- Contrary totle, in his day, knew that the southern winds are often examples. cold, and always dry there, because they blow from Mount Atlas. At Paris too, we have southern winds charged with the atmospheric cold of the mountains of Auvergne. Strab. Georg. XIV. 260. Casaub. Atreb. Quint. Curt. III. c. 9-11. + Cicer. Epist. ad Famil. XV. 4. Virg. Georg. I. 443. Bucol. II. 57. Vitruv. i. cap. 6. Aristot. Problemat. xxvi. 16-51. Comp. Aulus Gellius, xvi. 11. Lucan, Pharsal. ix. 447, $99. BOOK These same winds are very cold in Suabia and in Bavaria, XVII. for they pass over the Alps. Everywhere winds are modified according to the nature of the places over which they blow. Northern climate. Eastern climate. We do not, however, stand in need of these examples. Does not Hippocrates bimself immediately add, “But even amongst those towns, (exposed to the hot southern winds) such as are very much open to the sun and to the winds, ought to experience these disagreeable alterations in a less degree. In fact, Tarsus in Cilicia, notwithstanding its southern exposure, furnished an example of wholesome climate, and limpid waters.* The Northern climate of Hippocrates is not more universal than that which we have been considering. Winds from the north at Archangel, and at Dantzig, bring humidity, and are less cold than the southern winds.t These variations in the nature of winds do away with the ather consequences. A proof of this is to be found in the Spanish peninsula, under the same latitude as northern Greece. The Asturias are exposed to the north; the climate is cold, but extremely damp. The prevalent diseases are a species of leprosy, dysenterics, scrofulous swellings, and others of that kind which the father of medicine attributes to southern exposures. The resemblance which Hippocrates endeavours to establish between the southern and eastern climate, is also unfounded as to western Europe, where the south winds more generally resemble those from the west in humidity and mildness; whilst, on the contrary, the winds from the east are evidently colder even than those from the north, because these east winds come to us over central Russia, the Uralian mountains, and the confines of Siberia. The catarrhal affection which was prevalent in 1782, was gene *Dio Chrysostom, Orat. de Tarso. Kant, Geographie Physique, iii. Part ii. p. 110. Casali, Annales des Voyages, t. viii. p. 76, sqq. Thierry, Observ. Medicales sur l'Espagne. rally ascribed to the severe cold suddenly brought on by an BOOK eastern wind. XVII. We are equally unwilling to admit the theory of Hippo- Western crates with respect to western climates. "Every nation," climate. says he, "exposed to the western winds, has an unwholesome climate, the waters which they drink are not limpid, because the morning fogs mingle with them before the sun has had time to dispel them. Secondly, The inhabitants of these places are exposed to sudden changes of temperature; for, in the summer mornings, cool winds blow, and dews fall. In the afternoon, the heat torments them; they have a pale complexion, and a feeble constitution. Breathing always a thick and unwholesome air, their voice becomes rough and hoarse. The west presents to us the image of autumn; the people who live under this climatological constitution, should participate in the maladies of the inhabitants of the north and south." A commentator adds, "They will join the ferocity of the natives of the north, to the fickleness of those of the south.” All these observations of Hippocrates, though sound and just, when properly restricted, become puerile and absurd when they are extended into general rules. Who are there that lie more to the west than the Portu- Objections. guese? Have they therefore a raw and hoarse voice? On the contrary, their language is infinitely softer than that of the Spaniards. Is the air which is breathed in Portugal thick and unwholesome? So far from it, that the English send thither their invalids to recover their health. Look to the Irish, who are continually exposed to storms from the west; have they a pale complexion? On the contrary, a native of Ireland may be distinguished by the freshness of his looks. Has Hippocrates then advanced assertions which are ut- Local exterly false? We disclaim the thought of bringing forward amples. such an accusation. But he meant to speak only of certain countries of Greece, and his observations are just and profound when they are thus locally interpreted. All the western coasts of Illyria, of Epirus, and of the BOOK Peloponnesus, have in fact that inconstant climate which XVII. Hippocrates compares to autumn. There the west wind of Principles cation of ten brings rain and fogs; and even in our days the impetuous and baneful west wind, of which Homer so often sings, is still flt in these regions.* The Elians, according to Strabo, Hesychius, and Eustathius, had, of all the Greeks, the rudest pronunciation; that nation and their colonies often inserted a canine letter (r) where the other Greeks put none, they said heror or her instead of Heros.t The Etolians probably spoke still worse, their ferocity besides is well known. Polybius and Thucydides consider them as semi-barbarians. Lastly, the inhabitants of the island of Zante, according to Scrofani, have a pale complexion. The western Greeks were in general not so tall as those of the east and the north. Ulysses was called by the Etrurians the wandering dwarf. Thus are the observations of Hippocrates justified; and of classifi- this, we presume, is the true way of reading and explaining climates. an ancient author, by comparing him with other writers who were his contemporaries, or his countrymen. The critical examination of the four climates of Hippocrates should convince us of the impossibility of founding a classification of temperatures on the principle of the causes which produce them, since every one of these causes varies with geographical circumstances. It is by considering the principal combinations of the properties which characterise climates, that we can classify them in a general manner. may be accompanied with humidity and thence there results four principal climates. We have first the hot and dry climate. extreme degree that of the deserts of Sahara and of Arabia. The earth beneath is scorching, the sky above is on fire; even the brackish water is scarce and valuable as gold; plants languish for want of nutriment; the men and Hot and dry cli mates. Homère, Odyss. v. 295.; xii. 289.; xiv. 458. Heat and cold dryness; from Such is in an Strab. x. 308. Hesychius, in voce, Eretria. Eustat. in Illiad. ii. 279. |