Page:The Natural History of Pliny.djvu/113

 Chap. 40.] WTKDS. 79 CHAP. 49. (48.) — EC^"EPHIAS AND TTPHOK. And now respecting the sudden gusts wHcli 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 him 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 light- ning'. But if they be urged on with greater force and violence, so as to cause the rupture of a dry cloud, they pro- duce a squall^, which is named by the Greeks Ecnephias^. But, if these are compressed, and rolled up more closely to- gether, and then break without any discharge of fire, i. e. without thunder, they produce a squall, which is named Ty- phon^, or an Ecnephias in a state of agitation. It carries along a portion of the cloud which it has broken oif, 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 di'eaded by sailors, as it not only breaks their sail-yards, but the vessels themselves, bending them about in various ways. This may be iu. a slight degree counter- acted by sprinkling it with vinegar, when it comes near us, this substance being of a very cold nature ^ This wind, when it rebounds after the stroke, absorbs and carries up whatever it may have seized on. ^ Cicero refers to an opinion very similar to this as maintained by the Stoics ; De Div. ii. 44. ^ 3 " procella." _ Perhaps it most nearly corresponds to the term " hmricane." 5 a Tv(p(x}, incendo, ardeo. We have no distinct term in our language which corresponds to the accovmt of the typhon ; it may be considered as a combination of a whirlwind and a hurricane. vinegar in extinguishing fire, but he ascribes this effect, not to its cold- ness, but to the extreme tenuity of its parts. On this Alexandre remarks, " Mehus factum negassent Plinius ct Plutarchus, quam causam inanem rei absurdissimaj excogitarent," Lcmau-e, i. 344.
 * " flatus repentini."
 * " eK v6(povs, ex nube, erumpente spiritu." Hardoiun,in Lemaire,i.343.
 * Plutarch, Sympos. Quaest. iii. 5, refers to the extraordiaary power of