An essay on dew, and several appearances connected with it / by William Charles Wells, M.D. F.R.S.

  • Wells, William Charles, 1757-1817.
Date:
1814
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: An essay on dew, and several appearances connected with it / by William Charles Wells, M.D. F.R.S. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by King’s College London. The original may be consulted at King’s College London.

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    night, therefore, is one, on which dew forms plentifully; hence the expressions 'roscida' and 'rorifera luna' employed by Virgil and Statius; and hence also an opinion, held, as appears from Plutarch, even by philosophers among the antients, that the moon communicates moisture to the bodies, which are exposed to its light. Animal substances are among those, whjch ac- quire dew in the greatest quantity. To do this, indeed, they must previously become colder than the atmosphere; but having acquired the moisture cf dew, in addition to their own, they will, on the following day, be in that condition, which is known, by experience, to favour putrefaction most powerfully in hot climates. The immediate cause assigned here, for the quick putrefaction of animal substances, which have been exposed to the moon's raj's in a hot country, is the same as that given by Pliny and Plutarch; but they attributed the origin of this immediate cause, the additional moisture, to an especial humefying quality of that luminary. soon after sunset. Idecs sur la Mctcorologie, II. 98. I have often observed this myself, and at the same time another fact of which he takes no notice; namely, that the atmosphere is then calmer than it had been before sunset. This calmness of the air very commonly, if not always, precedes the dissipation of the clouds.