Alberti, Leone Battista, Architecture, 1755

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1with, but when Neceſſity or Opportunity will
allow
of it to be deſired above all Things.
That Region therefore is to be choſen, which
is
moſt free from the Power of Clouds and all
other
heavy thick Vapours.
Thoſe who ap­
ply
themſelves to theſe Enquiries have obſerv­
ed
, that the Rays and Heat of the Sun act
with
more Violence upon cloſe denſe Bodies,
than
upon thoſe of a looſer Contexture, upon
Oil
more than Water, Iron more than Wool;
for
which Reaſon they ſay the Air is moſt
groſs
and heavy in thoſe Places, which are moſt
ſubject
to great Heats.
The Ægyptians con­
tending
for Nobility with all the other Nati­
ons
in the World, boaſted, that the firſt Men
were
created in their Country, becauſe no
Place
was ſo fit to plant the firſt Race of Men
in
, as there, where they might live the moſt
healthily
; and that they were bleſſed by the
Gods
with a Kind of perpetual Spring, and a
cónſtant
unchangeable Diſpoſition of Air above
all
the Reſt of the Word.
And Herodotus
writes
, that among the Ægyptians, thoſe chief­
ly
who lived towards Libia, are the moſt
healthy
, becauſe they enjoy continual gentle
Breezes
.
And to me the Reaſon why ſome
Cities
, both in Italy and in other Parts of the
World
, are perpetually unhealthy and peſti­
lential
, ſeems plainly to be the ſudden Turns
and
Changes in the Air, from Hot to Cold,
and
from Cold to Hot.
So that it very much
concerns
us to be extremely careful in our Ob­
ſervation
, what and how much Sun the Regi­
on
we pitch upon is expoſed to; that there be
neither
more Sun nor more Shade than is ne­
ceſſary
.
The Garamantes curſe the Sun, both
at
it's Riſing and it's Setting, becauſe they are
ſcorched
with the long Continuation of it's
Beams
.
Other Nations look pale and wan, by
living
in a Kind of perpetual Night.
And
theſe
Things happen not ſo much, becauſe ſuch
Places
have the Pole more depreſſed or oblique,
tho
there is a great deal in that too, as becauſe
they
are aptly ſituated for receiving the Sun and
Winds
, or are skreened from them.
I ſhould
chuſe
ſoft Breezes before Winds, but even
Winds
, though violent and bluſtering, before a
Calm
, motionleſs, and conſequently, a heavy
Air
.
Water, ſays Ovid, corrupts, if not mov­
ed
: And it is certain the Air, to uſe ſuch an
Expreſſion
, wonderfully exhilerated by Moti­
on
: For I am perſuaded, that thereby the Va­
pours
which riſe from the Earth are either diſ­
ſipated
, or elſe growing warm by Action are
concocted
as they ſhould be.
But then I
would
have theſe Winds come to me, broken
by
the Oppoſition of Hills and Woods, or tir­
ed
with a long Journey.
I would take heed
that
they did not bring any ill Qualities along
with
them, gathered from any Places they
paſſed
through.
And for this Reaſon we
ſhould
be careſul to avoid all Neighbourhoods
from
which any noxious Particles may be
brought
: In the Number of which are all ill
Smells
, and all groſs Exhalations from Marſhes,
and
eſpecially from ſtagnating Waters and
Ditches
.
The Naturaliſts lay it down for cer­
tain
, that all Rivers that uſe to be ſupplied by
Snows
, bring cold ſoggy Winds: But no Water
is
ſo noiſome and pernicious, as that which
rots
and putriies for want of Motion. And
the
Contagion of ſuch a Neighbourhood will
be
ſtill more miſchievous, according as it is
more
or leſs expoſed to unwholeſome Winds:
For
we are told, that the very Winds them­
ſelves
are in their own Natures ſome more
wholeſome
than others.
Thus Pliny from
Theophraſtus and Hippocrates informs us, that
the
North is the beſt for reſtoring and preſerv­
ing
of Health; and all the Naturaliſts affirm,
that
the South is the moſt noxious of all to
Mankind
; nay further, that the very Beaſts
may
not ſafely be left in the Fields while that
Wind
blows; and they have obſerved, that at
ſuch
Times the Stork never flies, and that the
Dolphins
in a North Wind, if it ſtands fair to­
wards
them, can hear any Voice, but in a
South, they are more ſlow in hearing it, and
muſt
have it brought to them oppoſite to the
Wind
.
They ſay too, that in a North Wind
an
Eel will live ſix Days out of Water, but
not
ſo in a South, ſuch is the Groſſneſs and un­
wholeſome
Property of that Wind; and that
as
the South Wind brings Catarrhs and Rheums,
ſo
the North-Weſt is apt to give Coughs. They
likewiſe
find Fault with the Neighbourhood of
the
Mediterranean, upon this Account chiefly,
becauſe
they ſuppoſe, that a Place expoſed to
the
Reflection of the Sun's Rays, does in ef­
fect
ſuffer two Suns, one ſcorching them from
the
Heavens, and the other from the Water;
and
ſuch Places upon the Setting of the Sun
feel
the greateſt and moſt ſenſible Alrerations
in
the Air when the cold Shadows of Night
come
on.
And there are ſome who think, that
the
Weſtern Reverberations or Reflections of
the
Sun, either from the Sea or any other
Water
, or from the Mountains, moleſt us moſt

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