sir CHRISTOPHER WREN, knt.

2. The State of Grass and Hay, and consequently of Cattle; the Plenty,Dearth, Diseases and Murrains of them,

3. Wines, which though foreign, bear a great Share in our Diet, andtherefore a Note should be given of them; of their Goodness or Vices thatYear. So for Coffee, Tobacco, and such like of general Use.

4. The Seasons of Fish and Fowl are retarded or accelerated by Wea-ther : foreign Fowl are observ’d to come in great Multitudes, near the Timeof their Departure, to some Coasts of England , and there to stay for a Wind,which when it happens for their Turn, in few Hours there is not one to beseen in the whole Country. The Seasons of Fish depend much upon theSeasons of the Water-flies and Insects their Food ; in two Rivers partedby the same Meadow, I have known the Difference of ten Days or more.The Seasons of Insects, are of themselves very considerable. The Mul-titudes or Paucity of venemous Creatures, and of many other the like Thingsare very well worth registring; and all other Things found to be either Con-sequences, Signs, or Presages of Weather and Seasons.

5. Above all, the Physicians of our Society should be desir’d to give usa good Account of the epidemical Diseases of the Year; Histories of anynew Disease that shall happen; Changes of the old; Difference of Opera-tions in Medicine according to the Weather and Seasons, both inwardly, andin Wounds: and to this should be added, a due Consideration of the week-ly and annual Bills of Mortality in London.

Thus instead of the Vanity of prognosticating, I could wish we would havethe Patience for some Years, of registring past Times, which is the certainWay of learning to prognosticate; — Experiment and Reason is the onlyWay of prophesying natural Events. And I shall not therefore need to pressthe Utility of this Design, since I am consistent there is none here, butapprehends what excellent Speculations, what a Multitude of new ingeniousConsequences will hence arise conducible to Prosit, Health, Convenience,Pleasure, and Prolongation of List. And I dare be consistent, that no onePart in the whole Extent of Philosophy will afford us more delightful ormore useful Speculations, or render us more considerable to all Posterity.

The only Thing I fear is, lest we should want Patience, and flag in theDesign, since in few Years at the Beginning, it will hardly come to any vi-sible Maturity. But as it is a long Work, so it is of no Difficulty, nor willtake up more Time, than once a Year to have an Audit, wherein everyvne shall brings in his Account of that Part which, in this History was en-join’d him.

The greatest Difficulty will be in keeping the Diary of the Winds andAir, because it seems to require constant Attendance; but this at first maybe delegated to four or five Men, who near their Abodes have Weather-Cocks

view, and have diligently taken the Position of their Houses; these maysometimes compare Notes, what have escaped the Observations of one will betaken by another. So likewise for the Thermometer.

Some Help may be given for the exacter Observance of the Wind, as thus:A Point being taken in a convenient Part of a Window, where a square Vane

a Weather-Cock appears, the nearer and higher above the Eye, the better;^ Ellipsis may be drawn on the Glass, and the Rumbs within the Ellipsis so,*bat it may be a Projection upon the Plane of the Window, of an imaginary^ard, placed horizontally upon the Steeple whose Center is the Axis of theYane; therefore observing only with one Glance, how the Edge of the Vaneamongst these Lines of the Window, you have the Wind exactly given you.