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moniack Spirits might be very Beneficial. ’Tis wonderful to consider whatIniuence thc Air has over Mens Bodies, whereof I bad my seif lad Asttt*rances; for tho’ I was in a very dose Warm Boom, where was a Fireconstantly kept, yet there was not the least Alteration or Change, whereofI was not Sensible when 1 was Sick of the Gripes. When a very Ingeni-ous Gentlewoman was Visited wich the fame Diilemper, I had the opportu-nicy of mäklng very considerable Obscrvations. I stood at the Windowand could view the douds Arife; For there sinall Black Fleeting doudswould Arife, and be Swifdy carry'd cross the whole Element; and as theseClouds Arose, and came nigher, her Torments were EncrOäs’d, which wereGrievous as a Labourutg Womaris ; there was not the Least Cltud but la-mentably Affected her, and that at a considerable Distance; but by herShrieks it seem’d More or Lest, according to the Bignest and Nearneß ofthe douds. The Thunder there isattended often with Fatal Grcumstances :I was with my Lord Howard of Effingham the Govemour, when theybrought Word that one Dr. /i. was Kill’d therewith ästet this mannet: Hewas itmoaking a Pipe of Tobacco , and löoking out at his Window when hewas struck Dead , and Iramediately became so Stijf, that he did not fall,but stood Leaning in the Window , with the Pipe in his Mouth in the fameTosture he was in when Struck : but this I only deliver as a Report, tho'I heard thc fame Account from scveral, without any Contradicting it.These things are Remarkable, that it generally Breaks in at the Gable Endof the Houses, and often Hills Persons in,or near the Chimnefs Range, dartingmost Fiercely down the Funrtel of the Chimnej, more efpecially if there bea Fire ; I fpeak here confusedly of Thunder and Lightmng, for when theyDo any Milchief, the Cralh and Lightning are at the fame instant, whichmust be from the nearnest of thedoud. Onetime when the Thunder Splitthe Mast of a Boat at James-Town , 1 ßw it Break from the Cloud, whichit Divided into Two, and scem’d as if it had shot them immediately aMile asonder, to the Eye. It is Dangerous, when it Thunders , standingin a Narrow Passage, where there’s a Thorough Passage, or in a Roombetwixt two Windows; tho’ scveral have been Kill d in the Open Fields.’Tis Incredible to teil how ’twill Strike Large Oaks, Sbatter and Sbivcr them,fcmetimes Twisting round a Tree, fometimes as if it Struck the Tree Back*wards andForwards. IhadNoted a Fine Spreading Oak in James-TownIsland, in the Morning I ßw it Fair and Flourisliing, in the Evening Iobferv’d all the Bark of the Body of the Tree, as if it had been artificiallyPeel’doss, was orderly Spread round the Tree in a Ring, whosc Semi-Dia-meter was 4 Yards, the Tree in the Center; all the Body of the Tree wasShaken and Split, but its Boughs had.all their Bark on ; few Leaves wereFallen, and thofe on the Boughs as Frelhas in the Morning, but Graduallyafterwards Wither’d, as on aTree that is Fallen. I have seen scveral VaßOaks and other Timber-Trees , Twisted as if it bad been a sinall Willow thata Man had Twisted with his Hand, which I could fupposc had been donebynothing but tht Thunder. I have been told by veryfcrious Planters , that50 or 4.0 Tears since, when the Country was not so Open, the Thunder wa„Vol III, Eeee more