the state or disposition of the atmosphere with regard to heat, cold, wind, rain, frost, &c.

As it is in the atmosphere that all plants and animals live, and as that appears to be the great principle of most animal and vegetable productions, alterations, &c., there does not seem anything, in all philosophy, of more immediate concernment to us than the state of the weather, and a knowledge of the great influence it has on our bodies. What vaunt, but regular, alterations a little turn of weather makes in a tube filled with mercury, or spirits of wine, or in a piece of string, &c. every body knows, in the common instance of barometers, thermometers, &c., and it is owing partly to our inattention, and partly to our unequal and intemperate course of living, that we do not feel as great and regular ones in the tubes, chords, and fibres of our own bodies.