The Pneumatics

force, and when this has been cooled according to the turning of the sun, they are carried down again into the lower place. But winds arise from a violent exhalation of the air, being both expelled and rarefied; and the moving force always acts upon the air which is next in order. Moreover, the motion of the air is not equally swift in every place, but is indeed more violent near the exhalation, and weaker when it is far distant from that place in which it is moved, just as happens also in the case of heavy bodies which are carried upward. For these are moved more swiftly near the lower place, in which the impelling force also resides; but more slowly in a higher place, since the force which impelled them no longer pursues them as strongly, and they are carried back to their natural place, namely, to the lower. For if the force itself had impelled with equal swiftness, surely it would never have ceased. But now, as it gradually ceases and is as it were consumed, the velocity of the motion also ceases. Water also is changed into an earthy substance; for when we pour water into some earthy and hollow place, a little while later the water, having been absorbed by the earthy substance