There is moreover a peculiar influence in the different degrees of certain signs, as in the autumnal equinox, and also in the winter solstice, when we find that a particular star is connected with the state of the weather[328]. It is not so much the recurrence of showers and storms, as of various circumstances, which act both upon animals and vegetables. Some are planet-struck[329], and others, at stated times, are affected in the bowels, the sinews, the head, or the intellect. The olive, the white poplar, and the willow turn their leaves round at the summer solstice. The herb pulegium, when dried and hanging up in a house, blossoms on the very day of the winter solstice, and bladders burst in consequence of their being distended with air[330]. One might wonder at this, did we not observe every day, that the plant named heliotrope always looks towards the setting sun, and is, at all hours, turned towards him, even when he is obscured by clouds[331]. It is certain that the bodies of oysters and of whelks[332], and of shell-fish generally, are increased in size and again diminished by the influence of the moon. Certain accurate observers have found out, that the entrails of the field-mouse[333] correspond in number to the moon’s age, and that the very small animal, the ant, feels the power of this luminary, always resting from her labours at the change of the moon. And so much the more disgraceful is our ignorance, as every one acknowledges that the diseases in the eyes of certain beasts of burden increase and diminish according to the age of the moon. But the immensity of the heavens, divided as they are into seventy-two[334] constellations, may serve as an excuse. These are the resemblances of certain things, animate and inanimate, into which the learned have divided the heavens. In these they have announced 1600 stars, as being remarkable either for their effects or their appearance; for example, in the tail of the Bull there are seven stars, which are named Vergiliæ[335]; in his forehead are the Suculæ; there is also Bootes, which follows the seven northern stars[336]. CHAP. 42. (42.)—OF UNCERTAIN STATES OF THE WEATHER. But I would not deny, that there may exist showers and winds, independent of these causes, since it is certain that an exhalation proceeds from the earth, which is sometimes moist, and at other times, in consequence of the vapours, like dense smoke; and also, that clouds are formed, either from the fluid rising up on high, or from the air being compressed into a fluid[337]. Their density and their substance is very clearly proved from their intercepting the sun’s rays, which are visible by divers, even in the deepest waters[338]. CHAP. 43. (43.)—OF THUNDER AND LIGHTNING.