The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1884-08-27
Chnnres I'm CiImnte.

Do climates change9 This is a ques-
tion susceptible of different answers, &C.
cording to circumstances, which are not
well defined, If, indeed, they are dehna'
BILE. If we take our own annual meteor
illogical reports, we shall discover very
little change in the mean temperature OF
the seasons as far back rs we can 60. say
two hundred years. But this hardly
holds good of older countries where
reliable records are accessible which date
back two thousand years or more. Ac-
cording to these authorities, the seasons,
in most countries, have undergone, at
some indefinite period, very marked
climatic changes which have seriously
affected the natural productions OF the
soil as we'll as the productive industries
dependent upon them; while in some
few regions no perceptible changes can
be traced between the past and present
From the Bible, for instance, it is learned
that dates and raisins were successfully
grown in Palestine in the time of Moses,
or nearly three thousand years ago;
and from this biblical fact, the
approximate mean temperature OF
that country may be deduced.
All authorities agree that the date will
not mature anywhere where mean tenn,
perature falls below seventy degrees,
Fair. At Catania in Sicily, it cannot be
! grown, and the mean temperature OF
Catania is 64.4 degrees, Fair. From
this it is ascertained that the mean tenn
| perature of Palestine, about the period
of the arrival Of the Hebrews from Egypt,
under Moses, could not have been less
than seventy degrees, Fair. On the
/, other hand the vine cannot be cultivated
in countries where the mean temperature
exceeds 71.6 degrees. In Persia, where
it is seventy-three degrees, the grape il
cultivated on q small scale, but the vinet
are protected from the suns rays. W.
are thus enabled to fix the mean temper
ature of Palestine between seventy anC
TIC degrees in biblical times. 1t nov
averages a little over seventy degrees, 81
that the climate of that region has un
dergone no material change for more thar
three thousand years. Judged by tn,
same standard, France must have changed
her climate materially in less than hal
that time. In the Viverais, for instance
the vine used to thrive to height o
1000 feet, whereas it can no longe
be grown there. The same
partially true of the Suresne, Beauvai
and Etampes, in France, whose vine
were in such great favor in Rome as ia
back as the reigns of Julian and Phil
Augustus, but which have now lost a
their former excellence. 1t applies ais
to many parts of England where the win
now needs shelter from the cold winds
in consequence of the removal of tn
forest, which were the conspicuous fea
ture of England five hundred or thou
sand years ago.
The vicissitudes of climate, whateve
they may be, are dependent upon VAR
ETY. of causes, prominent among whic
are the volcanic disturbance of the earth
crust, the results of which are very cor
spicuous in all parts of the world, bot
ON sea and land. The exact periods {
which these changes took place are, {
course, not known, but there are ampl
and unmistakable evidences that j
4 France, Switzerland, England, Syria an
North America, there were once immenS
glaciers where valleys now exist, Qik
that of the Rhone, for instance), and tn;
= these changes are still going on althoug
e imperceptibly to ourselves, and will col
Y tinue to the end of time.-Ice Trat
Y Journal