Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1884-12-31
THE SCOURGE OF FANIINES,
Gradually Disappearing in
Civilized Countries.
The Cause Of Famines, and Why They
Will O L be Abolished.


in reserve during abundant years, has
since been followed in divers coun'
tries; in France, for instance, at the
beginning of the present century, and
at Naples, under the reign of Charles
the Third, in the middle of the last
century. The conditions of agricultu'
raj produce in Egypt were, and still
are, exceptional,
Everything there is dependent, not
on local rains, for there are none, but
on the rains which fall far away,in the
equatorial regions where the Nile
takes its source, without receiving a
single a!lluent after the seventeenth
degree Of latitude. Those rains deter.
mine the inundation of the soil OF
Egypt--tho unique, but indispensable,
condition of a harvest
In Joseph's time, and thousands of
years before him, Egypt was decima-
ted by famine whenever the Nile
failed to rise high enough to irrigate
the soil aad cover it with fertilizing
moisture and mud.
Neighboring countries, the coasts OF
Phpnicia, Asia Minor, Greece, Sicily,
and Northern Africa did indeed
escape the sc0urge, thanks to the local
rains that fell there. They were able,
frequently, to supply the needs of
Egypt. But in those days maritime
commerce did net exist. Egypt,
blockadel on two sides by deserts,
could only count on the wise admins
tratiOn of her own resources At a
later period maritime commerce res
cued Egypt from dangers of starvation
in abundant years she enriched herself
by the export Of superAuous grain; in
years of insufficient inundation she
was able to purchase grain from
abroad and receive it at the port of
Alexandria.
In Egypt of the present day. at no
distant future, when posts of obser-
walton shall have been established in
Abyssinnia and beyond it on the course
of the Nile and its atlluents, connect
ed by telegraphic wire with Cairo,
the Egyptians will know, several
months beforehand, and within foot
or two, the hight the Nile will attain
at each inundation, and can take their
measures accordingly.
In other countries, famines depend
on the rains which either do not fall,
Or fall in excess, in each distinct local.
ity. This evil is more severely felt in
countries where man is monophanous
in his dint-where he sus aims life ex-
clusiveIy, or almost so, on one single
article of food; as in India and parts
of China, 0nrice, and quite rec emily, in
a less degree, in Ireland, on potatoes.
If rain fails, rice, the thirstiest Of
grain-giving plants, fails also; if rain
is in excess in quantity and continu-
ance, the destroying fungus spreads
and the potato rots
Periods of drought evidently follow
some general law, depending on the
upper currents of the atmosphere.
They constitute a grand problem
which belongs to equatorial meteorolo-
gy rather than to anything that can
be observed at the Poles. Mr.. Fave
consequently holds that it is the for
mer which ought to be closely studied,
whereas stations within the Polar cir
cles, besides being cruelty painful and
dangerous, can furnish only very indi-
rect contributions to meteorological
science.
An attempt has been made to con-
meet dry and rainy periods with the
maxima and minima of spots on the
sun. But nothing has been proved to
bring conviction. The final conclusion
is that there is no correspondence he
tween the two sets of phenomena, and
that it would be in vain to predict in
undations. drourhts or faminas from
the presence or absence of spots on the
sun.
Our comfort is that, amid the fire.
quent variations of those phenomena
veritable compensatlons without doubt
occur throughout the whole globe, and
from one year to another. If rain fails
on one portion of a continent, it will
not fail throughout the whole of that
continent; in any case it will not fail
over whole hemisphere. Conse,
quently, if harvests fall short in one
country they will be abundant in other
more or less distant regions.
But at the present day commerce and
navigation are able to carry the super.
fuities of one country to other less ia,
vored districts.
For civilized nations the scourge OF
famine no longer exists. 1t happens
only in vast monophanous populations
of India and China, who are isolated
from the rest of the world, or in certain
parts of South America deprived Of
means Of communication.
There is a small rivulet near Dormi
neys mill, in Irwin county, that has
been a puzzle to us for two years. The
stream is governed by the moon dur
ing dry weather. AT the last quarter
new moon and first quarter, it is per
fectly dry, but as the moon increase.
II onn, ~, an ono to rnn opd ot full ,,,nor