Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1890-05-09
HOW CLIMATES CHANGE.
RECORDS QUOTED TO SHOW THAT
THE EARTH'S HEAT INCREASES.

Italy's Lakes Were Frozen Over-wil
the Date Tree Ever Bear in New EngIand9
II is a matter of knowledge to many men
and women born in New England that the
summers are longer-as measured by the
heated term-and the winters warmer than
they were half century ago, and that this
result has been reached by slowly but surely
operating causes, and this slow but sure
change in the climate of the country IL one
OF momentous interest not only to the nat
uralist, but to the average citizen as well, for
should it continue vast changes would follow
In the industries and products of the country,
as well as in its hygienc conditions
1t would not be an unprecedented expert
ence if the northern half of the American
continent was passing through a climatic
change of so positive a sort as to become
memorable in the history of the globe. For
while scientific observation and records are
Of too recent a period to supply us with ade-
quate data for intelligent judgment as to it,
nevertheless literature is filled with evidence
bearing directly upon the point, and SO i'm
plicit in its nature and so emphatic in its
iteration to be unimpeachabe. AS most
Americans are too busy to know much of the
past it may be interesting to the readers Of
The Herald should we recall few of the
passages in ancient writings which might be
quoted in enforcement of our suggestion or
surmise.
IN PALESTINE AND ITALY.
The land of Palestine is certainly not to-
day wintry country. But thirty or more
centuries ago an ancient poet wrote: Hast
thou entered into the treasures of the snowl
Or hast thou seen the treasures of the hail
Out of whose womb came the ice and the
hoary frost of heaven, who hath gendered itl
The waters are hidden as with a solid rock,
and the face of the deep is frozen" Such,
evidently was the degree and effect of the
cold in the land Of the Midianites thirty CEN
turtles ago. And David, writing several CEN
turtles later, gives the following description
of intense winter weather: He giveth snow
like wool. He scattereth the boar frost like
ashes He casteth forth his ice like morsels
| Who can stand before his codl' Such is the
! account of the climate in the land of Paes-
tine twenty-eight and thirty centuries ago.
! But instead of snow, hail, ice with the
sohdlty of rock, and frozen sea- the inhabit-
ants of that country today live in a hot sui
try climate, in which snow and ice are never
seen.
The climate of Italy, as it was of old time,
and the great change which has come to it,
are not beyond the students knowledge. Vir-
| gil was both poet and skilled agrculturist.
And in his "Georgics" he often gives direc-
tons for the security of young cattle against
the dangerous effects of ice and snow and
periods of intensely cold weather. His direc
tions were for the neighborhood of Mantua
and Naples, and when speaking of Calabria,
the most southern and hottest part of Italy,
he alludes to the freezing of the larger rivers
and streams thing to be annually ex.
pected.
Nor does he stand alone in his witness as to
this matter, for Pliny, Juvenal and other
authors of their time speak of ice and snow as
prevalent in all parts of Italy, while E)an,
If we remember correctly, devotes a whole
chapter to the giving of specific directions Of
how to fish for eels when the rivers are COW
cred with ice. These descriptions of Italian
climate apply to it as it was eighteen CEN
turtles ago.
Ovid can be quoted in this connection also
We are writing from memory and with less
fullness than we might could we turn to the
authors books, but should any cassicist be
interested to follow us he will find that our
recollection Is essentially correct. This poet
was banished from Italy to Tomas by the
emperor. This place is near the coast of the
Euxine sea, and climatically includes the re-
gion round about Constantinople He spent
US that he saw the Euxine or Black, sea COW
cred with ice; that this ice was not only
strong enough to support men, but oxen and
heavy sleds loaded with products. He states,
moreover, that the wine of the country was
often frozen, and that the snow in many
places in the forests was never fully melted
during the entire summer. 1t is well estab-
llshed fact that in the year 40l the Euxine
sea was frozen over for twenty days together.
This is certainly most extraordinary picture
to one who has lived in this century in Con-
stantinople or has knowledge of its climate.
CHANGES IN GERMANY's CLIMATE
The Alps and Apprentices are the highest of
European mountains. History has no stran-
ger tale to tell than the march of Hannibals
army over these lofty ranges. 1t was one of
the wonders of antiquity. Lvy and Polybi-
us both bear repeated testimony to the suffer-
ings of his troops from the terrible cold they
encountered and the awful obstacles of the
snow and ice. But these mountains are easily
passed today, for the old time conditions con-
nected with the severity of the climate dc
not now exist
Nor have the changes in the climate of Ger
many been less remarkable Latin historian
records that in Caesars time the Rhine and
the Danube were not only frequently frozen,
uphold, without cracking, the heaviest OF
weights. He says that the barbarians-the
native Germans-chose the winter season for
their campaigns because they could then
transport their armies, cavalry and heavy
wagons along these rivers over solid bridge
of ice And this is precisely the state OF
things which, until recently, the New Eng
land people have been accustomed to see-the
picture of frozen rivers and lakes used as the
highways of pleasure and the heaviest trans
portation.
We might easily continue these quotation.
from the ancient authors in witness that the
cl mate of both Asia and Europe has under
gone a vast change in the last 1000 or S,00(
years; change SO profound that it has
affected both the character and habits of the
people and the products Of these countries
change which amounts to one degree for
each hundred years; but we have suggested
enough to give direction to the popular
thought touching a probable change of the