The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1890-05-22
Witty sagle
HOW CLIMATES CHANGE.
RECORDS QUOTED TO SHOW THAT
THE EARTK'S HEAT INCREASES.

RECORDS QUOTED TO SHOW THAT
THE EARTH'S HEAT INCREASES.
Palestine Was Land of Snow and lee
Thirty Centuries Ago-A limo When
ItaIy's Lakes Were Frozen Over-wiu
tie Date Tree Ever Bear in Now England?
1t is matter of knowledge to many men
and women born in New England that the
summers are longer-as measured by the
heated perm-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 is 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 hygienic conditions.
1t would not be an unprecedented expert
ence IL the northern half of the American
continent was passing through a climatic
change Of SO positive a sort az to be''ome
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 inn
plici5 in its nature and so emphatic in its
iteration as to be uninpeachable. 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 a few of the
passages in ancient writings which might be
quoted IN enforcement Of our suggestion or
surmiSe.
TX PALESTINE AND ITALY
The land of Palestine is certainly not to-
day a wintry country. But thirty or more
centuries ago an ancient poet wrote: ''Hast
thou entered mo tho treasures OF the snowf
Or hast thou seen the treasures Of the haili
Out Of whose womb came the ice and the
hoaTy frost Of heaven, who hath gendered it9
The waters are hidden as with solid rock,
md the face Of the deep is frozen" Such,
evidently, was the degree and effect of the
cold il the land Of the Midianites thirty CEN
turtles ago. And David, writing several CEN
turtles later, gives tho following description
Of intense winter weather: He giveth snow
like wool He scattereth the hoar frost like
ashes. he casteth forth his ice like morseIs.
Who can stand before his cold?n Such is the
account OF the climate in the land of Pales-
But instead Of snow, hail, ice with the
solidIty 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 bothya poet and skilled agriculturist
And in his ''GeorgicS" he often gives direc-
tions 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 neighborhoof of Mantua |
and Naples, and whenspealing of Calabria,
the most southern and hottest part of Italy, /
he alludes to the freezing Of the larger rivers |
and streams as thing to be annually ex- !
pected.
NoT does he stand alone in his witness as to
this matter, for Piny, Juvenal and other
authors Of their time speak of ice and snow as
prevalent in all parts Of Italy, while 14llian,
If we remember correctly, devotes a whole .
chapter 20 the giving Of specific directions of .
how TO fish for eels when the rivers are COW
cred wiki ice. These descriptions of Italian
climate apply 10 Ii as it was eighteen CEN
turies ago.
Ovid can be quoted in this connection also.
We are writing from memory and with less
fulinesS than we might could we turn to the
authors books, but should any classicist be
interested to follow US he viii find that our
recollection Is essentially correct This poet
was baaished from Italy to Tomas by the
emperor. This place is near the coast Of the
Euxine sea, and dramatically includes the re-
gion round about Constantinople He spent
seven years IN exile in this region, and he tells
US that be saw the EEZine, or Black, sea coy
cred with ice; that this ice was not only
strong enough to support men, but oxen and
heavy sleds loaded with products He states.
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 a well estab-
hshed fact that in the year 401 the Euxine
sea was frozen over for twenty days together.
This Is certainly q most extraordinary picture
TO one who has lived in this century in Com
stantlnople 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. Livy and Polybi-
Us both bear repeated testimony TO the suffer-
ingS Of his troops from tAe terrible cold they
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 do
not now exist.
Nor have the changes IN theclinate Of Ger
many been less remarkable A Latin historian
records that IN Caesars time the Rhine and
the Danube were net only frequently frozen,
but so deeply frozen that the ice was able to
uphold, without cracking, the heaviest of
weights. be says that the barbarians-the
native Germaas-cnose the winter season for
lheir campaigns, because they could then
transport their armies. cavalry aud heavy
wagons along these rivers over a solid bridge
If Ice. And this Is precisely the state of l
-hlngs which, until recently, the New Eng
ana people have been ACCUSTOMED to see-tbe {
picture OF frozen rivers and lakes used as the !
highways of pleasure and tbs heaviest trans
|
We might easily continue these quotations l
rom the ancient authors IN witness that the
climate OF both Asia and Europe has under 5
zone vast change in the last 1000 or 5000
7earS change so profound that it has
Affected both the character and habits of the
people snd the products Of these countries:
/ change which amounts 10 one degree for
ach hundred years; but We have suggested .
nough 70 give direction 10 the popular :
bought touching a probable change OF the .
ilnaSe Ii ctr oTn country May it not be :,
nat tee same causes wh5ch operated to :
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