Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-01-21
Is OUR CLIMATE CHANG1Nos
An Interesting Lecture on the Subject by
Rnof. II. A. HASA.

Prof. n. A. Haxsn delivered q vsry interest
ing lecture last night at the Y. NJ. G. A. build
ing upon the subject: els Our Climate Chang
iug2" The attendance vas very large and the
| speaker held the close attention Of his audience
from the beginning to the close Of his remarks
In commencing Prof. HAGEN said:
The question before rs is much more peril
nent than it was when chosen three weeks ago
Washington has just passed through the most
serious and protracted cold season that it has
had in twenty-five years or since accurate OBJ
servations began by the signal service. Since
January the maximum temperature has been
above freezing but once, and then only two de-
grees above; that 10 to say, for fourteen con-
eocuelve days the maximum has been below "a
degrees. Ordinarily in that period the maxi
mum temperature goes below freezing but
about three times each year, and the greatest
number Is only eight and once only has the
maximum been below freezing for four con-
secutive days. The average January tempera-
turs 10 IS degrees, but In this period it has been
only Is or Is degrees below the normal. On
the average Washington is % degrees warmer
than Bismarck in January, but this year, in
this period, it has been only degrees warmer;
that Is to say, Bismarck has been s degrees
warmer than usual, while Washington has been
10 degrees colder than usual. This Is a most
remarkable and unheard Of state of affairs and
may well lead rs to ask the question that is be-
fore US
THEORY THAT WILL NOT HOLD.
Il is evident tina. the usual theory that in our
cold waves we get the cold air from the north
west will not hold, because 1t has been warmer
than usual there and very much warmer rela-
lively to this city. This cold period has oc-
CURED under rathe, singular conditions. in that
1t hns been exceedingly cold to the southwark,
% that south and southwest winds have warmed
this city but little. This cold has not been due
a. -l~I "a 49, - 49,
the country. 1t certainly is not due to any
change in our climate. For reasons not clearly
understood there has been 4 marked diminu-
ton In temperature to enormous heights in the
atmosphere and this has caused steady and
extended cold period. The motion of high
with this the air has not been heated
as much usual. We may add to
this the lasting mantle Of snow and the
frozen ground, which have both contributed to
the great cold.
great many facts have been collected to
prove that our climate has changed within his
torc times or say within 1000 years. 1t Is not
the proper place to consider changes brought
about In geologic times or within 20. 600 or
100 600 years. There have also been about AZ
many facts adduced to show that there has been
no schange and about as many more to show
that 1t has grown colder.
1t Is snid that Arabia has gradually become
desert, but We find that this country was
called desert 900 years ago. 1t is true that
there is and always has been a very arid region
around the edges Of Arabia. yet We ure told
that in the high plateau region Of the interior
there 10 teeming population supported by a
weli-watered soil.
LIrTLE CHANGE IN THE CLIMATE.
Th.,.,a >, po,...,. :. h a.
So WIG ''''
example ior showing tnat we have the same or
nearly the same climatic conditions that were
existent thousands of wears ago There seems
to be q good deal of misapprehensiou about the
climate of this land Notwithstanding that the
country has been studied and talked about
more than any other. A writer in The EVEN
ING STAR a little while ago stated that no rain
occurs there in January and February. whereas
nearly half the twenty -four inches of the wear
falls in these two months Many of the au-
thorities give the rainfall as fifty-two to sixty
inches in . year, an amount which is eousled in
only very few places in this country. II is prob
mistaken for the amount in inches. The time Of
harvest is Just the same as it was centuries ago.
The time Of the foods in the Jordan when 'it
over6ows all it's branches' has not changed.
The date palm and the vine still grow in favored
localities 1t seems probable that marauding
parties and general neglect of the land are the
principal causes for the present deserted con-
dition of this land, and not marked change of
climate
In ERypt plants have been found in mummy
cases q, 600 and 900 wears old which are the
same as those found there now. It would be
very interesting to determine whether or not
plants today are a. stocky or as tall as thew
were centuries ago. Unfortunately the earlier
actual observations of Temperature and rainfall
were so crude that it is impossible to obtain
anything but.a doubtful answer to the question
before us-that is, they do not prove any change
in climate ono way or the other. We have tenn
PeIs.IIe oos scoo gong Dack 10 ItzO ana
each Gaze Inoiher ciass Of r.oaras o,1oh Az
time Of wine harvest and breaking up Of the ice
in rivers, 60 much farther back. For example.
dates Of vintages in France are recorded back
to 1880. A summary Of the records gives in
each fifty years period the following average
date: First period, September %; I'd, Septem-
Der &c; Sd, September q; 4th, September %:
9TH. September %; 9th September 23; 7th, Sep
TENDER "a; Sth, October /; 9th, October 2. and
10th, September q. Here in a period Of five
hundred years there has been no appreciable
change IN the time of the harvest; ali the dates
hover around the latter part of September in
each year.
We have records Of the breaking up of ice in
the Duna river in Russia back to 1885, The follow
ing are the average dates in periods of fifty
years: First period March 81; I'd. March %. Sd.
March 10; 4th, March %: 5th. March Is. stb'
March ~, and It'll, March 81. Here again there
has been no change in three hundred and tifty
years in the average date of ice breaking ND at
Riga or near the mouth Of this river.
We also have hundreds of records of very