The record-union., 1894-07-14
CLIMATIC CHANGES.
North America Is Slowly But Surely
Becoming Tropical.
Evidence to Show That Summers Are
Longer and Winters shorter
Than Formerly.

term-and the winters warmer than they
were half century ago, and that this re-
suit has been reached by slowly but
surely operating causes, and this slow
but sure change in the climate of the
country is of momentous interest not
only to the naturalist, but to the average
citizen as we'll, for should it continue vast
changes will follow in the industries
and products of the country, as well as
in its hygienic conditions. II would not
be an unprecedented experience II the
northern half of the American Continent
was passing through 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 period to supply us with ade-
quate data for intelligent judgment as to
1t, nevertheless literature Is filled with
evidence bearing directly upon the point;
and so implicit in its nature and so
emphatic IN its iteration as to be unlm-
peachable. AS most Americans are too
busy TO know much of the past. it may
be interesting to recall few of the pas
sages in ancient writings which might be
quoted IN enforcement OF our suggestion.
The land of Palestine Is certainly not
to-day wintry country. But thirty or
more centuries ago an ancient poet wrote:
HAS thou entered into the treasure OF the
snow? Or hast thou seen the treasures of
the hail? Out of whose womb came the
ice? and the hoary frost of heaven, who
has gendered it? The waters are hidden
as with 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 centuries
ago. And David, writing several CEN
turies later, gives the following descriD-
ton of intense winter weather: "He
giveth snow like wool. He scattereth the
hoar frost like ashes. He casteth forth
his ice like morsels. Who can stand be-
fore his cold ?'' Such is the account of
the climate in the land of Palestine
twenty eight and thirty centuries ago.
But instead OF snow, hail, ice with the
solidity of rock, and frozen sea, the in
habitants of that country to-day live IN
hot, sultry climate, in which snow and
ice are never seen. The climate of Italy,
as 1t was OF old time, and the great change
which has come to it. are not beyond the
students knowledge Virgil was both
poet and q skilled agriculturist, and in his
"Georgics" he often gives directions for
the security of young cattle against the
dangerous effects of ice and snow and
periods of intensely cold weather. His
directions 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 large rivers and streams as thing to
be expected annually. 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 dIlian, If we
remember correctly, devotes a whole
chapter to the giving of specific dIrec-
tious of how to fish for eels when the
rivers are covered with ice. These de-
scriptions of Italian climate apply as it
was eighteen centuries 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 classicist be Interested to follow US
he will find that our recollection is essen
TALLY correct. This poet was banished
from Italy TO Tomas by the Emperor.
This place is near the coast OF the Eu kline
Sea, and climatically includes the region
round about Constantinople. He spent
seven years in exile in this region, and
he tells us that he saw Euxine or Black
Sea covered with ice; that this ice was not
only strong enough to support men, but
oxen and heavy sleds loaded with prod
uce. He states, moreover. that the wine
of the country was often frozen, and that
the snow in many places in the forest
was never fully melted during the entire
summer. 1t is a well-established 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 it's
climate. The Alps and Apennines are
the highest of Europeans mountains.
History has no stranger tale to tell than
the march of HannibaPs army over these
lofty ranges. 1t was one OF the wonders
OF antiquity. Livy and Polybius both
bear repeated testimonials of the suffer-
ings of bis troops from the terrible cold
they encountered and the awful obstacles
of the snow and ice. But these mount
aims are easily passed to-day.
Nor have the changes in the climate of
Germany been less remarkable. A Latin
historian records that in Caesar's time the
Rhine and the Danube were not only fre-
quently frozen. tut so deeply frozen that
the ice was able to uphold without crack
ing the heaviest of weights. He says 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 England
people have been accustomed to see-the
picture OF frozen rivers and lakes used as
the highways of pleasure and the
heaviest transportation. We might
easily continue these quotations from the
ancient authors in witness that the
climate of both Asia and Europe has
undergone vast change in the last two
thousand or three thousand years-a
change so profound that it has affected
both the character and habits of the peo-
pie and the products of these countries
q change which amounts to one degree
for each one hundred years; but we have
suggested enough to give direction to the
popular thought touching probable
change in the climate in our own
country. May it not be that the same
causes which operated it to modify
the climate of the East are now at work
changing that of this western hemis-
phere, and that within 1000 or 1000
years the palm and the date tree will be
growing in the valleys of the Connecticut
and the Merrimac, and the pomegranate
blossoms on the shores of Lake Cham
plain, while the Adirondacks and the
White Mountains shall be covered with
olive? May it not be that the American
of the future shall spend his summers
under the orange groves of New Hamp-
shire, and the inhabitants of Quebec shall
ship us our tea as they pick it in the
slopes of the Laurentian hills? Verify,
who may foretell the changes that may
come to New England and North
America if the world will only 90 on
getting hotter and hotter