248 Data and Observatiofis towards ascertaining 



fc> 



becomes more feeble and helpless, and the faculties of his 

 mind even less developed, than in hot climates ; while the 

 vegetable tribes not only diminish in number, but also in 

 size and beauty. Hence we may reasonably conclude that 

 the range of climates from one pole to the other furnishes us 

 with a correct guide to the several degrees of human comfort 

 and intelligence ; while we must infer that the more temperate 

 climes are better suited to the human constitution than either 

 very hot or very cold climates, and also that the more 

 energetic and intellectual part of the human race are the 

 inhabitants of those climes that are comparatively temperate. 

 Climatology is also an instructive study, as it extends the 

 mental faculties, and excites in man a desire for intellectual 

 and moral improvement. To gratify this principle, the Creator 

 has adorned our globe with an endless combination of beau- 

 ties, strewed in a never-ending variety over every region of 

 the globe, which affords so many stimuli to rouse this prin- 

 ciple into active exertion, and to direct the mind to the 

 study not merely of created beings, but of the Creator him- 

 self; for every natural science has a tendency to expand the 

 conceptions of the incessant agency of a divine power. Again, 

 does not a knowledge of the different plants and animals 

 render the earth, as the habitation of man, far more delight - 

 ful than the mere gratification of sensual and animal plea- 

 sures ? Is it not in a correct knowledge of the different 

 climates of the globe and of their varied and multiplied pro- 

 ductions, that the very foundation of commerce is laid ? Has 

 not experience taught us that one country abounds with that 

 which is desirable, but which is not producible, in another 

 climate? And hence that mutual intercourse is established 

 among all nations, which is conducive to the highest interests 

 of the whole human race, and which firmly binds them 

 together by the ties of common interest as one great family. 



Art. XIV. Data and Observations towards establishing Rules for 



the Guidance of Agriculturists and Botanists^ as to the Qiiantity 



of Rain which falls in different Months of the Year in different 



Places. By James G. Tatem, Esq., Member of the Meteoro- 



. logical Society. 



Sir, 

 Fully aware that little reliance can be placed upon any 

 theory founded on data so uncertain as the quantities of rain 



