prevalent Disorders, S^c, mth Volcanic Emanations, 619 



ourselves in some degree experienced^ (p. ^^.) " There is good 

 reason for supposing, that even our own climate has under- 

 gone some changes since his time" (Horrebow, about 1735). 

 " Iceland will probably become colder, unless some earth- 

 quake shoidd break up the belt of ice 'which forms a rampart round 

 East (jireenlandP (p. 71.) 



That, about the time here spoken of, the phenomenon al- 

 luded to took place, there is, I believe, no question. Arago 

 says, Greenland was free from ice in the tenth century; 

 flourished as a colony in 1120; and that in 1408 Bishop 

 Andrews found the coast so blocked up that he could not 

 land. {Annuaire, 1834.) 



" Towering icebergs formed at the same time (1347-8) 

 on the coast of East Greenland, in consequence of the general 

 concussion of the earth's organism; and no mortal, from 

 that time forward, has ever seen that shore or its inhabitants." 

 (Hecker, Black Death, p. 75.) 



There is an indirect evidence upon the subject, which de- 

 serves notice. It appears that formerly the Priory of Cha- 

 monix, in the valley of that name, was in the jurisdiction of 

 Courmayeur. The Priory was founded in 1099. Chamonix 

 is on the north side of Mont Blanc, in Savoy ; Courmayeur 

 on the south side, in Piedmont. The records of the Priory 

 attest, that there was formerly a direct path between those 

 places through the valley now filled with the ice and snow of 

 the glaciers, which form the Mer de Glace, and that it took 

 eight hours to traverse. {Ebel, ii. 262.) The horizontal 

 distance between Chamonix and Courmayeur is about two 

 leagues, the breadth of the base of Mont Blanc. The present 

 route extends full 18 leagues. In 1787, M. Bourrit ancj^is 

 son made a hazardous journey over the glacier, by way of the 

 Col de Geant, occupying 17J hours. Saussure, in 1788, was 

 t*wo days going from Chamonix to the Col de Geant, 5 J hours 

 from Courmayeur. But the dangers of this pass are now so 

 great, that 07ily one Englishman, and that in 1 786, has been 

 known to attempt it. The height of 10,500 ft. on Mont 

 Blanc corresponds in the isothermal scale with the level of 

 the sea under 83° of n. latitude, and above that height there 

 is nothing but ice and snow.* Now, it certainly appears from 

 this, that, previously to 1348, the Alps were as free from ice as 

 the coast of Greenland ; and there are other facts which point 

 out that there is a coincidence between the highlands of 



xvi. 170.) In a subsequent volume the same, review goes into a series of 

 proofs to establish both fact and inference ! (see xviii, 205.) 



* See M. N. H., vii. 84. There is an unintentional error in the word- 

 ing of the note in that page, which the present allusion will correct. 



