< Prof. Schow 071 the supposed Changes, <Sfc. ^11 



would be continued, and the same appearances would take 

 place, till, after the revolution of many ages, what was origiw 

 nally sand would be converted, by a common process of na- 

 ture, into sandstont^, and being exposed, in common with the 

 rest of our globe, to those mighty but mysterious convulsions 

 of which there are every where such incontrovertible proofs, 

 would at last, by the submersion of the universal deluge, be 

 buried under its present covering of soil. 



,'Viiii^ui rut ir.;^-iti,, . . 



Art. XV. — On the supposed changes in the Meteorological 

 Constitution of the differejit ptarts of the Earth during the 

 Historical Period.^ By M. Schow, Professor of Botany in 

 the University of Copenhagen. 



This paper forms part of a large work, which comprises not 

 only the climate of the earth during the existence of man up- 

 on its surface, but treats likewise of the question of the 

 change of climate in the antediluvian world, as far as it can be 

 ascertained by fossils. 



It is hardly possible to draw a distinct line between the an- 

 te-historical period and that which is to be treated in this 

 paper. The different strata bear no marks on them by which 

 we can ascertain the exact period of their formation ; and in 

 the earlier period of history, truth is so involved in, and min- 

 gled with, fable, that no distinct limits can be traced. Al- 

 though no real meteorological observations were made in the 

 earlier part of this period, and though we want a direct mea- 

 sure of heat and moisture, as well as information about the 

 other relations of the atmosphere, yet the rehcts of antiqui- 

 ty are able to furnish on these points a much greater cer- 

 tainty than that which would be obtained for any earlier 

 period. Although no artificial thermometer and hygrometer 

 did exist, yet a number of relations and phenomena are known, 

 which, like a kind of natural thermometer and hygrometer, 

 lead more or less to ascertain the climateric relations. The 

 most important questions in this respect are undoubtedly, 



* This interesting paper, read at the Royal Society of Copenhagei), has 

 been translated from the original Swedish, and kindly communicated taus 

 by Dr Forchhammer. — Ed. 



