31 2 Prof. Schow on the supposed Changes in the 



1 . What animals lived, and what plants grew in the coun- 

 try spoken of ; have they been the same that now live there, 

 or have they been such as require a more or less warm, a more 

 or less moist atmosphere, than those that now live in these 

 spots ? 



2. At what time of the year have the inhabitants in former 

 times begun and finished their crops of hay, corn, or other 

 cultivated plants. 



3. Have the effects of meteors upon inorganic nature, 

 which suppose a rather fixed temperature, as for example the 

 freezing of lakes and rivers, the fall of snow, changed ? Are 

 the masses of snow and ice on the mountains now greater or 

 smaller than they were formerly ? 



4. Have the customs and business which more or less are 

 dependent upon the climate changed, for example the use of 

 artificial heat, dress, navigation, kc. ? 



It is evident that the most rigorous criticism is required in 

 such an inquiry, in order that we may not be led into er- 

 rors. The ancients are not very careful in their description 

 of plants and animals, and many of the smaller parts, which 

 now are considered essential in determining the species, were 

 utterly unknown to them. Their descriptions are, besides, not 

 free from fabulous admixtures. Representations by drawing, 

 engraving, &c. &c. which now so powerfully enlarge our in- 

 formation of such animals and plants as we have not before our 

 eyes, are not found in any number among the relicts of anti- 

 quity ; and those which still exist are not much to be depend- 

 ed upon, since they were not made for purposes of natu- 

 ral history. Yet some remains of that kind occur on coins and 

 gems ; and a considerable collection of representations of ob- 

 jects of natural history, from antiquity, are found in Hercu- 

 laneum and Pompeii. Some of the sculptures in the Vatican, 

 representing animals and plants are excellent. The grottos 

 at Elytheia in Egypt contain similar representations. But to 

 all these objects very little attention has been paid, although 

 it might not be altogether fruitless. 



If the plants and animals, however, of which the authors of 

 former times speak, as productions of certain countries, are 

 identified, great caution is still required in drawing conclu- 



