316 Prof. Schow 07i the supposed changes vi the 



occurred plentifully in Palestine, this country, or at least its 

 further provinces about Jerusalem, cannot have had a lower 

 temperature than 2\°. 



Von Buch places the ^equatorial limit of the vine on the 

 island of Ferro, 27^° latitude, where the mean temperature is 

 probably between 21° and 22°; which, according to the same 

 author, is the mean temperature on the coast of Teneriffe. 

 In Barbary, the vine succeeds only on the coast, and even 

 there the north of the hills is chosen for its cultivation. The 

 mean temperature of Algiers is 21°, as has been mentioned. In 

 Egypt the cultivation of wine is insignificant. Cairo, at 30° la- 

 titude, has 22° centigrade of mean temperature. At Abu sheer, 

 in Persia, at 29° latitude, and a mean temperature probably 

 of 23°, they plant vines, according to Niebuhr, in ditches, to 

 protect the plant against the heat of the sun. Thus the culti- 

 vation of the vine being of importance in Palestine, its mean 

 temperature cannot have been above 22°, probably not above 

 21°. Thus, from the successful cultivation of these two plants, 

 we obtain the result, that the mean temperature of Jerusalem 

 in antiquity has been 21°, and certainly has not deviated more 

 than one degree from that temperature. 



We have no direct observation on the present mean tem- 

 perature of Jerusalem; but Cairo has 22°, and Jerusalem, being 

 2° farther north, has probably 21° mean temperature. Algiers, 

 in about 5° latitude more to the north, has that mean tempera- 

 ture. The highest mean temperature of the north coast of 

 Africa arises doubtless from the sandy deserts in the interior 

 of that continent ; while Asia Minor has cold mountainous 

 plains. If, therefore, there has been any difference at all be- 

 tween the mean temperature of Jerusalem in ancient and 

 ipodern times, it can hardly amount to one degree, a differ- 

 ence similar to that between Copenhagen and Berlin. 



The frequent cultivation of wheat in Palestine proves that 

 its mean temperature cannot have been above 24° — 25°. The 

 growth of the balsam tree near Jericho proves that it has not 

 been below 21° — 22° ; and among all the other determinable 

 plants and animals of ancient Palestine, the author could not 

 find a single one which was contrary to the assumed mean 

 temperature of 21°. 



