of the Terrestrial Globe. 241 



wholly covered with wood ; lakes, and ponds, and morasses, with- 

 out number ; rivers without any artificial embankment to prevent 

 their overflow, and immense districts, which the hand of the 

 husbandman had never touched. Accordingly, the clearing 

 away of the vast forests, and the opening of extensive glades in 

 those that remain ; the nearly complete removal of all stagnant 

 waters, and the cultivation of extensive plains, which thus are 

 made to resemble the stepes of Asia and America — these are 

 among the principal modifications to which the fair face of 

 France has been subjected, in an interval of some hundreds of 

 years. But there is another country which is undergoing these 

 same modifications at the present day. They are there progress- 

 ing under the observation of an enlightened population ; they 

 are advancing with astonishing rapidity; and they ought, in 

 some degree, suddenly to produce the meteorological alterations 

 which many ages have scarcely rendered apparent in our old 

 continent. This country is North America. Let us see, then, 

 how clearing the country afi^ects the climate there. The results 

 may evidently be applied to the ancient condition of our own 

 countries, and we shall find that we may thus dispense with a 

 priori considerations, which, in a subject so complicated, would 

 probably have misled us. 



But over the whole extent of North America, it is universally 

 admitted that the clearing of the country has modified the cli- 

 mate ; that this modification becomes every day more manifest ; 

 that the winters are now less severe, and the summers less hot ; 

 in other words, that the extreme of the temperatures observed 

 in January and July, annually approach to each other. 



Let us now compare these results with those which follow 

 from the preceding discussion. As to Florence their identity 

 was most conspicuous. In the middle and north of France, we 

 see, like the Americans, that the summers are becoming colder. 

 It is very probable too, that, according to the general opinion, 

 the winters were formerly colder. But we have not found 

 that this has been altogether proved. At all events, however, 

 it must be allowed that nothing contradicts the opinion that, in 

 Europe, the change in climate may be exclusively attributed to 

 the agricultural improvement of the country. 



The Americans have also noticed a marked alteration in the 

 prevailing winds upon their coasts. (See the Works of WiU 



