274 STUDIES OF NATURE. 



brated in fong by Orpheus, and their virtues, fub- 

 fift to this day. There is not even a fingle one 

 which has loft any thing of it's ancient attitude. 

 The jealous Clytia ftill turns toward the Sun ; and 

 the beautiful fon of Liriope, Narciffus, continues 

 to admire himfelf on the brink of the fountain. 



Such are the teftimonies adduced from the ve- 

 getable kingdom, refpedling the uniformity and 

 conftancy of the temperature of the Globe ; let us 

 examine thofe of the Human Race. There are 

 fome of the inhabitants of Switzerland, it is al- 

 leged, who have perceived a progreffive accumu- 

 lation of the ices on their mountains. I could op- 

 pofe to this evidence, that of other modern Ob- 

 fervers, who, in the view of ingratiating themfelves 

 with the Princes of the North, pretend, with as 

 little foundation, that the cold is diminifhing • 

 there, becaufe thefe Princes have thought proper 

 to cut down the forefts of their States ; but I fhall 

 adhere to the teftimony of the Ancients, who could 

 not pofTibly intend to flatter any one on a fubjecl 

 of this nature. ^ 



Tf the refrigeration of the Earth is perceptible in 

 the life of one man, it muft be much more fo in 

 the life of Mankind ; now, all the temperatures 

 defcribed by the moft ancient Hiftorians, as that 

 of Germany by Tacitus, of Gaul by Cefar, of 



Greece 



