CHAPTER m. 



THE WOODS. 



The habitable earth originally wooded — General meteorological influence oi 

 the forest — Electrical action of trees — Chemical influence of woods- 

 Trees as protection against malaria — Trees as shelter to ground to the 

 leeward — Influence of the forest as inorganic on temperature — Ther- 

 mometrical action of trees as organic — Total influence of the forest on 

 temperature — Influence of forests as inorganic on humidity of air and 

 earth — Influence as organic — Balance of conflicting influences — Influence 

 of woods on precipitation — Total climatic action of the forest — Influence 

 of the forest on humidity of soil — The forest in winter — Summer rain, 

 importance of — Influence of the forest on the flow of springs — Influence 

 of the forest on inundations and torrents — Destructive action of torrents 

 — Floods of the Ardeche — Excavation by torrents — Extinction of torrents 

 — Crushing force of torrents — Transporting power of water — The Po and 

 its deposits — Mountain slides — Forest as protection against avalanches — 

 Minor uses of the forest — Small forest plants and vitality of seeds — 

 Locusts do not breed in forests — General functions of forest — General 

 consequences of destruction of — Due proportion of woodland — Propor- 

 tion of woodland in European countries — Forests of Great Britain — 

 Forests of France — Forests of Italy — Forests of Germany — Forests of 

 United States — American forest trees — European and American forest 

 trees compared — The forest does not furnish food for man — First removal 

 of the forest — Principal causes of destruction of forest — Destruction and 

 protection of forests by governments — Royal forests and game-laws — 

 Effects of the French revolution — Increased demand for lumber — Effects 

 of burning forest — Floating of timber — Restoration of the forest — Econ- 

 omy of the forest — Forest legislation — Plantation of forests in America — 

 Financial results of forest plantations — Instability of American life. 



The Habitable Ea/rih origmaUy Wooded. 



Theke is good reason to believe that the surface of the habita- 

 ble earth, in all the chniates and regions which have been the 



the journal Lo Sperimentale for 1870, by Dr. D. Pantaleoni. Very recently 

 observations of great interest have been made on the same subject by Dr. 

 Tommaso Crudeli and his associates in Rome. The results vdll be found in 

 the Transactions of the R. Accademia dei Lincei, for 1881-2. 



There are climates, parts of California for instance, where the flesh of dead 

 animals, freely exposed, shows no tendency to putrefaction, but dries up and 

 may be almost indefinitely preserved in this condition. Is this ovdng to the 

 absence of destructive animalcular life in such localities, and has man any 

 agency in the introduction and naturalization of these organisms in regions 

 previously not infested by them ? 

 (146) 



