^^8 On the Changes qf Temperature etvef Boll 



cient authors I have been able to find on the ftate of the 

 temperature and foil in their time in Gaul, Germany, Pan- 

 nnnia, Thrace, Moefta, ' acia, and the European part of 

 Scythia. As mod of thefe writers, however, when they 

 fpeak of the climate of thcife countries, exprcfs themfelves 

 more or lefs in an almoft un'nielligible manner, and nearly 

 in the fame words, it vvould be fuperfluous to quote, at full 

 length, all the paflages I have colle£led on the fubjeft. I 

 fliall therefore content rnyfelf with giving, in regular order, 

 the fubltance of all the circumflances they have communi- 

 cated to us \ti regard to the climate of the above countries ; 

 and in the fecond part I fliall briefly enquire into the phyfical 

 caufes which, in the courfe of feveral centuries, may have 

 gradually contributed to produce thefe changes. 



J. Proofs of the Change of Temperature a7id Soil in the 

 Climates of Europe. 



We are told by Herodotus, more than once, that in the 

 European part of Scythia, on the PaKis Meotis, the winter 

 continued eight months every year with ahiiofl infupport- 

 able feverity; and that the countries farther towards the 

 north were on that account uninhabitable : he adds, that 

 the other four months, called the fummer, were alfo exceed- 

 ingly cold. Now this- country lies between the 44th and 

 50th degree of north latitude, and we know at prefent that 

 aothing of the like kind has taken place there for a long 

 time. Csefar, Virgil, Diodorus Siculus, Ovid, Strabo, Pom- 

 ponius Mela, Seueca-, Petronius, Pliny the naturalifl, Sta- 

 tius, Herodian, and Juftin, all fpeak in the fame manner of 

 the infupportable coW of the winter in different parts lying 

 in the lame latitude of from 44 to 50 degrees between Gaul 

 and the Euxine Sea. They quote fo many and fo evident 

 effedts of this winter rold, that it is not pofTible fo afcribe 

 their defcriptions £0 the manner of Hfe they wers aGcullomed 

 to in the warmer diflridls of Italy, Greece; or Afia. 



The defcriptions which they unanimoufly give, would a?: 



prefent 



