which take place in different Climates. at 
#fording a paflage to the internal heat in winter; and by 
thefe means contributes to preferve a continual equilibrium 
of the principle of heat in the earth and the atmofphere. 
“The contrary takes place in all uncultivated countries, efpe-« 
sially when they are moift, and covered with wood. 
It can no longer be doubted that the gradual draining of 
the ftagnant water in all Celto-Scythia and European Sar- 
matia, with the extirpation of their large forefts, and the ge- 
néral cultivation’of the fields of thefe countries, muft have 
had an influence alfo on the atmofphere of Greece and Italy. 
Thofe cutting north-winds which converted every thing into 
ice, and of which the Greeks and the Romans complain fo 
much, have, in a great meafure, ceafed fince the principal 
caufes which produced them no longer exift. As long as 
Germany, Pannonia, Dacia, Mcefia and Thrace remained 
uncultivated and covered with immenfe forefts, their atmo- 
{phere was exceedingly cold, thick and heavy, and had a 
continual in@uence on that of Italy and Greece, in which, 
becaufe they were open and warm countries, the atmofphere 
was confequently far lighter. The exertions of this fluid to 
recover its equilibrium were the caufe of the cutting north 
winds, of which the Greeks and the Romans complained fo 
much. But after thofe centuries, when the whole of Celto- 
Scythia and Sarmatia became opener and better cultivated, 
their atmofpheres muft have come nearer to an equilibrium 
with that of Greece and Italy, and confequently thefe ftreams 
of air from the north muft have decreafed in the fame pro- 
portion. This muft have contributed to moderate the cli- 
mate of Greece and of Italy, and to render it much milder 
than it was about 1800 or 2000 years ago; and to fuch a 
degree, that, had there been no other caufe, we could no 
longer wonder at, or entertain any doubt of, the effects of the’ 
cold which the ancients remarked in their time, and which 
‘are not obferved at prefent. 
~ It is well known that the winds which traverfe the im- 
menfe cold regions of the Continent are always colder and 
More penetrating than thofe which blow from the fea, 
‘America extends a great way towards the north; and its 
Femote difiriéts, on account of the ice, fnow, and continual 
“* 
fogs 
