APPENDIX. 475 



No. II. 



Ohiitvatiom on the change of Climate in Europe and other places. 

 Chap. IV. p. 80. 



THE change of climate which has taken place in North America, 

 has been a matter of conftant obfervation and experience. It feems to be 

 the univerfal opinion of hiftorians and philofoohers, that there has been a 

 more remarkable change of climate throughout all Europe. There are 

 feveral phenomena fiom which it may be (howii with much certainty, that 

 this has been the cafe in feveral places. 



In the land of Paleftinc, about the latitude of 30 or 31 degrees, north, 

 the author of the book of Job makes ufe of fuch languaf^e as this, " Haft 

 thou entered into the treafurcs of the fnow ? Or had ihou feen thetreafures 

 of the hail ? — Out of whofe womb came the ice ? — And the hoary tioll of 

 heaven, who hath gendered it ? — The zvaten are kid as uiitk a Jlone, andthi 

 ja.ce of the deep ii frozen" Job xxxviii. 22. 29, 30. Thefe are probably 

 the words of Mofcs ; and they are expreflive of that degree of cold, ia 

 v.'hich the furface of water is fo ftrongly frozen as to conceal its fluidity, 

 and refemble the confidence and hardnefs of Hone The degree of heat id 

 which this cfFtft takes place in rivers, ponds and laigecoUeftions o! waterj 

 I have generally found to be about 25 degrees of Farenheit's thermometer ; 

 with a duration of a week or ten days. We (hall not therefore be far from 

 llie truth, if we conclude that the extremity of the cold in the land ot Mi- 

 dian, could not have been lefs than 25 degrees, in the days ol Mofcs : And 

 that fuch a cold, was of fame days duration. Such was the degree, and the 

 cffeEl of the cold in the land of the Midianites, about 37.5 centuries ago. 



In the writings of David we have alfo a defcription, of what was eliecm- 

 cd a fevere feafon. ♦' He giveth fnow like wool : He fcattereth the hoar 

 froft like afhes. He cafleth forth his ice like morfeh : Who can (land before 

 his cold ?" Pfalm cxivii. 16, 17. This account muft have been written 

 at leaft iS^ centuries ago. The language of the poet does very ffrongly 

 cxprefs the etfeft, which the cold hatl on the feelings ot men in that warm 

 elimate. But the account which he gives of the appearance and form of 

 the ice, denotes a lefs degree of cold than what took place in the days of 

 Mofes. When the degree of heat is but 31 degrees of Farenheit's ther- 

 rnometer, the ice may appear to be cad into the form of morfels and cryf- 

 tals : And this fcems to have been the greateft degree ot confiffence, extent 

 and hardnefs, in which the poet had cither feen it, or conceived of it. It 

 fbould fecm therefore that from the time ot Mofes to David, the cold had 

 abated in the land of Pakftine : That four centuries before, it hid the wa- 

 ters as with a floue, and caufed the face of the deep to be frozen : But that 

 now it only calf out the ice like morfels or cryftals. The difference in 

 the degree of co.'d neceffoiy to produce thefe efFtfts, is about 6 degrees. 



We have here an account of the climate in the land of Paleftine, fo far 

 back as 28 and 32 centuries. Inflead of ireafures of fnoW, hail, and ice, a 

 frozen dfxp, and cold which can fcarcc be flood hefore, the inhabitants of 

 that country now find a hot, fultry climate ; in which fnow and ice are 

 never feen. We have not an account of any meteorological oblervationH 

 made at the places, where Mofes and David lived. The climate is proba- 

 bly much the fame at thofe places, as it is in others of a fimilar latitude and 

 fituation. We may therefore make u(e of thofe which have been made at 

 Grand Cairo, as the mofl applicable, and the bell which we can find, to' 

 j;ive us an idea of the temperature of the winter in thofe parts of the globCo 

 ©raad Cairo lies in the latitude of 30" north. According to Mr. Niebor'* 



