APPENDIX. 477 



The fame alteration has been obferved irpon the Alps and Appenines. 

 I'hefe ate the highcft mountains in Europe, and divide Italy from France, 

 Switzerland and Germany. The match of H.innibal's army over thefe 

 ;riouniains, was one of the moft memorable exploits of antiquity. la 

 thfif accounts of it, Livy and Pol^ bius in almoft every line, are mention- 

 ing the extreme difficulty and futferings wh-ch arofe from the fevere frofts, 

 ice and Inow. Thefe mountains are ealily p-ifTcd now. Armies have fre- 

 quently eroded them without any uncommon fufferings, from the time of 

 Francis the firft.* 



The change of climate has been alfo very remarkable in Germany. Two 

 circumflances have marked this with certainty. By the account of Dio- 

 dorus Siculus: i. " The great rivers which covered the Roman provin- 

 ces, the Rhine and the Danube, were frequently frozen over, and capable 

 of fupporting the moft enormous weights. The barbaiians who often 

 ehofc that fevere fcafon for their inroads, tranfported without apprehenfion 

 or danger, their numerous armies, their cavalry, and their heavy waggons 

 over a vaft and lolid bridge oi ice. Modern ages have not prefented an inr 

 fiance of a like phenomenon. 2. The reindeer, that ufeful animal, from 

 whom the favage of the north derives the beft comfort of his dreary life, 

 is of a conftitution that fupports and even requires the moft intenfe cold. 

 He is found on the rock of Spitzoerg, within ten degrees of the pole ; he 

 feems to delight in the fnows of Lapland and Siberia. But at prefent he 

 cannot fubfift, much lefs multiply in any country to the fouth of the Baltic. 

 In the time of Casfar, the reindeer, as well as the elk and the wild bull, 

 was a native of the Hercynian foreft, which then overfhadowed a great part 

 of Germany and Poland. "f 



Thefe accounts will affift us to form forne general idea of the climate of 

 Germany at that time. The freezing of the Rhine and the Danube is men- 

 tioned, as an event that was annually to be expefted ; what the barbarians 

 always found to take place in the fevere feafon ; and to fuch a degree, as to 

 afford ihetn a certain and a fafe paffage for the heavieft burthens, and for 

 the largeft armies. This account of the ftrength, firmnefs, and duration of 

 the ice, conveys the idea of a winter equal in ail its efFefts, to that which 

 takes place in the uncultivated parts of North America, The rivers are 

 here conftantly frozen evpry winter. The inhabitants find by conflant ex- 

 perience, that at that feafon of the year they c^n tranfport their heavieft 

 effefts, and the greateft weights, with fafety, certainly and convenience* 

 The mean heat of our winters in fuch places, is from 15 to 20 degrees, la 

 fuch a cold, the rivers and ftreams will be fo conftantly and fteadily frozen, 

 that the inhabitants find a certain and a fafe p'.ffage every winter, over the 

 rivers and lakes. This feems to have been very much the ftate of the an- 

 cient German winter. From the obfervations which were made at Vienna, 

 latitude 48° — 12' north, in the years 1779 and 1780, it appears that the 

 mean heat there in the month of January was 2 7°, 5 ; in February it was 

 33**. 23. At Ratifbon, htitude 48" — 56' north, in the years 1781 &. 1782, 

 the mean heat in the month of January was found to be 30'. 52 ; that of 

 February was 30°, 76. At Manheim, latitude 49° — 27' north, in theyeart 

 1781 and 1782, the mean heat in the month of January was 35°, 08; in 

 February it was 35°,8.:{: The mean of thefe, 31^.3 in January, and 33'.2S 

 in Feb'uary, wili accurately exprefs the prelent temperature of the Germart 

 v/interon the Danube and the Rhine. The time when the barbarians ba- 



* Phil. Trans. Vol. LV II I, for 1769, p. 58, &c. 



+ Gibbon's Roman Hii^ory, Vol, I, p. 346. 



J Ephem. Soc. Meteor. Palat. Tom, I, ll, III, &c, 



VOL. I. L 3 



