PHYSICAL CLIMATE. 513 



In 1744 the winter was again very cold. The Maine was covered seven weeks with 

 ice ; and at Erora, in Portugal, people could hardly creep out of their houses for heaps of 

 snow. 



The winters during the five successive years, 1745, 1746, 1747, 1748, and 1749, were 

 all of them very cold. 



In 1754, and again in 1755, the winter was particularly cold. At Paris, Fahrenheit's 

 thermometer sank to the beginning of the scale ; and in England, the strongest ale, 

 exposed to the air in a glass, was covered, in less than a quarter of an hour, with ice an 

 eighth of an inch thick. 



The winters of 1766, 1767, and 1768 were very cold all over Europe. In France, the 

 thermometer fell six degrees below the zero of Fahrenheit's scale. The large rivers and 

 the most copious springs in many parts were frozen. The thermometer, laid on the sur 

 face of the snow at Glasgow, fell two degrees below zero. 



In 1771 the snow lay very deep, and the Elbe was frozen to the bottom. 



In 1776 much snow fell, and the cold was intense. The Danube bore ice five feet 

 thick below Vienna. Wine froze in the cellars both in France and in Holland. Many 

 people were frost-bitten ; and vast multitudes both of the feathered and of the finny tribes 

 perished. Yet the quantity of snow that lay upon the ground had checked the penetra 

 tion of the frost. Van Swinden found, in Holland, that the earth was congealed to the 

 depth of twenty-one inches, on a spot of a garden which had been kept cleared, but only 

 nine inches at another place near it, which was covered with four inches of snow. 



The successive winters of 1784 and 1785 were uncommonly severe, insomuch that the 

 Little Belt was frozen over. 



In 1789 the cold was excessive; and again in 1795, when the republican armies of 

 France overran Holland. 



The successive winters of 1799 and 1800 were both very cold. 



In 1809, and again in 1812, the winters were remarkably severe. 



EXCESSIVE SUMMERS. 



In 763 the summer was so hot that the springs dried up. 



In 870 the heat was so intense, that near "Worms the reapers dropped dead in the 

 fields. 



In 993, and again in 994, it was so hot that the corn and fruit were burnt up. 



The year 1000 was so hot and dry, that, in Germany, the pools of water disappeared, 

 and the fish, being left in the mud, bred a pestilence. 



In 1022 the heat was so excessive, that both men and cattle were struck dead. 



In 11 30 the earth yawned with drought. Springs and rivers disappeared, and even 

 the Rhine was dried up in Alsace. 



In 1159 not a drop of rain fell in Italy after the month of May. 



The year 1171 was extremely hot in Germany. 



In 1232 the heat was so great, especially in Germany, that it is said that eggs were 

 roasted in the sands. 



In 1260, many of the Hungarian soldiers died of excessive heat at the famous battle 

 fought near Buda. 



The consecutive years of 1276 and 1277 were so hot and dry as to occasion a great 

 scarcity of fodder. 



The years 1293 and 1294 were extremely hot ; and so were likewise 1303 and 1304, 

 both the Rhine and the Danube having dried up. 



In 1333 the corn-fields and vineyards were burnt up. 



