126 ROUGH WAYS MADE SMOOTH. 



writer of the article says, ' Many persons assert, and I believe 

 with some degree of accuracy, that the seasons in Europe, 

 and in our own island particularly, have undergone a 

 remarkable change within the memory of many persons now 

 living ; and if such really be the case, how few attempts 

 have been made to account for this change, since no great 

 natural phenomenon, like that of clearing away millions of 

 acres of forest timber, and thereby exposing the cold and 

 moist soil to the action of the sun's rays, has recently taken 

 place here ; so that if the climate of Great Britain has 

 actually undergone a change, the cause, whatever that may 

 be, must be of a different nature from that generally 

 supposed to affect the climate of North America.' It must 

 be explained that, though in this passage the writer does not 

 speak of a diminution in the severity of the winters, it is a 

 change of that sort that he is really referring to. He had 

 said, a few lines before, that ' some of the older inhabitants 

 of North America will declare to you that the winters are 

 much less severe " now " than they were forty or fifty years 

 ago,' and in the passage quoted he is discussing the possibi- 

 lity of a similar change in Europe, where, however, as he 

 points out, the cause assigned to the supposed change in 

 America has certainly no existence. Since 1830, by the way, 

 the theory has been advanced that the supposed mildness of 

 recent winters may have been caused by the large increase 

 in the consumption of coal, owing to the use of steam ma- 

 chinery, gas for lighting purposes, and so forth. 



I believe it will be found on careful inquiry that the 

 change for which forty years ago men sought a cause in 

 vain, and for which at present they assign a perfectly in- 

 adequate cause, has had no real existence. The study of 

 meteorological records gives no valid support to the theory 

 of change. Nor is it difficult to understand how the idea 

 that there has been a change has arisen from the changed 

 conditions under which men in middle life, as compared with 

 children, observe or feel the effects of milder weather. A 

 child gives no heed to mild winters. They pass, like ordinary 



