THE PERIOD OF BEGINNINGS 31 



Madeira Islands) for the sake of the 'madeira,' (building material), 

 these islands have become hotbeds of disease. The valley of the Gua- 

 dalquivir, as late as a century before the discovery of America, sup- 

 ported a population of 7,000,000 of probably the healthiest and hap- 

 piest men of Southern Europe. Since the live oak and chestnut groves 

 of the surrounding heights have disappeared, this population has 



I shrunk to a million and a quarter of sickly wretches, who depend for 

 iheir sustenance on the scant produce of sandy barrens that become 

 ■andier and drier from year to year.""^ A book on "Forests and Mois- 

 ture, or Effects of Forests on Humidity of Climate," by a Scotch 

 prriter, John C. Brown, appeared in Edinburgh in 1877 ; and this book 

 '-' contained an elaborate discussion of the effects of forests on climate, 

 citing certain observations made in Central Park, New York. These 

 observations did not show any decrease in rainfall with the decrease in 

 the surrounding forests. This book also referred to the claim made by 

 certain commissioners in Maine, that the water in streams was dimin- 

 ishing, and that the amount of snow and rain was decreasing with the 

 destruction of the forests. 



INTEREST SHOWN BY GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS 



Several government officials saw the need of forest protection. In 

 1849, the report of the Commissioner of Patents contained the proph- 

 ecy : "The waste of valuable timber in the United States will hardly 

 begin to be appreciated until our population reaches 50,000,000. 

 Then the folly and short-sightedness of this age will meet with a 

 degree of censure and reproach not pleasant to contemplate."^" The 

 report of the same office for 1860 contained an article by J. G. Cooper, 

 in which the effect of forests on climate and health was discussed at 

 length.^^ This, it may be noted, was a favorite theme with conserva- 

 tionists of the time, the effects of forests on climate, and especially on 

 rainfall, being often exaggerated. 



In 1866, the Commissioner of the Land Office, Joseph M. Wilson, 

 declared that the supply of timber in the Lake states was "so dimin- 



29 Popular Science Monthly, Aug., 1877, 385. 



30 Report, Com'r of Patents, 1849, Pt. II, 41. Cited in Fernow, "Economics of 

 Forestry," 374. 



31 Report, Com'r of Patents, 1860, 416. 



