162 EVOLUTION AND NATUEAL THEOLOGY. 



that the climate of Europe has undergone com- 

 paratively rapid changes, and that it was far 

 more severe two or three thousand years ago 

 than at present. Some have even attributed 

 the degeneracy of the inhabitants of Southern 

 Europe to the increasing mildness of the 

 climate. 



There is indeed some evidence which might 

 indicate that the climate was less severe in the 

 Middle Ages than at the present time, but it 

 rests chiefly on the former cultivation of the 

 vine in Britain. But there is no evidence to 

 show that the vine flourished more luxuriantly 

 in Britain then than now ; and it is very possible 

 that the wine produced was of so inferior a 

 quality that the vine was not worth cultivating 

 in later times, when wine could more readily 

 be obtained from abroad. Even now, a small 

 quantity of grape- wine is produced in the South 

 of England, so that the preponderence of evi- 

 dence is certainly in favour of the theory that 

 the earth is still gradually recovering from the 

 effects of the last Glacial Period.* 



* Comparatively slight geological changes would suffice to influence 

 the climate of Europe to a very considerable extent. 



