Curiosities of Science. 149 



in that city. The Euxine Sea was frozen over every winter 

 during the time of Ovid, and the rivers Rhine and Rhone used 

 to be frozen over so deep that the ice sustained loaded wagons. 

 The waters of the Tiber, Rhine, and Rhone, now flow freely 

 every winter; ice is unknown in Rome, and the waves of the 

 Euxiue dash their wintry foam uncrystallised upon the rocks. 

 Some have ascribed these climate changes to agriculture the 

 cutting down of dense forests, the exposing of the unturned soil 

 to the summer's sun, and the draining of great marshes. We 

 do not believe that such great changes could be produced on 

 the climate of any country by agriculture ; and we are certain 

 that no such theory can account for the contrary change of cli- 

 mate from warm to cold winters which history tells us has 

 taken place in other countries than those named. Greenland 

 received its name from the emerald herbage which once clothed 

 its valleys and mountains ; and its east coast, which is now in- 

 accessible on account of perpetual ice heaped upon its shores, 

 was in the eleventh century the seat of flourishing Scandina- 

 vian colonies, all trace of which is now lost. Cold Labrador was 

 named Vinland by the Northmen, who visited it A.D. 1000, and 

 were charmed with its then mild climate. The cause of these 

 changes is an important inquiry. Scientific American. 



AVERAGE CLIMATES. 



When we consider the numerous and rapid changes which 

 take place in our climate, it is a remarkable fact, that the mean 

 temperature of a place remains nearly the same. The winter may 

 be unusually cold, or the summer unusually hot, while the 

 mean temperature has varied even less than a degree. A very 

 warm summer is therefore likely to be accompanied with a 

 cold winter ; and in general, if we have any long period of 

 cold weather, we may expect a similar period at a higher tem- 

 perature. In general, however, in the same locality the rela- 

 tive distribution over summer and winter undergoes compara- 

 tively small variations ; therefore eveiy point of the globe has 

 an average climate, though it is occasionally disturbed by dif- 

 ferent atmospheric changes. North-British Review, No. 49. 



THE FINEST CLIMATE IN THE WORLD. 



Humboldt regards the climate of the Caspian Sea as the 

 most salubrious in the world : here he found the most delicious 

 fruits that he saw during his travels ; and such was the purity 

 of the air, that polished steel would not tarnish even by night 

 exposure. 



