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IN 



NORTH - A M E R I C A. 



340'' 



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But we have already made confiderable approaches to this 

 very period, feveral members of the Society muft have ob- 

 ferved, that our North-Weft winds, during tPie winter fea- 

 foa are lefs frequent, lefs violent and of Ihorter continu-* 

 ance, than formerly they were. Seamen, who are deeply 

 interefted in this fubjed inform us, that in the winter fea- 

 fon they have been beating oif our coaft three, four, or five 

 weeks, not able to put in, by reafon of the NorthAVeft- 

 ers; they are now feldom kept oiF twice that number of 

 days. It is alfo agreed, that the hardnefs of our frofts^ 

 the quantity and continuance of our fnows, arc very une- 

 qual now, to what they have been, fince the fettlcment of 

 this province. 



It has been objefted, that the fmall alteration which the 

 furface of a country undergoes in being cleared and culti- 

 vated, is not equal to producing fuch confiderable changes 



)f climate, as has been obfcrvcd to take place in many parts^ 

 of the world, I fhall not fay, that a change of climate 

 may not arife from other caufes than the one I have de-^ 

 fcribed. It is very certain that the fimple folution of wa- 

 ter in air will produce cold, which may be increafed by a> 

 Iblutlon of nitrous fait. There are fundry other caufes, 

 from which the heat of the air may be increafed or dimi- 

 niflied, yet I cannot recoiled a fingle inftance of any re-^ 

 markable change of climate, which may not be fairly de- 

 duced from the fole cultivation of the country. The change 

 which has happened in Italy, and fome countries to the 

 eaftward, within the laft feventeen centuries, is thought 

 to be a ftrong objection to. this general rule. It is faid,. 

 " that Italy was better cultivated inthe Auguftinc agethaa 

 " it is now; but the climate is much more temperate now 

 " than it was at that time. This feems to contradid the 

 " opinion, that the cultivation of a country wiH render the. 

 " air more temperate^ 



I fliall confider this obfervation the more attentivcly,- 

 becaufe I find it has been made by an ingenious writer, of 

 great claflical erudition/'^ 



* See Philo/bpliical Trania^lions, vol, j8. 



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