24 On the supposed Change 



diice fruit, as marked by Arthur Young, begins at the 

 foot of the Pyrenees, in Rousillon, in the 42d degree of 

 latitude, thence runs north-east, through Languedoc, to 

 the southward of the Cevennes, crosses the Rhone at 

 MonteUmart, and pursues its direction, near Grenoble, 

 towards Savoy, where it terminates. This district then 

 inckides part of Rousillon, part of Languedoc, most of 

 Dauphiny, and all Provence. Olives grow and mature 

 there precisely within the limits, marked by Strabo and 

 Pliny, and as far as v/e can judge, not a league further 

 north than they did eighteen hundred years ago'. 



I am willing to rest the whole argument on this fact. 

 It is possible that the clearing and cultivation of particii- 

 lar places, by removing moisture, may enable the mod- 

 erns to raise particular plants, as the vine, for example, 

 in those places, where the ancients could not. But I do 

 not find, in history, any evidence that a change of cli- 

 mate generally has carried any of the delicate fruits into 

 latitudes where they did not thrive in the earliest ages. 

 If any climate has become warmer by seventeen de- 

 grees, it would admit plants to be removed northward 

 about ten degrees of latitude. For instance, the mean 

 temperature of South Carolina is 66° by Farenheit ; that 

 in Connecticut, is about 49°, precisely the difference sup- 

 posed by Dr. Williams to have taken place in the cli- 

 mate of Italy. The difference between the latitudes of 

 Carolina and Connecticut is about 10 degrees. Ten de- 

 grees of latitude then give 17 degrees difference of tem- 

 perature. If then olives grew in the south of France, 

 eighteen centuries ago, and the climate has become 

 warmer by 17 degrees, olives may have the same tem- 

 perature now in 53° of latitude, that they formerly had 

 in 43°. Of course they would thrive in Westphalia, 

 Saxony and Prussia. Instead of which that tree is 

 limited to Dauphiny and Languedoc, as it was at the 

 Christian era. 



The Roman writers speak of Gaul as a cold country. 

 It certainly was colder than Italy, Greece, Africa, and 

 Syria, the countries which v/ere visited by the- Romans, 

 before they crossed the Alps. Accustomed to those 

 mild climates, they were surprized at the rigorous win- 



