in the Temperature of JVijifer. 25 



ters of Gaul and Germany. They described the moiui- 

 tains of Thrace also, as covered with eternal snow ; yet 

 Thrace was a fine country, and vines flourished on the 

 borders of the Hellespont. The mountains were cold 

 in winter, in Italy, Gaul, and Thrace ; but the growth 

 of certain delicate plants, in those countries, is a better 

 criterion of the real temperature of the climates, than the 

 descriptions of poets and historians. 



The winters in Gaul were colder than in England, ac- 

 cording to the express testimony of Cesar.. ..Z/z6. v. So 

 they are at this day. If the general temperature of Eu- 

 rope has moderated in 1800 years, Britain, though an 

 island, must have shared in the mitigation of cold. Yet 

 we cannot admit any considerable change on that island ; 

 for Tacitus, Life of Agricola 12, expressly declares that 

 it enjoyed a moderate climate in his days. " Asperitas 

 frigoris abest." The mean temperature of England now 

 is about 48°. If the cold has moderated within 18 cen- 

 turies, [as much as Dr. Williams supposes it has in 

 other European countries, the climate formerly must 

 have been intolerably cold, contrary to the testimony of 

 Taciturs. 



Another argument in favor of a great mitigation of 

 cold in Europe, used by Buflfon, and copied by Gibbon 

 and Dr. Williams, is the retirement of the Rane* (deer) 

 from the south of Europe, the Pyrenees and the forests 

 of Germany, into the colder regions of Norway and 

 Russia. Buffon asserts that this animal will not multi- 

 ply and cannot subsist, south of the Baltic. 



J consider this argument as very fallacious. The 

 Rane seeks the forest, and flies before the ax of the cul- 

 tivator, like the bear, the common deer, and the Indian 

 of America. How can the deer subsist in open fields f 

 We might as well expect a fish to live in air, as the rane 

 in a country destitute of woods, and frequented by man. 

 The Hyrcanian forest no longer exists ; the husband- 

 man has deprived that animal of his shelter, his food, his 

 element. He does not like the company of man, and 



* This is the true name of this animal, by an egregious corrup- 

 tion called Rein-Deer. 



