i?i the Temperature of Winter. 45 



bly not warmer on the last of that month, than it was, 

 when a forest, on the first of the month. 



It will be remarked that in discussing this question, I 

 have admitted the fact assumed by my opposers, that 

 there has been a clearing and cultivation of Palestine, 

 since the settlement of the Jews in that country ; and of 

 Italy, since the days of Julius Cesar. But I must not 

 quit the subject, without contradicting the fact assumed. 

 The reverse is the truth. 



When Joshua led the Israelites towards Palestine, 

 that country was very populous, inhabited by various 

 tribes of people, and containing large cities, whose enor- 

 mous walls terrified the Israelites. Never has that coun- 

 try been so populous as in the few first centuries, after 

 the Israelites took possession of it. The country there- 

 fore could not have been covered with wood, but every 

 foot of cultivable land was occupied by husbandmen. 



Equally true is it, that the countries on the north of 

 Syria were as populous in the days of Darius, as at any 

 subsequent period. It was the case also in Italy, which 

 was more populous at the Christian era, than it has been 

 for the last fifteen centuries. In all these countries there- 

 fore, no clearing of the lands can have taken place, to in- 

 fluence the climates, within the period in which a mode- 

 ration of cold is supposed. Germany, on the north of 

 Italy, has been, in a degree, cleared ; but the Rhetian 

 Alps intervene betv/een Italy and Germany; and the 

 cold winds which affect Italy in winter, blow from those 

 high-iands, where the air is colder than in the less hilly 

 country on the north. In every point therefore, the hy- 

 pothesis of a moderation of climate appears to be unsup- 

 ported. 



I would only further observe, that if the cold has aba- 

 ted ten or twelve degrees in our climate, within a centu- 

 ry and a half, it must have been intolerable before that 

 period. The mean temperature of Vermont now is about 

 43°. If we deduct 10*^ only for abatement of cold, thc- 

 water in deep wells in Vermont, two hundred years ago, 

 must have been of 33° of temperature, or nearly at the 

 freezing point; in Canada it must have been at 32°, or 

 the state of congelation. If we suppose the winter only 



