CLIMATE OF HISTORIC TiMlJS 5S3 



^^oscillations between dry and moist climates have succeeded one another 

 all over western Asia. The opposite would be both unnatural and physi- 

 cally unaccountable." 



The Eussian geographer, Berg,-^ speaks in much the same way. He 

 states that "during the 13th and 15th centuries and part of the 16 th in 

 western Asia and eastern Europe some increase in the precipitation was 

 noticed. For instance, during this time the Amu Dariya sent a branch 

 to the Caspian Sea through the Uzboi. ... There is nothing to as- 

 sure us that in the future such an abundance of water may not repeat 

 itself.^' 



Herbette,^^ a French geographer, expresses practically the same opinion. 



In discussing the curve of the fluctuations of the Caspian Sea, which I 

 have published in "The Pulse of Asia" (page 349), he objects strongly to 

 the earlier portions before the low stand in the fifth, sixth, and seventh 

 centuries of our era. I may add parenthetically that later work has led 

 me to modify these earlier portions, although not to the extent advocated 

 by Herbette. From the fifth century onward, however, he seems to accept 

 the curve as reliable, for he says that "the rest of the curve indicates only 

 that in the Middle Ages there were fluctuations of the level of the Caspian 

 Sea more accentuated than those of our day." 



Finally, the English geographer Gregory, the last of our four authors, 

 admits the desiccation of Asia, and is also convinced that in northwestern 

 Europe the climate has become more oceanic during the last few cen- 

 turies. He says^° that "both the summers and winters are now more 

 moderate (than in the time of Tycho Brahe, whose observations cover the 

 period from 1582 to 1597), while the temperatures of spring and autumn 

 are unchanged." In Eoumania^^ he holds that the climate is now more 

 moist than formerly. It thus appears that although the four authors here 

 cited are among the strongest opponents of the hypothesis of a gradual 

 drying up of the earth, and although they all expressly state their belief 

 that there has been no pronounced change of climate during historic 

 times, they all admit the main elements of the pulsatory hypothesis. 

 From the height of the last Glacial epoch to about 1500 or 2000 B. C. 

 they agree in believing that pronounced pulsations took place. They also 

 agree that during the last thousand years, more or less, there have been 



28 L. Berg: Variations of climate in historic times (On Russian). Zemlevedui6, 

 Moscow, 1911, p. 75. 



29 Francois Herbette : Le Problem du Dessechement de I'Asie Centrale. Annales de 

 Geographie, vol. 23, 1914, pp. 1-30. 



3" J. W. Gregory: Is the earth drying up? Geog. Jour., vol. 43, 1914, pp. 148-172 and 

 293-318. 



^ See G. Murgoci : The climate in Roumania and vicinity in the late Quaternary 

 times. Postglaziale Klima veranderungen. Stockholm, 1910. 



