74 UTEBATUBE ON TOBBBNXa. 



discharge. Such is the vastness of the body of water rapidly poured into 

 the rivers by torrents or storms of rain, by which torrents are occasioned. 



In 1857 appeared itvdes sur les InondaMons, leur causes et leur effets by 

 M. F. Vall6s, in which he makes several comments on the observations of 

 Belgrand, relative to the rainfall in 1852 at Vozelay, in the valley of the 

 Beuchat, and at Avallon, in the valley of the Grenetifere. And in the 

 Annales Forestieres, for the December of the same year, appeared a paper, 

 entitled Les Inondations et le livre de M. Voiles, by A. F. D. H6rieourt. 



" The udometric measurement of Belgrand, discussed by Valles, consti- 

 tute," says Marsh, " the earliest, and in some respects the most remarkable, 

 series known to me of persevering and systematic observations bearing 

 directly and exclusively upon the influence of human action upon climate, 

 or, to speak more accurately, on precipitation and natural drainage. The 

 conclusions of Belgrand, however, and of Valles, who adopts them, have not 

 been generally accepted by the scientific world, and they seem to have been, 

 in part at least, refuted by the arguments of H6ricourt, and the observations 

 of CantegrU, Jeandel, and Belland." These will be found quoted in Comptes 

 Rendvs a VAcademie des Sciences, 1861. 



In 1856 appeared a pamphlet, published in Paris, entitled Moyens de 

 forcer les torrents des Momtagnes de rendre une partie du sol qu'ils ravagent, 

 hy M. Rozet, to which I shall afterwards have occasion to refer more in 

 detail. And in the course of this year — ^whether before or after the appear- 

 ance of M. Eozet's pamphlet I have not been able to ascertain — renewed 

 inundations supplied a befitting opportunity for the Emperor to call the 

 attention of the nation to the subject. 



In the following year (1857) was published La Provence au point de me 

 des Bois des Torrents, et des Inondations, par Charles de Ribbe. 



Some of the facts, historical and statistical, embodied in this work are 

 embodied in a notice of Dauphiny and Provence, by Marsh, which wiU 

 afterwards be cited. 



In a work by Maurice Champion, entitled Les Inondations en France 

 depuis le YIme Steele jusqud, nos jours, a work in six volumes, published in 

 Paris, 1858-1864, are narrated the ravages of many inundations which 

 have devastated extensive districts. And in an erudite and able work by 

 Alfred Maury, entitled Les Forets de la Gaule et de I'andent France, 

 published in Paris in 1857, is collected an immense amount of statistical 

 detail, on the extent, the distribution, and the destruction of the forests of 

 France. By help of these the student in this department of Forest 

 Science can carry back his studies to times that are past. 



In 1858 appeared &ude sur les Fkenomenes et la Legislation des Eaux au 

 point de vue des Inondations, par A. Monestier Lavignot. 



The same subject is discussed in a Rapport sur les Plantations de la 

 Solonge, by M. A. Broignard, de I'lnstitut, which appeared in Annales 

 Forestieres, Tom. X. ; and in a report to the Emperor by His Excellency, 

 M. Magne, the Minister of Finance, relative to the planting of mountain 

 ranges with trees, which appeared in the Moniteur of February 3, 1860. 

 This will afterwards be given in full. 



In this year (1860) was published a Memoire sur les Ino)idations des 

 Rimrei de i'Ardechc, by M, de Mardigny; and in the year following (1861) 



