1865.] Man and Nature. 157 



some proportion of the soil and rock. After such a change, rivulets, 

 once peaceable and regular, become torrents in winter, and dry water- 

 courses in summer ; the uplands are worn away, and the beds of 

 water-courses and lakes raised. In the same way, channels of rivers 

 become unnavigable, estuaries are shoaled up, and sand-bars accumu- 

 lated. The earth grows less productive, soil is lost, and bare rock 

 alone remains. 



Although, no doubt, there are many exceptions to this gloomy 

 statement, yet no one can have visited the ancient seats of civilization 

 in Europe without recognizing its general truth. Why civilization in 

 India, China, and Japan— probably very old — has not succeeded in 

 effecting such important changes, is partly explained by the peculiar 

 nature of the crdtivation, which carefully produces by mechanical and 

 artificial means the results that are obtained by nature from forests. 

 It is probable, however, that the maximum change has long been pro- 

 duced in those countries. 



Illustrations of the result of the removal of forests are given by 

 Mr. Marsh in great number and variety. At the surface, this result is 

 barrenness, such as is seen in Greece, and the Greek Islands in Asia 

 Minor, on the Karst, and in other lower and more level portions of 

 the Alps ; and also in the Central and Southern Apennines. Another 

 surface result is the increase in frequency and violence of river floods. 

 Below the surface the springs are equally affected : they are more 

 irregular when the natural covering of forest has been removed : their 

 amount also is smaller. It is a matter of familiar observation, that 

 whenever springs have been measured, they have been found to be 

 diminishing in their supply. Many observations to this effect have 

 been recorded in Europe, and some even in America. A few of these 

 are strengthened by our knowing the counter-result when the forests 

 have been again allowed to grow. 



There is good evidence that Europe generally has undergone great 

 changes of physical geography within the last eighteen centuries. 

 Thus the river Seine, now variable to the extent of thirty feet, was in 

 the fourth century a steady flowing river, free from floods. Even the 

 deltas at the mouths of some rivers seem to have commenced only 

 when, for some reason, forests that once covered the country were 

 destroyed. The Dinance, now one of the most dangerous streams in 

 Europe, owing to its constant and fierce torrents, was a navigable 

 stream in the time of the Romans. In torrents this stream has brought 

 down and deposited in its course, or at its mouth, much of the best 

 soil of the Alps. The country through which it passes is being 

 depopulated. These cases are neither isolated nor exaggerated. 



The pages devoted to illustrations of this very important and 

 much-neglected fact, are many and instructive. The authorities 

 quoted are numerous and trustworthy, and the conclusion is unques- 

 tionably sound. Man, by his removal of forest, has done and is doing 

 so much to modify the face of the earth, and what he is doing tends 

 so greatly to alter climate for the worse, that it ought to be a very 

 serious question with governments, whether the removal of forest 

 should not be checked, and the growth encouraged. When forest 



