44 eiilNTOH S INTRODUCTORY DISCOURSE. 



brought against the supposed deleterious effects of our climate upon the 

 human body have been thus refuted with the certainty of demonstration. 



The imputation of an unfriendly influence upon the mind is equally 

 groundless. Although there is, in all probability, some strong affinity 

 between climate and genius, yet we have no reason to repine at our lot ; 

 for the peculiarities which distinguish us in this respect are not unfa- 

 vourable to intellectual energy. The connexion between the mind 

 and the body is universally admitted, and the country which administers 

 to the beauty, the strength, and the health of the latter, cannot derogate 

 from the vigorous faculties of the former. We have more rain, more eva- 

 poration, more sunshine, and a greater number of clear days than in 

 Europe : our atmosphere, it is supposed, contains more electrical fluid, 

 and we are exposed to greater extremes of heat and cold. We have no 

 season corresponding with the European spring; but the greater part 

 of our autumn is unparalleled for beauty, pleasantness, and salubrity. 

 These qualities of our climate are by no means hostile to the growth of 

 the intellect; on the contrary, most of them are highly friendly to the 

 excitement of genius -, and we cannot better express our ideas on this 

 subject than by adopting the language of a distinguished member of this 

 society : " If genius, industry, erudition, and the liberal arts, are be- 

 gotten and nourished in a temperate climate and a pure atmosphere, 

 America has much to expect ; for the climate will ever be temperate, 

 and the atmosphere pure, through the greater part of the continent."* 



With respect to the fertility of our soil, the excellence and abundance 

 of its products, and the luxuriant power of vegetation, there can be no 

 dispute. Famine has never been heard of; and if facility of subsistence, 

 salubrity and plenty of food, and all the comforts of life, can produce 



Williamson on the Climate of America, p. 177. 



