20 NATURAL- HISTORY of N RWAY. 



fkins of wild beafts, furnifli them with warm linings for their 

 clothes, and good bed- covering : 3. The innumerable flights of 

 wild fowls fupply them with down and feathers : 4. The moun- 

 tains themfelves ferve them for fences, and retreats ; their fummits, 

 indeed, are unhabitable, on account of the cold and barrennefs ; 

 but the fhelving fides, or interfaces, efpecially where the expofure 

 does not face the north or eaft, enjoy weather that is at leaft 

 fupportable. But above all it is to be obferved, that even the cold 

 air occafions warmth in the bodies of men ; its compreffive force 

 rendering the body more firm and compact, and fortifying it againft 

 external injuries : and thus the natural warmth is by the clofe- 

 nefs of the pores repelled towards the inner vital parts, and more 

 particularly concentrated in the ftomach ; fo that the northern 

 people are known to digeft fmoked flefh, dried fifTi, and other food 

 hard of digeftion, better than any other nations *. In fhort, in 

 this as in every other refpect, the economy of the Almighty to- 

 wards his creatures is full of wifdom, goodnefs, and harmony. I 

 can even venture to affirm, that were the Norwegians tempted by 

 any thing to change countries with the Italians, the winter's cold 

 would not be the motive to the exchange : for this is the leaft of 

 their complaints ; and, for my own part, I cannot fay that the 

 cold here has ever been more painful to me than in other parts. 



SECT. IX. 



Great heat in After this account of the cold in Norway, it is proper to fpeak 



fummer, and * * * I 



its caufes, f the heat. Here I apprehend many would interrupt me with a 

 queftion, whether it is ever actually warm in Norway ? I anfwer 

 from experience in the affirmative : for in the beft fummer- 

 months it is not only warm, but fometimes to fuch a degree, that 

 according to the vulgar phrafe, it may make a raven gape ; and 

 perfons, who have been born and educated in hot climates, might 

 fancy themfelves fuddenly tranfported Ijome. Particularly in this 

 prefent year 1750, on the laft day of July and firft of Auguft, the 



* That the particles of the atmofphere are more condenfed near the poles, and 

 confequently prefs more forcibly on bodies, than in the expanded and rarified air of 

 hot climates, infomuchthat ioio pounds of copper at Drontheim, weigh only iooolb. 

 at Rouen, is demonftrated and explained by J, Rohault, Traite de Phyfique, Tom. 11. 

 P. in. C. in. § 9. where he alfo fhews, that th$ mercury rifes higher in Denmark 

 and Sweden, than in Franc? an$ Italy. 



2 heat 



