CLIMATE 



8/ 



cold, in their respective seasons ; but neither of the 

 extremes is of long continuance. Our climate is 

 also very variable, the temperature of the atmos- 

 phere being hable to great and sudden vicissitudes. 

 Nevertheless, taking the whole routine of the sea- 

 sons, w^e enjoy a large proportion of fine and mode- 

 rate weather ; with more days of sunshine and 

 serene sky, than perhaps, any part of Europe. A 

 very considerable part of France experiences greater 

 extremes of heat and cold, than the United States, 

 in general : yet we find that country to be more 

 fiivourable to fecundity and life, than England, where 

 the summers and winters are less intemperate. And 

 in the Swiss Cantons, and Sweden, where the fre- 

 quent and sudden changes in the temperature of 

 the atmosphere, are very similar to the vicissitudes 

 which prevail in our own climate, the natives are a 

 hardy, vigorous, and healthful people. 



The winters, in our own country, brace and invi- 

 gorate the bodies of the people: and the genial 

 warmth of our summers increases the generative 

 principle of animal nature: the cold is accompanied 

 with a pure and elastic atmosphere; and during 

 the continuance of the greatest heats, the air is fre- 

 quently t:orrected by thunder gusts and plentiful 

 showers of refreshing rain. The face of the coun- 

 try, too, is of such a nature, as must contribute to 

 the salubrity of the climate.. ..The United States 

 are, in general, diversified with hills and vallies, 

 mountains and plains: and Aristotle observes, that 

 people do not feel the effects of age so soon, in hilly, 

 as in flat countries. 



