CHAPTER III 
THE WOODS. 
THE HABITABLE EARTH ORIGINALLY "WOODED—THE FOREST DOES NOT FURNISH 
FOOD FOR MAN—FIRST REMOVAL OF THE WOODS—EFFECTS OF FIRE ON FOREST 
SOIL-EFFECTS OF THE DESTRUCTION OF THE FOREST—ELECTRICAL INFLU¬ 
ENCE OF TREES—CHEMICAL INFLUENCE OF THE FOREST. 
INFLUENCE OF THE FOREST, CONSIDERED AS INORGANIC MATTER, ON TEM¬ 
PERATURE : a, ABSORBING AND EMITTING SURFACE ; 6, TREES AS CONDUCTORS 
OF HEAT ; C, TREES IN SUMMER AND IN WINTER ; </, DEAD PRODUCTS OF 
TREES; e, TREES AS A SHELTER TO GROUNDS TO THE LEEWARD OF THEM; 
/, TREES AS A PROTECTION AGAINST MALARIA—THE FOREST, AS INORGANIC 
MATTER, TENDS TO MITIGATE EXTREMES. 
TREES AS ORGANISMS : SPECIFIC TEMPERATURE—TOTAL INFLUENCE OF 
THE FOREST ON TEMPERATURE. 
INFLUENCE OF FORESTS ON THE HUMIDITY OF THE AIR AND THE EARTH : 
a, AS INORGANIC MATTER ; 6, AS ORGANIC-WOOD MOSSES AND FUNGI—FLOW 
OF SAP—ABSORPTION AND EXHALATION OF MOISTURE BY TREES—BALANCE OF 
CONFLICTING INFLUENCES—INFLUENCE OF THE FOREST ON TEMPERATURE AND 
PRECIPITATION-INFLUENCE OF THE FOREST ON THE HUMIDITY OF THE SOIL- 
ITS INFLUENCE ON THE FLOW OF SPRINGS—GENERAL CONSEQUENCES OF THE 
DESTRUCTION OF THE WOODS—LITERATURE AND CONDITION OF THE FOREST 
IN DIFFERENT COUNTRIES—THE INFLUENCE OF THE FOREST ON INUNDATIONS 
—DESTRUCTIVE ACTION OF TORRENTS—THE PO AND ITS DEPOSITS—MOUNTAIN 
SLIDES—PROTECTION AGAINST THE FALL OF ROCKS AND AVALANCHES BY 
TREES—PRINCIPAL CAUSES OF THE DESTRUCTION OF THE FOREST—AMERICAN 
FOREST TREES—SPECIAL CAUSES OF THE DESTRUCTION OF EUROPEAN WOODS 
—ROYAL FORESTS AND GAME LAWS—SMALL FOREST PLANTS, VITALITY OF 
SEEDS—UTILITY OF THE FOREST—THE FORESTS OF EUROPE—FORESTS OF THE 
UNITED STATES AND CANADA-THE ECONOMY OF THE FOREST-EUROPEAN AND 
AMERICAN TREES COMPARED—SYLVICULTURE—INSTABILITY OF AMERICAN 
LIFE. 
The Habitable Earth Originally Wooded. 
There is good reason to believe that the surface of the hab¬ 
itable earth, in all the climates and regions which have been 
the abodes of dense and civilized populations, was, with few 
