The modifications of the external aspects of organic nature produced by man's interference / by George Rolleston.

  • Rolleston, George, 1829-1881.
Date:
1880
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The modifications of the external aspects of organic nature produced by man's interference / by George Rolleston. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    plains present very serious obstructions to the operations of cavalry.” My tliird map, with the distribution of the vine after Schouw, should be compared with my picture from Kaempfer’s ‘Amoe- nitates Exotic®,’ Ease. iv. p. 711, 1712, of what he calls, ]). 714, the Messis dactxjlifera, the date-harvest of Persia, and speaks of as being lusus xnagis qxiam labores. The distributional limits of the “ fruitful ” vine and the “ fruiting ” date-palm now, as of yore, overlap each other, as was pointed out by Arago in his ‘ IVIemoire sur I’iltat Thermometrique du Globe terrestre ’ (‘GEuvres,’ v. 216, ed. 1858) in Palestine, when from this fact, he, with much ingenuity, argued that 3300 years have not appreciably altered the climate of Palestine. Eor “la limite thermometrique en moins de la dalte ditlere ties pen de la limite thermometrique en plus de la vigne and, what makes the argument, especially to those who have Kaempfer’s picture of the luxuriant date-harvest before their eyes, entirely and beautifully perfect, he further (p. 217,1. e.) tells us, “ a Abusheer (Bushire) en Perse, dont la temperature moyenne ne surpasse certainemeut pas 23°, on ne pent, snivant Niebuhr, cultiver la vigne que dans les fosses ou a I’abri de Taction directe des rayons du soleil.” A more simple, but also a more conclusive proof that the Syrian climate has not materially changed within the historic period cannot be imagined.* 1 began this Lecture with details as to the distribution of pines and firs by man’s agency; I may fitly close those details by attempting something as regards that of one of the palm tribe. For, though Leopold von Buch was wrong in holding that the two natural orders were altogether mutually exclusive as regards natural geographical distribution, as a voyage in the * It is strange to find that Arago could, when dc:iling with France, have swerved so far from the line of evidence he employed as to Palestine, as to have told the Chamber of Deputies (February 27, 1836): “ Vous serez peut-etre e'tonne's d’entendre que dans les environs de Paris, il y a quelques siecles, il faisait beaucoup plus chaud qu’aujourd’hui,” vol. xii. ‘ QEuvres, Melanges,’ p. 434. But for the context one might have been tempted to take the last of the words just quoted as applying to the month of February only; and in all gravity the title of chapitrexix. in the memoir already quoted, vol. viii.'Qduvres,’ vol. v. ‘Nat. Scient..’ p. 239, “Observations prouvant que I’ancien climat se maintient dans une partio des Gaules,” might seem to justify such an interpretation of words spoken under some provocation in debate. And tbe more so as a few pages previously (p. 214) we find Arago recognising the essential deceptiveness which must attach to “ une foule de documents historiques” in the following words; ‘ On remarquera que je ilevrai resoudre le problcme que je me stiis pose sans avoir recours a des chifircs certains, a des observations nume'riques. L’invention des thermometres nercinonte guere qu’a I’anne'e 1590; on doit memc ajouter qu’avant 1700 ces instruments n'e'taieut iii exactes ui comparables.’’