nes change, becoming convex to the north as summer approaches,
and concave as winter. They by no means observe a parallelism to the
mean, but change their flexures, assuming new sinuosities. In their
absolute transfer they move with a variable velocity, and through spaces
far from insignificant. The line of 50 deg. F., which in January passes
through Lisbon and the south of the Morea, in July has travelled to the
north shore of Lapland, and incloses the White Sea. As in some grand
musical instrument, the strings of which vibrate, the isothermal lines
of Europe and Asia beat to and fro, but it takes a year for them to
accomplish one pulsation.

[Sidenote: Europe is full of meteorological contrasts, and therefore of
modified men.]

All over the world physical circumstances control the human race. They
make the Australian a savage; incapacitate the negro, who can never
invent an alphabet or an arithmetic, and whose theology never passes
beyond the stage of sorcery. They cause the Tartars to delight in a
diet of milk, and the American Indian to abominate it. They make the
dwarfish races of Europe instinctive miners and metallurgists. An
artificial control over temperature by dwellings, warm for the winter
and cool for the summer; variations of clothing to suit the season of
the year, and especially the management of fire, have enabled man to
maintain himself in all climates. The invention of artificial light has
extended the available term of his life; by giving the night to his use,
it has, by the social intercourse it encourages, polished his manners
and refined his tastes, perhaps as much as any thing else has aided in
his intellectual progress. Indeed, these are among the primary
conditions that have occasioned his civilization. Variety of natural
conditions gives rise to different national types, artificial inventions
occasion renewed modifications. Where there are many climates there will
be many forms of men. Herein, as we shall in due season discover, lies
the explanation of the energy of European life, and the development of
its civilization.

Would any one deny the influence of rainy days on our industrial habits
and on our mental condition even in a civilized state? With how much
more force, then, must such meteorological incidents have acted on the
ill-protected, ill-clad, and ill-housed barbarian! Would any one deny
the increasing difficulty with which life is maintained as we pass from
the southern peninsul