American Citizen

Changes in European Climate.

In the Bay of Komenok, near Koma, in Greenland, fossil and very characteristic remains of palm and other trees have been discovered lately, which tend to show that in these parts formerly a rich vegetation must have existed. But the ice period of geologists arrived, and, as a consequence of the decreasing temperature, this fine vegetation was covered with ice and snow. This sinking in the temperature, which moved in a southerly direction, as can be proved by geological data, i. e., the discovery of fossil plants of certain species, seems to be going on in our days also. During the last few years the ice has increased far toward the south; thus between Greenland and the Arctic Sea colossal masses of ice have accumulated. On European coasts navigators now frequently find ice in latitudes where it never existed before during the summer months, and the cold reigning upon the Scandinavian peninsula this summer results from the masses of ice which are floating in the region where the Gulf stream bends toward our coasts. This is a repetition of the observations made in the cold summer of 1865. The unaccustomed vicinity of these masses of ice has rendered the climate of Iceland so cold that corn no longer ripens there, and the Icelanders, in fear of a coming famine and icy climate, begin to found a new home in North America.-Swedish Paper.