[Footnote 209-2: _Ritter_, Erdkunde VIII, 895; _Burger_, Reise in Oberitalien, I, 7. The monuments of Nubia have suffered much less from the hand of time than those of Upper Egypt, because the air of the plateau is drier. The effects of climate have been most severely felt in Lower Egypt, where the air is most moist. (_Ritter_, I, 336, 701.) In the case of wood, on the other hand, dryness may be a great agent of destruction. Thus, in Thibet, wooden pillars, balconies, etc., have to be protected with woolen coverings to keep them from splitting. (_Turner_, Gesandtsreise, German translation, 393 ff.)] [Footnote 209-3: Compare _Ritter_, Erdkunde, VIII, 789-815, especially the beautiful collection of passages from the Bible bearing on the locust plague, 812 ff. _Pliny_, H. N., XI, 85. _Volney_, Voyages en _Syrie_, I, 305. For account of an invasion of locusts, which, in 1835, covered half a square mile, four inches in thickness, see _v. Wrede_, R. in Hadhrammaut, 202. It is estimated that, in England, the destruction caused by rats, mice, insects, etc., amounts to ten shillings an acre per year; i. e., to £10,000,000 per annum. (_Dingler_, Polyt. Journal, XXX, 237.)] [Footnote 209-4: Origin of the gulf of Dollart in Friesland, 2½ square miles in area between 1177 and 1287; and of Biesboch of 2 square miles in 1421. On the repeated destruction of lands in Schleswig by inundations, see _Thaarup_, Dänische Statistik, I, 180 seq. It is a remarkable fact that in relation to the Mediterranean, _Strabo_, VII, 293, considers all such accounts fables.] [Footnote 209-5: As to how the grandeur and irresistibleness, etc. of this nature-consumption in the tropics leads men to superstition and the indulgence of wild fancies, see _Buckle_, History of Civilization in England, 1859, I, 102 ff. Since the conquest of Chili, sixteen earthquakes, which have destroyed large cities totally or in part, have been recorded.] SECTION CCX. NECESSITY OF CONSIDERING WHAT IS REALLY CONSUMED.