269
its, it should not be difficult to persuade anyone that in the large centers of population and
industry the average temperature and the degree of humidity cannot remain invariable.
10
In his conclusion, he stressed the importance of beginning a climate monitoring
service in the Papal States, as had been done already for some time in other European
countries.
In his second lecture, Secchi focused particularly on two important aspects of
public health that had not yet attracted enough attention from scholars, but deserved
great consideration: the relationship between the passage of the seasons and the
arrival of disease, and some geological circumstances that were increasingly altering the wholesomeness of the climate over time. Consistent with his ethical and
pragmatic vision of science, after he had explained the causes of climate change and
its consequences on the life of the population, he illustrated how science and modern industry could allow one to take precautions in time to avoid the disastrous
effects of climate change and, over time, also remove its causes (Secchi 1865b: 4).
First, he insisted on the importance of following up the detection and public
communication of the meteorological service he had created by establishing a similar system for the detection and public communication of the epidemiological situation, so that the institutions and the population could adopt timely preventive
sanitary measures (Secchi 1865b: 6–10). In that regard, he explained that the sanitary conditions were heavily influenced by the worsening of climate in the
Agro Romano and especially in the Agro Pontino, following the abandonment of
the territory and the senseless deforestation of the mountains:
… Much has been said against deforestation, but the reasons why have not been identified
enough. Cutting down trees in our stony and almost barren mountains is not just imprudent;
it’s senseless, it’s almost a crime. That wretched desire for profit kills the goose that lays the
golden egg, and the lowlands are deprived of their springs, the air of its regular beneficial
rains, soil is lost because the little quantity that can be found is soon carried away by the
waters and only bare stone remains. Deforestation is healthy where the mountains meet the
lowlands, whenever the regular growth is replaced, because the waters are drained in this
way and the deposits of rotting materials are removed. The rehabilitation of America’s climate with the cutting of the forests is manifest. But what we have done is just the opposite:
there are still woods on the bottomlands while the mountains are stripped, and therefore we
now have bare rocks that form our mountains, so that streams inundate us with full floods
at the slightest rain; springs are lost because the earth and the roots that held back the water
have gone; obstinate droughts torment us because we lack the plants that provide slow
evaporation.
11
10 Non esiterei a credere a qualche cambiamento dovuto alla differente coltura e al disboscamento
de’ monti, e all’introduzione delle sorgenti artificiali di calore, che non sono certamente trascurabili. Quando consideriamo l’enorme quantità di vapore che ora artificialmente si lancia
nell’atmosfera, e del combustibile che estratto dalle viscere della terra torna alla luce, per restituire
forza viva accumulata dal sole per secoli e secoli in que’ depositi non sarà difficile a persuadersi
che nei grandi centri di popolazione e d’industria la media temperatura e il grado di umidità non
può restare invariabile (Secchi 1866: 57).
11 .… Si è molto declamato contro il disboscamento; ma non si sono distinte abbastanza le condizioni di farlo. Il tagliare le selve ne’ nostri monti sassosi, e nudi quasi affatto di terra, non è una
imprudenza; è un’insensatezza, è quasi dissi un delitto. Quel misero guadagno uccide la gallina
16 Secchi’s Science in the Service of the Public
its, it should not be difficult to persuade anyone that in the large centers of population and
industry the average temperature and the degree of humidity cannot remain invariable.
10
In his conclusion, he stressed the importance of beginning a climate monitoring
service in the Papal States, as had been done already for some time in other European
countries.
In his second lecture, Secchi focused particularly on two important aspects of
public health that had not yet attracted enough attention from scholars, but deserved
great consideration: the relationship between the passage of the seasons and the
arrival of disease, and some geological circumstances that were increasingly altering the wholesomeness of the climate over time. Consistent with his ethical and
pragmatic vision of science, after he had explained the causes of climate change and
its consequences on the life of the population, he illustrated how science and modern industry could allow one to take precautions in time to avoid the disastrous
effects of climate change and, over time, also remove its causes (Secchi 1865b: 4).
First, he insisted on the importance of following up the detection and public
communication of the meteorological service he had created by establishing a similar system for the detection and public communication of the epidemiological situation, so that the institutions and the population could adopt timely preventive
sanitary measures (Secchi 1865b: 6–10). In that regard, he explained that the sanitary conditions were heavily influenced by the worsening of climate in the
Agro Romano and especially in the Agro Pontino, following the abandonment of
the territory and the senseless deforestation of the mountains:
… Much has been said against deforestation, but the reasons why have not been identified
enough. Cutting down trees in our stony and almost barren mountains is not just imprudent;
it’s senseless, it’s almost a crime. That wretched desire for profit kills the goose that lays the
golden egg, and the lowlands are deprived of their springs, the air of its regular beneficial
rains, soil is lost because the little quantity that can be found is soon carried away by the
waters and only bare stone remains. Deforestation is healthy where the mountains meet the
lowlands, whenever the regular growth is replaced, because the waters are drained in this
way and the deposits of rotting materials are removed. The rehabilitation of America’s climate with the cutting of the forests is manifest. But what we have done is just the opposite:
there are still woods on the bottomlands while the mountains are stripped, and therefore we
now have bare rocks that form our mountains, so that streams inundate us with full floods
at the slightest rain; springs are lost because the earth and the roots that held back the water
have gone; obstinate droughts torment us because we lack the plants that provide slow
evaporation.
11
10 Non esiterei a credere a qualche cambiamento dovuto alla differente coltura e al disboscamento
de’ monti, e all’introduzione delle sorgenti artificiali di calore, che non sono certamente trascurabili. Quando consideriamo l’enorme quantità di vapore che ora artificialmente si lancia
nell’atmosfera, e del combustibile che estratto dalle viscere della terra torna alla luce, per restituire
forza viva accumulata dal sole per secoli e secoli in que’ depositi non sarà difficile a persuadersi
che nei grandi centri di popolazione e d’industria la media temperatura e il grado di umidità non
può restare invariabile (Secchi 1866: 57).
11 .… Si è molto declamato contro il disboscamento; ma non si sono distinte abbastanza le condizioni di farlo. Il tagliare le selve ne’ nostri monti sassosi, e nudi quasi affatto di terra, non è una
imprudenza; è un’insensatezza, è quasi dissi un delitto. Quel misero guadagno uccide la gallina
16 Secchi’s Science in the Service of the Public