3. The effect of the sea is to equalise temperature, so that a maritime country is not liable to such extremes, either of heat or cold, as an inland one. The sea itself being of a very equable temperature, the winds which pass over an extent of it partake somewhat of the same character, When a cold wind passes over sea it receives part of the warmth of the water, the upper particles of which being thus rendered cooler, and consequently heavier than those below, descend and are succeeded by warmer particles; so that there is a continual tendency in the sea to temper a cold wind passing over its surface. A cold wind, blowing overland, is at first rendered warmer by the earth's surface; but this surface quickly becoming cooled, ceases to have any effect upon the wind, which, therefore, travels on with undiminished rigour. Again, a warm wind, in passing over sea, is cooled by the agitation which it produces bringing up cooler water from below, as well as by the constant evaporation which it occasions; the surface of the water also cannot, as that of land, be powerfully heated by the sun's rays, because it affords them a free passage, and therefore it cannot communicate heat to the atmosphere in the degree which the land does. From these circumstances it results, that, though a place situated inland, and another upon a coast may have the same mean annual temperature, the range of the thermometer at each will be very different, the summers of the latter will be cooler, and the winters milder than those of the former. It is from this cause that islands are so much more temperate than continents. It follows, too, that countries in our hemisphere will be rendered warmer by having large tracts of land to the south and sea to the north, and cooler when the relative position of these two is reversed. This fact is exemplified by a comparison of the climate of India with that of Africa north of the equator, the heats of the former country being much more supportable than those of the latter. Not only the temperature of a wind, but also its degree of moisture, depends upon the nature of the surface over which it passes. A wind coming up from the ocean is loaded with vapours, but one sweeping over an extent of land is rendered dry and parching. This explains to us why, in our own island, a south-west and an easterly wind are so opposite in character. 4. The aspect of a country has an in fluence upon its climate, for this reason, that the angle at which the sun's rays strike the ground, and consequently the power of those rays in heating it, varies with the exposure of the soil relatively to that luminary. When the sun is elevated on the meridian 45 degrees above the horizon, his rays fall perpendicularly on the side of a hill facing the south at an equal angle, while the plain below receives them at an angle of 45 degrees. Supposing the north side of the hill to have a similar slope, the rays would run parallel to its surface; and their effect be very trifling, but if the declivity were still greater, the whole surface would be in the shade. This, though an extreme case, serves to show why temperature varies with the inclination of the earth's surface. Since the warmest part of the day is not when the sun is on the meridian, but, owing to the accumulation of the heat, two or three hours afterwards, it follows that, in our hemisphere, a south-south-west or southwestern aspect is the warmest, and a north-north-east, or north-eastern, the coldest, if no local circumstances exist to make it otherwise. The effect of aspect is, of course, most strikingly seen in regions covered with high mountains. In the Vallais in Switzerland, the Alps are on one side covered with ice, while vineyards and orchards flourish on the other. 5. Mountains affect a climate in more ways than one. They attract the vapours in the atmosphere, and causing them to condense, give rise to those violent rains which are often experienced in the neighbourhood of lofty ranges. They also afford shelter from winds. In narrow valleys, the sides of which in summer strongly reflect the sun's rays, this shelter sometimes renders the heat very injurious. One reason why the central and southern parts of European Russia are exposed to greater cold than their latitude and inclination southward would lead us to expect, is the absence of any chain of mountains to protect them from the full influence of the winds blowing from the White Sea and the Ural Mountains. The inhospitable climate of Siberia arises from its descent towards the north exposing it to the winds of the 36 Frozen Ocean, while at the same time the vast mountainous chains that cross central Asia, intercept the southern winds, whose access would tend to mitigate the rigour of the atmosphere. 6. It is evident that the nature of the soil must very materially operate upon climate. One soil acquires heat, keeps its acquired heat much longer, or reflects One, it more readily, than another. which from its porous character allows the rain descending upon it to pass freely into the earth, will emit much fewer exhalations than one which retains Thus the waters near the surface. clayey or marshy grounds lower the temperature, and especially in hot and humid climates, affect the atmosphere in a manner pernicious to health; on the other hand, those which are light, stony, or calcareous, tend to make the atmosphere salubrious. The great cold, and the unwholesome air that prevail in the Russian governments of Astracan and Orenburg, lying to the north of the Caspian Sea, are attributed partly to the saline nature of the soil; and it is well known that the arid tracts of sand in Africa and Arabia, conduce not a little to the excess of heat under which those countries labour. 7. Without cultivation, few climates would be healthy or agreeable. In countries to which the labours of civilized man have never been extended, the rivers, spreading themselves over the low grounds, form pestilential marshes, and forests, thickets, and weeds are so numerous and impenetrable, as to prevent the earth from receiving the beneficial influence of the sun's rays. The air, from these causes, is constantly filled with noxious exhalations. But the efforts of the human race, conducted with skill and perseverance, produce a surprising change: marshes are drained; rivers embanked; the soil broken up by the plough is exposed to the sun and wind, and the clearing away of the forests raises the temperature, and allows a freer circulation to the atmosphere. There is little doubt that many parts of Europe enjoy a milder climate now than they did in the time of the Romans, or even at periods much more recent. Several districts in North America have experienced, as the country has become more widely settled, a similar improvement of climate. The destruction of forests may, however, be carried to a pernicious extent, either by depriving a country of shelter from particular winds, or (especially in hot climates) by lessening too much the quantity of moisture; it being well known 8. The combined influence of the several causes of physical climate which we have been considering will be variously modified by the prevalent winds of a country. This is obvious enough, because we know that the character of a wind depends upon the quarter whence it comes, and the surface over which it passes. Great Britain, for example, would in a great measure lose its insular climate, if its prevailing winds came across the continent, instead of from the Atlantic Ocean. Notwithstanding the several circumstances which we have thus pointed out as influencing climate, and which occasion numerous local irregularities, the temperature, with these exceptions, becomes gradually lower as we pass from the equator towards either of the poles. By this is not to be understood the temperature of any particular day, or even season, but the mean annual temperature, which is obtained by adding toge ther the temperatures of all the months*. The temperature of each month is the average of all the daily temperatures in the month, and the daily temperature is the average of several observations made at stated periods, every hour or half hour, for instance, each day (24 hours). It is evident that such frequent observations would be very troublesome, and shorter methods of discovering the mean annual temperature of a place have therefore been sought after. Rules have been laid down for calcu lating what this is under different parallels of latitude, and the results no doubt approach very near to the truth; but it would obviously be incorrect to apply these rules to any particular place, because we should be uncertain how the climate of that place was affected by local circumstances. The best method is to ascertain at what period in each day (taking one day with another) the thermometer stands at its mean height for the day; and when this has been ascertained, one observation each day, at that period, will be sufficient. In this country it would appear that the time at which the thermometer shows the mean heat for the day, is about a quarter or half past eight in the morning. Another method of disCovering the mean annual temperature at any place, is to observe the height of the thermometer in cavifound that this height nearly corresponds with the ties at some depth below the earth's surface, it being mean annual height in the air above. M. Lacroix, in his work on Physical Geography, states that in the caves below the Observatory at Paris, (lat. 49°) about 85 feet below the surface, Fahrenheit's thermometer constantly stands between 52° and 54, scarcely ever varying two degrees, while above, the difference of temperature between summer and winter sometimes exceeds 90°, In the salt wines at and dividing the sum by the number of months in the year; so that the mean annual temperature expresses that height at which the thermometer would stand at any place, if we could suppose it perfectly stationary throughout the whole year. It is not sufficient, however, to take one year only, but a series of at least ten or fifteen years, from the mean result of which series a conclusion nearly accurate may be drawn. Though the temperature of a place is continually varying, and though the changes occur frequently in the most sudden manner, it never differs more than a certain number of degrees either way from its mean state; and when it has reached either extreme, a reaction may shortly be expected. In the torrid zone any excessive accumulation of heat is prevented by the constant blowing of the trade-winds from cooler regions; and in the frigid zones the tendency to great extremes which arises from the continued presence of the sun in summer, and his long absence in winter, is counteracted by the circulation of the atmosphere, and by the circumstance that the fields of ice, in melting, absorb large quantities of heat, while on the other hand warmth is given out when the surface of the ocean is being frozen over. (See chap. ix. of the Treatise on Heat.) The extremes of temperature which have been witnessed in different parts of the globe are, nevertheless, very considerable. In New South Wales, Fahrenheit's thermometer sometimes rises to 100 degrees and upwards; at Pekin, in China, it has been seen at 110°, and at different places in India at 110°, and even 115°. Major Denham, in his late travels in Africa, observed it more than once at 113°; and at Belbeis, in Egypt, it is said to have risen, under the influence of the hot wind from the desert, to 125°* These heights are intended to express the degree of heat in the shade. The accuracy of the observations depends upon the circumstances under which they were made, since it is requisite that the thermometer should be in a situation freely Wielickza, in Poland (lat. 50°), from the depth of 320 to that of 745 feet, the thermometer stands at about 50°. At Cairo, in Egypt, (lat. 30°), at the bottom of Joseph's well (210 feet deep), it stands at 70°; in the mines of Mexico (lat. 20°), 1650 feet below the surface, it stands at 744°. In these heights we discern how the temperature increases on approaching the equator. • When the thermometer is raised to such an extraordinary height as this, it is probably the effect produced by very fine particles of sand which are carried along by the atmosphere. Humboldt, in the arid plains of South America, has, during a wind of sand, seen it at 1144 degrees nearly; while in Fezzan, in the North of Africa. it has risen, doubtless from the cause just noticed, to 125.6 degrees. exposed to the outer air, and also where 50°, and at Melville island, (N. lat. 74°,) where Captain Parry wintered in his first north-western expedition, it fell, on the 15th February, 1820 to 55 degrees below zero. A treatise upon isothermal lines, published some years ago by M. Humcurious results beldt, gives several drawn from various observations upon temperature made by himself and others. A few of these it will be proper to notice here, because they illustrate, in a striking manner, the fact upon which we have already remarked, that the climates of places do not depend solely upon the If it were so, direct action of the sun. all places having the same latitude would experience the same mean annual temperature. It had long been known that this was not the case, especially on comparing Europe with America; but M. Humboldt's statements will enable us to form some idea of the amount of the difference. According to that philosopher, the isothermal line which indicates the temperature of 32 degrees (the freezing point of water) passes between Ulea, in Lapland (lat. 66°) and Table Bay, on the coast of Labrador, in North America, lat. 54°. The isothermal line of 41 degrees passes near Stockholm, lat. 5910, and St. George's Bay, Newfoundland, lat. 48°. The line of 50 degrees runs through the Netherlands, lat. 51°, and near Boston, in the United States, lat. 4240; that of 59 between Rome and Florence, lat. 43°, and near Raleigh, in North Carolina, lat. 36°. Taking similar latitudes, the following are the differences of temperature between the west of Europe and the east of North America :— Latitude. Mean temperature Mean temperature This takes place when the mercury has sunk to 39 or 40 degrees below zero. This is derived from two Greek words, and sigAn isothermal nifies equal heat or temperature. line, therefore, is a line drawn over places which have the same temperature (annual, unless otherwise expressed.) Places. 66 Mean Latitude, annual North. temperature. Winter. Spring. The same difference which eastern. has been observed between the two shores of the Atlantic, exists between the two opposite coasts of the Pacific. In the north of China, the extremes of the seasons are much more felt than in the same latitudes in New California, and at the mouth of the Columba. On the eastern side of North America, the same extremes occur as in China. New York has the summer of Rome and the winter of Copenhagen. Quebec has the summer of Paris and the winter of Petersburgh. In the same manner, at Pekin, which has the mean temperature of Britain, the heat of summer is greater than at Cairo, and the cold of winter as severe as at Upsal. This analogy between the eastern coasts of Asia and America sufficiently proves that the inequality of the seasons depends upon the prolongation and enlargement of the continents towards the pole, and upon the frequency of the north-west winds, and not upon the proximity of any elevated tracts of country." The following table illustrates the preceding remarks: Summer. Autumn. Coldest M. Hottest M. these months. Philadelphia 39.56 54.86 33.98 53.06 75.20 56.32 32.70 77.00 Pekin Nantes 44.30 59.76 31.50 34.92 31.50 60.66 37.62 39.54 54.86 26.42 56.30 82.58 54.32 24.62 84.38 Rome It is generally believed that, beyond a Humboldt says, that near the equator, and indeed through the whole of the torrid zone, the temperature of the two hemispheres appears to be the same; but that the difference begins to be felt in the Atlantic about 22° of latitude; the mean temperatures of Rio Janeiro and Havannah, places at about an equal distance from the equator (23 degrees) being in the latter instance 76°.4, and in the former only 74°.5.The southern climates generally differ from the northern with respect to the distribution of temperature through the different parts of the year. In the southern hemisphere, under the isothermal lines of 45 and 50°, there are summers which, in our hemisphere, belong to the lines 3510 and 41°. There is no accurate information as to the mean temperature of any place beyond 50° of south latitude; but there is every reason to suppose that it differs considerably from that of places in the same degree of north latitude. The same writer, in the second volume of his Personal Narrative, presents the following comparison of the temperature of the air in both hemispheres. The observations employed in drawing it up were all made at sea, except those from which the mean temperature for S. lat. 34° was deduced, which were made at the Cape of Good Hope. Latitude. Corresponding Months. MeanTemperature September] Autumn of the Months. Southern . 72.5 69.44r } Summer 2-26 July January Winter March Summer 43.16 Northern Do 83.3 68.9 59.72 62.6 64.76 63.86 56.3 absorption of heat by the melting of the ice, as it gradually advances into warmer parts, keeps the air at a lower tempera ture than in the northern hemisphere, where circumstances are not favourable to the passage of the polar ice out of the regions in which it is formed. Beyond the limit, however, at which the ice disappears, but little effect will be produced on the temperature by its melting, and we accordingly find that within the torrid zone, the warmth of one hemisphere is the same as that of the other, and that as far as the 35th, or even 40th degrees of latitude, there is no important difference. The question has sometimes been agitated, whether the general temperature of the globe suffers any change. Some have gone so far as to imagine that it gradually diminishes, others have been of opinion that it receives an augmenta tion. Neither of these theories has very solid foundation; it is scarcely more 66.74 than a century since the thermometer was rendered a correct measure of heat, and the number of observations made with it in different parts of the world is by no means sufficient to form a basis for such sweeping conclusions. If we possessed a regular series of observations taken in various countries, and extending through three or four centuries, we should most likely be enabled to discover a mean state both of temperature and moisture to which the atmosphere continually returns; and there is no doubt that if we could obtain a clear insight into the complex machinery which regulates the seasons, we should behold the same beautiful harmony, and the same system of compensation for temporary and apparent irregularities, which we are able to discern in the movements of the heavenly bodies. Independent, however, of any question as to the general temperature of the globe, a notion has been entertained that throughout. Europe, a more mild and genial climate formerly prevailed: but such historica evidence as can be collected tends to prove exactly the reverse; and that the climate, as might be supposed, has, generally speaking, improved with the A discussion of advance of cultivation. this subject will be found in the first article of the Edinburgh Review, No. LIX., published in June, 1818. That article contains a list of the remarkable seasons which have taken place in Europe for several centuries past, and from the view there given we may venture to conclude, that severe cold is of much rarer occurrence than it was in former ages. January The coldness of the southern hemisphere has frequently been attributed to a circumstance quite inadequate to explain it, namely, that of the sun being a shorter time (by 7 days), on the south, than on the north side of the equator. A much greater influence than we can assign to this cause, must be ascribed to the very large proportion which the ocean bears to the land of the southern hemisphere, in consequence of which its climate differs from that of the northern, in the same way as an insular climate differs from a continental one. But even this is not altogether a sufficient explanation, and there still remains a circumstance that deserves attention. The absence from the south polar regions of any great extent of land, and the manner in which the South American continent terminates, permit the grand current of the antarctic ocean to flow freely all round that part of the globe, towards the equator. This current, being unchecked till it is lost in the westerly movement of the ocean, carries along with it the circumpolar ice into very low latitudes; and the continual |