The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 06, No. 33, July, 1860: A Magazine Of Literature, Art, And PoliticsVarious
Science
The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 06, No. 33, July, 1860: A Magazine Of Literature, Art, And Politics
Various
American periodicals
The line of the greatest mean warmth is not coincident with the
equator, but falls to the north of it. This line at 160° W. Long, from
Greenwich is 4° below the geographical equator; at 80° it is about 6°
north, sweeping along the coast of New Granada; at 20° it comes down
and touches the equator; at 40° E. Long., it crosses the Red Sea about
16° north of the equator, and at 120° it falls at Borneo, several
degrees below it;--and the points of the greatest heat, in this line,
are in Abyssinia, nearer the tropic of Cancer than to the equator. On
the other hand, the greatest mean cold points, according to the
opinions of Humboldt, Sir David Brewster, and others, do not coincide,
as would seem natural, with the geographical poles, but they are both
to be found in the northern hemisphere, in Latitude 80°, 95°E. Long.
and 100° W. Long. from Greenwich. The western is ascertained to be
4-1/2° colder than the eastern or Siberian. If this be the fact,--but
it is not positively admitted,--an open sea at the pole may be
considered as probable, on the ground of its having a higher mean
temperature than is found at 80°. Kaemptz places one of these cold
points at the north of Barrow's Straits,--the other near Cape Taimur,
in Siberia. Burghaus, in his Atlas, transfers the American cold pole
to 78° N. Lat. It is perhaps too early to determine rigorously the
true temperature of these points.
A noticeable fact also is this,--that places in the same latitude
rarely receive the same amount of heat. Quebec, in British America,
and Drontheim, in Norway, enjoy about the same quantity, while the
former is in 47° and the latter in 68° N. Lat. The mean winter
temperature of Pekin, 39° 45' N. Lat., is 5° below the freezing-point;
while at Naples, which is north of Pekin, it seldom, if ever, goes
below it, and Paris, 500 miles farther north, has a mean winter
temperature of 6° above the freezing-point. The city of New York,
about 11° south of London, has a winter temperature of much greater
severity. The mean temperature of the State of New York, as determined
by a long series of observations, is 44° 31'.
The mean temperature of countries is found to be very stable, and but
very small variations have been detected in modern times. But that
there have been important climatic changes, since the Christian era,
cannot be doubted, unless we doubt history. Not many centuries ago, it
was a common thing for all the British rivers to freeze up during the
winter, and to remain so for several months. If space permitted, an
interesting statement could he made of the changes which have taken
place in vegetation in Greenland, and throughout certain northern
parts of Europe,--also in Palestine, Greece, and other southern
countries,--while we know that the earth's inclination upon its axis
has been unchanged.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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