On this occasion I cannot omit directing the reader's attention to the influence which the far-distant barrier of Central America has upon the climate of Great Britain. Supposing yon narrow belt of land to be suddenly whelmed under the ocean, then instead of circuitously winding round the Gulf of Mexico, the heated waters of the equatorial current would naturally flow into the Pacific, and the Gulf-stream no longer exist. We should not only lose the benefit of its warm current, but cold polar streams, descending farther to the south would take its place, and be ultimately driven by the westerly winds against our coasts. Our climate would then resemble that of Newfoundland, and our ports be blocked up during many months, by enormous masses of ice. Under these altered circumstances, England would no longer be the grand emporium of trade and industry, and would finally dwindle down from her imperial station to an insignificant dependency of some other country more favoured by Nature. On examining other coast-lands, in different parts of the globe, we shall everywhere find the influence of the reigning currents producing analogous effects to those I have already mentioned. The Southern Atlantic is not warmed like the European seas by tepid streams, it is exposed on all sides to the free afflux of the cold waters of the Antarctic Ocean, and during the summer months to the influence of drift ice. Thus, the southern extremity of America, Terra del Fuego, the Falkland Islands, South Georgia, Sandwich Land, and other isles of the southern ocean, have a much colder climate than the European coasts and islands situated under the same latitude. Let us for instance compare the temperature of the Falkland Islands and of Port Famine in the Straits of Magellan, with that of Dublin, which is situated at an equal distance from the line. Mean Temperature. Latitude. Winter. Summer. Annual. Dublin 53° 21′ N. +4·0° R. 15·3° 9·6° Port Famine 53° 38′ S. +0·6 10·0 5·3 Falkland Islands 52° 0′ S. 4·36 11·8 8·24 Feroë Islands 62° 2′ N. 3·9 11·6 7·1 Thus the climate of the Falkland Islands is, as we see, not very different from that of the Feroë Islands, although the latter lie ten degrees farther from the equator.