236 ADDITIONAL NOTICES. [June 25, 1860. 



had already experienced, in the course of this summer, more rain than during 

 the whole of seven previous summers taken together, although passed in 

 latitudes from 7° to 15° lower than this ! We were now in latitude 81° 23' 

 and in longitude 21° 32' 34" e. We now enjoyed the first sunshine since our 

 entering the ice. On the 2nd July the weather was calm. The temperature 

 at noon was 35° in the shade and 47° in the sun. The weather hecame 

 gradually inclement, and thick with snow and sleet. The snow-storm changed 

 to heavy rain, and the wind increased to a fresh gale. We halted at 6 on the 

 8th, in time to avoid a deal of rain. On the 9th we enjoyed the indescrihahle 

 comfort of two or three hours' clear dry weather, but at 5 a.m. it again came 

 on to rain, which continued most of the day, but was succeeded by one of the 

 thickest fogs I ever saw. There was not much dryness in the atmosphere 

 when the sky was clear, the dew-point by Daniel's hygrometer being 35° at 

 noon, when the temperature of the atmosphere was the same. Lat. 82° 14' 28", 

 long. 22° 4' E. The temperature of the surface-water was 32^°, the air being 

 36°. It rained hard and incessantly. I had never before seen any rain in 

 the Polar regions to be compared with this, which continued without inter- 

 mission for 21 hours ; sometimes falling with great violence, and in large 

 drops, especially about 2 a.m. on the 15th July. It held up a little at 5, and 

 at 6 we set out, but the rain soon recommenced. At 8 the rain again became 

 heavier, and at 10 we were obliged to halt, the rain coming down in torrents. 

 The wind shifted to w.s.w. in the afternoon, and the rain was succeeded by a 

 thick fog, after it had been falling for 30 hours out of the last 31. At mid- 

 night on the 22nd July, we had a good observation in lat. 82° 43' 32" ; the 

 long. 19° 52' E. The wind had been much "from the south ; on the 20th a 

 north wind arose. The meridian over which we passed was found warmer and 

 wetter than Phipps found it. It would probably have been no difficult 

 matter to reach the parallel of 83° in our ships about the meridian of the 

 Seven Islands."— p. 256. 



In this laborious effort to approach the Pole nothing appears to have sur- 

 prised the adventurous voyagers so much as the large quantity of rain that 

 continued to fall. But there is good reason for presuming that to this rain 

 they might have attributed the degree of warmth which they experienced. 

 Moist air, coming from the south, would soon have some of its vapour con- 

 densed by the cold of the latitude ; and this condensation being continued by 

 successive supplies of southern vapours, would produce ascending atmos- 

 pheric currents and rain, of a temperature that would be determined by the 

 quantity of heat given out in the lower regions by the condensing vapour. 

 The rain would be the principal agent in thawing the ice that had been 

 accumulated during the winter ; the remaining portion of the ice, as it thawed, 

 preventing the temperature of the sea from rising much above 32°. Suppos- 

 ing this view to be substantially correct, it will follow that, to the flow of 

 much atmospheric vapour from the south, we have to attribute not only the 

 comparatively high temperature of the locality, but also the thawing of the 

 ice, and the opening of a navigable sea. The possibility, therefore, of pene- 

 trating farther into the Arctic Ocean, and approaching the Pole, appears to 

 depend upon the continuance of an adequate supply of vapour from warmer 

 latitudes. 



In examining the lines on Dove's charts, in this part of the Arctic Ocean, 

 we are struck with the advance of warmth at all times of the year, far towards 

 the east as well as the north. It is sufficiently apparent that some cause 

 takes atmospheric heat northward from, say about Iceland, towards the 

 meridian of Nova Zembla. The central portion of this warm aerial current 

 appears to pass somewhere between the North Cape and Spitzbergen, in about 

 a north-eastern direction. 



Supposing it to continue in the same course it would approach the Pole, 



