June 25, I860.] ADDITIONAL NOTICES. 237 



say between the meridians of 40° and 60° e. Towards this part moist south- 

 west winds do actually pass freely from the Northern Atlantic ; and it may be 

 presumed, from what is known to take place in other parts of the world, that 

 these winds produce the high temperature of the parts pointed out. 



But some special cause must exist capable of determining the wind to blow 

 towards this locality ; and, in the absence of positive information on the sub- 

 ject, yet in accordance with what has been proved to take place in many parts, 

 we may infer that this cause is the existence of an elevated ridge of land 

 near to the Pole ! In every part of the world, where winds blow with a cer- 

 tain degree of permanence, it has been shown that there is elevated land at 

 their termini, against which land atmospheric vapour is condensed, producing 

 in the parts ascending currents. These currents are generally constituted of 

 air which has been brought from a distance over the sea ; and the Arctic 

 Ocean between the most northern part of the continent of Europe and the 

 islands of Iceland and Spitzbergen is the part over which air would be likely 

 to pass to such high lands. The mountains of Spitzbergen rise to a height 

 of from 3000 to 4000 feet, and those of Nova Zembla are represented to be of 

 about the same height. The latter appear to be a continuation of the Ural 

 Mountains, which are near the meridian of 60° e. The south-west winds of 

 these parts furnish presumptive evidence that land exists farther north ; as no 

 other reasonable cause of these winds can be found, and analogy warrants the 

 inference that high land, in the locality pointed out, is the cause. It may be 

 an extension of that which rises so much above the ocean level in Nova 

 Zembla, or it may be a continuation of North-East Cape. Lines of elevation are 

 generally continuous, and though they may sink below the ocean in one place, 

 they may, at a considerable distance, rise above it, to a sufficient height to 

 condense vapour that is brought in a moist atmosphere. Such elevated land 

 may, therefore, through the agency of condensing vapour, be presumed to be 

 the cause of the superior warmth that is foxmd penetrating far into the Arctic 

 regions in this part of the world. 



We presume then that condensation of aqueous vapour is the cause of the 

 summer temperature in this part being higher than it is in other parts of the 

 Arctic Ocean of the same latitudes^ as then the liberated heat of vapour is 

 added to the direct solar heat to constitute the actual temperature. The sun 

 remains above the horizon in that season, but it does not ascend higher in 

 the heavens, and therefore the direct heat is not powerful to raise the tem- 

 perature. The accumulated ice of winter, when converted into water in the 

 summer, absorbs much heat, and makes it latent — tending to keep the tem- 

 perature from rising above 32°. It requires, therefore, the heat of vapour to 

 be added to the direct solar heat to warm the part to the extent that is ex- 

 perienced. 



A continuous supply of vapour is, however, necessary to produce the pre- 

 valent wind ; but that wind may not only contribute towards the melting 

 of the ice, and making an open sea, but may materially assist navigators in 

 making their way towards the supposed high land, and possibly to the Pole. 

 The Russians are, no doubt, in possession of much information respecting the 

 summer temperature, near the North-East Cape, in latitude 78°, but I am not 

 aware of its nature. The prevailing land-winds in this part, both in winter 

 and summer, are said to blow from the Polar Sea over the land of Eastern 

 Europe, and the air in them may be supplied from an ascending current in 

 the neighbourhood of the Pole. Large portions of the atmosphere seem to 

 pass over the Northern Atlantic and Arctic Oceans to high northern latitudes, 

 and towards the longitude 60° e., from which they appear to return to the 

 great areas of condensation that are situated southward, thus forming parts of 

 a system of aerial circulation, which, with some irregularity, passes over 

 Europe towards the West Indies, and returns by the Atlantic to the Pole. 



