102 On the Glaciers and Climate of Spitzhergen. 



Travellers in climbing mountains, generally observe a slower diminution of 

 temperature towards the base, on account of the accumulating warmth of the 

 plain. Saussure noticed but little difference between the temperature of 

 Geneva and the elevated valley of Chamouni. On ascending Mount vEtna, 

 the traveller finds the thermometer standing as high at Nicolosi as at Catania, 

 though the difference of altitude is 3000 feet. Winds modify the tempera- 

 ture of the air very much, as they carry along with them the heat of the soil 

 over which they pass, and as they curl up the mountain side, they bring the 

 temperature of the most elevated situation nearer to that of the plain. Hum- 

 boldt observed the temperature of the Peak of Teneriffe fall to within 3° or 

 4" of freezing, which differed from that of the plain 36". But Labillardier 

 found the thermometer on the same spot much higher, whilst the difference 

 amounted only to 17° : when the latter traveller made his observation, the 

 wind blew from the arid wastes of Africa, whereas, it came from the wide 

 ocean during Humboldt's experiment. On the volcano of Antisana in the 

 kingdom of Quito, the latter enterprizing philosopher saw the thermometer 

 stand so high as 60°, at an elevation of 1 8,000 feet. I myself carried this in- 

 strument three times during three successive days to the summit of Arthur Seat, 

 elevated scarcely 700 feet above the plain. During the first ascent, the decre- 

 ment of heat gave it an altitude of about 135 feet, and during the second of 

 1755 feet, and during the third of 1350 feet, which discrepancy was chiefly 

 produced by the wind. In Scoresby Sound, on the east coast of Old Green- 

 land, our author observed the temperature on shore so high as 70% and more 

 oppressive than in the West Indies, whereas it was at the same time in the 

 offing so low as 40°. If, under such circumstances, a change of wind should 

 happen, and a breeze blow briskly from the ocean, whilst the observer was 

 marking the descent of the thermometer, in climbing an elevation, the conse- 

 quence would be, that, as the temperature of the sound was elevated by the 

 local accumulation of heat, it would be speedily cooled down to the more ge- 

 neral temperature of the air of the ocean, which, as it came off fields of ice, 

 might make a difference at 30° or 40°, and this, if rigidly calculated on, would 

 majce an error of upwards of 10,000 feet ! Or even if no change of wind oc- 

 curred, he would soon emerge from among the heated atmosphere of the bay, 

 and so be subjected to the same error, and this is precisely the case with the 

 little island of Spitzhergen. There, through the conjoint operation of the 

 sun and the sea-breeze, the snow on the beach is dissolved, and the air of the 

 earthy, sheltered bay, is more elevated in temperature than the surrounding 

 atmosphere ; and it seems that this has been the circumstance which has mis- 

 led Mr Scoresby, for he has hastily set down this local accumulation of heat 

 as the general feature of the atmosphere throughout the island ; so he says the 

 temperature over Spitzhergen is warmer than on the neighbouring ocean, " so 

 much so indeed as is requisite for dissolving the snow even on the tops of the 

 mountains." But Spitzhergen is not an island of great magnitude, and its 

 surface is much lessened by very considerable arms of the sea, and large 

 sinuses and bays which are formed in it ; so that if, whilst the snow on the 

 ice field on the adjoining sea is scarcely dissolved, solution is effected on the 

 tops of the mountains, and the circle of perpetual freezing elevated to 7791 



