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CLIMATOLOGY. 32i 



southwest winds which prevail in those regions, and which 

 are land windi to eastern coasts, and sea winds to western 

 coasts, extending over a space which, from the great mass 

 and the sinking of its cooled particles, is not capable of any 

 considerable degree of cooling, and hence it follows that the 

 east winds of the Continent must be cooler than the w^est 

 w'inds, where their temperature is not affected by the occur- 

 rence of oceanic currents near the shore. Cook's young com- 

 panion on his second voyage of circumnavigation, the intelli- 

 gent George Forster, to whom I am indebted for the lively 

 interest which prompted me to undertake distant travels, w'as 

 the first who drew attention, in a definite manner, to the cli- 

 matic differences of temperature existing in the eastern and 

 western coasts of both continents, and to the similarity of 

 temperature of the western coast of North America in the 

 middle latitudes, with that of Western Europe.* Even in 

 northern latitudes exact observations show a striking differ- 

 ence between the mean annual temi^erature of the east and 

 west coasts of America. The mean annual temperature of 

 Nain, in Labrador (lat. 57*^ 10'), is fully 6^-8 helow the freez- 

 ing point, w^hile on the northwest coast, at New Archangel, 

 in Russian America (lat. o/*^ 3'), it is 12^*4 above this point. 

 At the first-named place, the mean summer temperature 

 hardly amounts to 43^, while at the latter place it is 57^. 

 Pekin (39^ 54'), on the eastern coast of Asia, has a mean an- 

 nual temperature of 52^-3, which is 9^ below that of Naples, 

 situated somewhat further to the north. The mean winter 

 temperature of Pekin is at least 5^*4 below the freezing point, 

 while in Western Europe, even at Paris (48^ 50'), it is near 

 ly G^ above the freezing point. Pekin has also a mean win- 

 ter cold which is 4^-5 lower than that of Copenhagen, lying 

 17^^ further to the north. 



W^e have already seen the slowness with which the great 

 mass of the ocean follows the variations of temperature in the 

 atmosphere, and how the sea acts in equalizing temperatures, 

 moderating simultaneously the severity of winter and the heat 

 of summer. Hence arises a second more important contrast 

 — that, namely, between insular and littoral climates enjoyed 

 by all articulated continents having deeply-indented bays and 

 peninsulas, and between the climate of the interior of great 

 masses of solid land. This remarkable contrast has been fully 



* George Forster, Kleine Schriflen, th. iii., 1794, s. 87 ; Dove, iu 

 Schamacber's Jahrhuch fur 1841, s. 289; K'imtz, Meteorologie, bd. ii.. 

 a 41. 43, G7 , and dQ', Arago, in the Comptcs Rendus, t. i., p. 2G8. 



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