202 THE NORTHERN SEAS, 



■vvliicli at the commeucemeut of the present order of nature condemned 

 to sterility Scandinavia, Iceland, Greenland, and tlie western coast of 

 Europe, still preserves a residue of action; that tlie effect of sucli a ca- 

 tastrophe should be very slowly completed, is in accordance with the 

 mechanical law controlling the interaction of lioxible bodies — and there 

 are no other in nature. Place a weight upon the end of a spring and 

 the latter will be bent to a certain extent, but leave the weight upon 

 it and still more flexion will be added to the effect already obtained. 

 Notwithstanding assertions to the contrary, I maintain that along the 

 coast of France the continent from century to century is slowly rising, 

 and that the ocean in consequence seems to retire. 



The rich collection brought back by Prince l!viapoleon, and exhibited 

 for several months in the Palais Royal, offers a useful hint to observers 

 in general. The specimens from England, from the Faroe Islands, from 

 Greenland, and even those from Norway, were arranged separately. If 

 a list of the minerals which are found at each place had been added, the 

 representation of each locality would have beeu complete. The light 

 shed by this short and rapid voyage on every point w^ould, of course, be 

 greatly increased by local observers stationed along the route traced. 

 Science, however, is thankful for any addition, however small, to her ac- 

 quirements. It is a mathematical axiom, "that there is something more 

 valuable than a thousand pieces of gold — that is, a thousand and one 

 pieces of gold." 



The physical constitution of Iceland and of Greenland, in the pul.>li(;a- 

 tion under consideration, is discussed in two short articles from master 

 hands. I see nothing in them to dispute, aud I may say, nothing to be 

 added, in spite of the axiom just repeated. Honor be rendered for them 

 to MM. Ferri-Pisaui and Cliancourtois, both of our polytechnic school. 

 In regard to the ice of Greenland I must remark upon the mournful 

 condition of a land invaded by snow which is perpetual, or which melts 

 only during a very small part of the year. The heat of the sun iu sum- 

 mer cannot affect the soil, since its action is absorbed in melting the 

 stratum of frozen water ; and in the cold season, on the contrary, the snow 

 and ice decreasing indefinitely iu temperature, take away from the soil 

 even the small amount of heat it may have retained. Thus, for example, 

 in the Auvergne Mountains I have found places w here the ground was 

 perpetually frozen even when free from snow. The small streams of 

 water just under the soil were at a temperature about zero, and at a 

 certain depth they were even colder. Thus, also, during th e constant night 

 of an arctic winter the ice which covers the unfortunate country of 

 Greenland, decreasing constantly in temperature, transmits its coldness 

 to the adjacent soil ; whereas in melting under the oblique and feeble 

 rays of the summer sun, its temperature never rises above zero, and the 

 soil therefore receives no heat above zero, while the cold which has been 

 transmitted to it may have been fifty or sixty degrees below that of the 

 melting ice. Surround a thermometer w4th ice and place it alternately 

 for an hour iu a place twenty degrees above and then in a place twenty 

 degrees below zero, and you will find the mean will be below zero. The 

 experiment may be made more conveniently with wax, spermaceti, or a 

 steariue candle, and by the selection of two places, one above and the 

 other below the melting point of the substance employed. If a naked 

 bulb thermometer is used, the two effects will be exactly counter- 

 balanced. 



The action of the interior of the earth upon its exterior envelope — a 

 fact fully established by Humboldt — is brought into full light by the geo- 

 logical notices of the voyage. If we add to the igneoits fluid, the exist- 



