52 REPORT—[840. 
Hope, and the possessions of the East India Company, will 
doubtless ere long afford this information*. 
39. The interesting tables of Von Baer and Richardson illus- 
trate most remarkably the different progress of solar heat in 
arctic and temperate latitudes. The maximum daily range 
which occurs in the end of July at Padua, and exceeds 9° cent., 
occurs in March in Boothia (North America), and at Felsen Bay 
(Nova Zembla), in Aprilf, the values being about 7° cent. At 
Leith the range is nearly uniform from April to July, and does 
not reach 6° cent., a proof of a temperate or insular climate. 
When the sun is always below the horizon, the diurnal curve is, as 
may be supposed, very uncertain, and wavering. In winter in 
Nova Zembla there is a sensible increase of temperature towards 
midnight, at both stations}; and something of the same kind is 
visible in several of Dr. Richardson’s winter curves. 
40. The dependence of the form of the annual curve upon 
the insular or continental character of a locality, does not need 
here to be insisted on. But it is interesting to observe the 
contrast between the climates of arctic Asia and arctic Ame- 
rica, both so rigorous, yet so unlike :— 
The mean temp. of Nova Zembla is 16°F. Of Fort Franklin 17-6 
Mean temp. three summer months 36°5 # 50-4 
+ three winter months —3 is —17°8 
Nova Zembla, therefore, is a climate of wretched mediocrity ; 
one of the most dreary in the known world; the summer tem- 
perature scarcely rises above the freezing point! whilst arctic 
America enjoys a European warmth for at least some weeks. 
The warmest month at Nova Zembla (August) has a temperature 
(39° F.) less than that of January in Shetland. The warmest 
month at Fort Franklin reaches 52°, or almost that of July in 
Shetland. The extremes are not less surprisingly different :— 
Extreme heat at Nova Zembla 49° F. At Fort Franklin 80° F. 
$5 cold “ —53§ " —58§ 
Range 102 138 
* Since this report was written, I had the satisfaction of seeing, at the Tenth 
Meeting of the British Association, the admirable observations of Mr. Calde- 
cott, at Trevandrum, in lat. 8° 30’ N., which it may be hoped will soon be 
published. They are on the thermometer, barometer, and hygrometer, made 
hourly for three years. 
+ The reason, of course, being, that as the sun approaches perpetual appa- 
rition, the daily variation diminishes. There is an approximation to this at 
Leith. 
+ Von Baer, Taglicher Gang., p. 9. 
§ The extreme of —53 appears to be a very uncommon one at Nova Zembla, 
much more so than —58 in North America. Captain Back observed so great 
a cold as —70°. 
