68 Dr Forry on the Climate of the United States. 



more than three millions and a quarter of tons of carbon annually in 

 respiration ; and if the black cattle all over the earth be in the like 

 proportion to the number of inhabitants, these alone will consume more 

 than 150 millions of tons of the carbon of organic matter in a year 

 (162,500,000). 



The number of sheep in Great Britain is estimated at about 40 mil- 

 lions (39,648,000).* Take the average weight of each at no more than 

 fifty pounds, the weight of the whole comes to nearly a million of tons ; 

 or, at all events, since in Warm-blooded animals the quantity of carbon 

 thrown off by respiration in a year considerably exceeds the weight of 

 the animals, there must be at least a million of tons of the carbon of 

 organic matter converted yearly into carbonic acid by the sheep of Great 

 Britain. 



This should give, for the annual consumption by sheep, over the whole 

 earth, fifty millions of tons of carbon. 



Hogs, rabbits, poultry, &c., in Great Britain can hardly amount to 

 less than half the weight of the sheep, or to half a million of tons. It 

 may be reckoned, then, that such animals over the whole earth consume 

 annually not less than twenty-five millions of tons of carbon — thus ; 

 Carbon consumed yearly by men, . 50,000,000 tons, 



by horses, : 75,000,000 



by cattle, . 150,000,000 



by sheep, . 50,000,000 



by hogs, poultr}-, &c; 25,000,000 

 Combustion of wood, being at half the rate 

 at which coal is consumed for domestic 

 purposes in Great Britain, : . 425,000,000 



775,000,000 tons. 

 By a reference to the paper it will be seen that many sources of' the 

 consumption of the carbon of organic compounds are not taken into 

 account in the above computation ; and, in particular, that the con- 

 sumption by animals in the wild state is not added. It seems not un- 

 likely, then, that instead of GOO millions of tons, at which the annual 

 waste was stated in the text, double that quantity would come nearer the 

 truth. 



Researches in Elucidation of the Distribution of Heat over 

 the Globe, and especially of the Climatic Features pecu- 

 liar to the Ttegion of the United States. By Samuel 

 Forry, M.D., Author of " The Climate of the United 

 States, and its Endemic Influences," Editor of " The New 

 York Journal of Medicine and the Collateral Sciences," 



&C. 



Climatology, notwithstanding of the highest interest to 

 man in every conceivable relation of his present existence, 



* MaccuUoch's Stat. Account of the British Empire, vol. i., p. i96. 



