THE CLIMATES OF THE SEA. 377 



Impressed with the perfection of terrestrial adaptations, he who 

 studies the economy of the great cosmical arrangements is re- 

 minded that not only is there design in giving shore-lines their 

 profile, the land and the water their proportions, and in placing 

 the desert and the pool where they are, but the conviction is 

 forced upon him also that every hill and valley, with the grass 

 upon its sides, is a part of the wonderful mechanism, each having 

 its offices to perform in the grand design. March is, in the 

 southern hemisphere, the first month of autumn, as September is 

 with us; consequently, we should expect to find in the South 

 Atlantic as large an area of water at 80^ and upwards in ^ larch, 

 as we should find in the North Atlantic for September. But do 

 we ? By no means. The area that is covered on this side of the 

 equator with water at 80^ and upwards is nearly double that on 

 the other. Thus we have the sea as a witness to the fact which 

 the winds had proclaimed, viz., that summer in the northern 

 hemisphere is hotter than summer in the southern. 



731. Pursuing the study of the climates of the sea, let us now 

 Sadden changes in tum to Plate VI. Here we see at a dance how 



the water thermo- ,, , , , ,, t r .1 



meter. the cold w^aters, as they come down irom the 



Arctic Ocean through Davis' Straits, press upon the warm waters 

 of the Gulf Stream, and curve their channel into a horse-shoe. 

 Navigators have often been struck with the great and sudden 

 changes in the temperature of the water hereabouts. In the 

 course of a single day's sail in this part of the ocean, changes of 

 15^, or 20^, and even of 30^, have been observed to take place in 

 the temperature of the sea. The cause has puzzled navigators 

 long, but how obvious is it now made to appear ! This "bend " 

 is the great recepta^cle of the icebergs which drift down from the 

 north ; covering frequently an area of hundreds of miles in 

 extent, its waters differ as much as 20^, 25°, and in rare cases 

 even as much as 30^ of temperature from those about it. Its 

 shape and place are variable. Sometimes it is like a peninsula, 

 or tongue of cold water projected far down into the waters of 

 the Gulf Stream. Sometimes the meridian upon which it is 

 inserted into these is to the east of 40°, sometimes to the west 

 of 50°. On my passage to England November, 1860, I passed 

 over this horse-shoe; the water in it was 16° colder than the 

 water at its side. It looked as though we might have been on 

 soundings. 



732. By its discover}^ we have clearly unmasked the very seat 



