374 



GREAT BRITAIN 



and Middlesex are for the most part low-lying, 

 being composed of Cretaceous and overlying Ter- 

 tiary and Quaternary deposits. Thus, in England 

 as in Scotland, the loftier and bolder tracts of 

 the country are met with in the regions occupied 

 by the indurated rocks of the older Palaeozoic 

 series. It is in those regions where the most pic- 

 turesque and diversified scenery occurs. A con- 

 siderable number of estuaries penetrate the coast- 

 lines of England and Scotland, south of the High- 

 land area, but none of these recalls the characteristic , 

 features of the deep sea-lochs of the Highland sea- 

 board. The mountain-valleys of southern Scot- 

 land, of England and Wales, are not submerged 

 the firths and estuaries of such regions being simply 

 the submerged lower reaches of lowland valleys. 

 The whole surface of Britain, with the exception of 

 the extreme south of England, has been more or less 

 modified by glacial action, to which is largely due 

 the rounded contour and flowing outline of all but 

 the highest elevations. The surface-features of 

 the low-lying tracts have also been greatly modi- 

 fied by the enormous morainic and fluvio-glacial 

 accumulations which were spread over the country 

 in Pleistocene times. Notwithstanding all such 

 modifications, however, the prevailing influence of 

 petrological character and geological structure in 

 determining the orographic features of the country 

 is everywhere conspicuous. 



The physical geography of Ireland is discussed 

 elsewhere (see IRELAND); here all that need be 

 said is that in its geological relations it is intimately 

 related to Great Britain its orographic features 

 being likewise determined by the character of its 

 various rock-masses. Ireland, like its sister island, 

 forms a portion of the depressed continental plateau 

 its highly indented coast-line, more especially in 

 the west and south-west, being the result of a com- 

 paratively recent submergence. There can be no 

 doubt that in post-glacial times Ireland was joined 

 to Britain which at that period formed a part of the 

 continent of Europe. See EUROPE (.Geology ). 



Meteorology. The climate of Great Britain derives 

 its peculiar character from the insular situation of 

 the country, taken in connection with the prevail- 

 ing direction of the winds. It is mild and equable 

 in a remarkable degree, the winters being consider- 

 ably warmer, and the summers colder than at other 

 places within the same parallels of latitude. For at 

 least three mouths, the mean monthly temperature 

 ranges between 50 '0 and 60 - ; for other three 

 months it continues about 60 '0, or occasionally a 

 little higher, seldom more than four degrees ; and 

 for the remaining six months it ordinarily ranges 

 between 36 '0 and 48 '0. Since the Reports of the 

 Registrar-general clearly prove that the temperature 

 most conducive to health is between 50'0 and 60'0, 

 it follows that, as far as concerns temperature, the 

 climate of Great Britain is one of the healthiest in 

 the world. 



As appeare from data furnished by the Reports of 

 the English and Scottish Meteorological Societies, 

 the mean temperature of England is 49 '5, and 

 of Scotland 47 '5. The mean temperatures of the 

 following places, arranged according to the lati- 

 tude, have been .deduced from the same sources : 

 Guernsey, 51 '5; Falmouth, 51 '4; Ventnor, 51 '1; 

 Barnstaple, 51-4 ; Bournemouth, 50 '8 ; Greenwich, 

 50-3; Bedford, 49'9 ; Derby, 48'8; Liverpool, 49'3; 

 Manchester, 48 6 ; Isle of Man, 48'8 ; Scarborough, 

 47-8; Milne-Graden ( Berwick), 47 '5; Leith, 47"2 ; 

 Rothesay, 47'8; Greenock, 47 '6 ; Arbroath, 47 '0 ; 

 Culloden, 46-6 ; Tongue, 46'3 ; Sand- ick ( Orkney ), 

 45 '8 ; and Bressay ( Shetland ), 45 - 0. There is thus 

 a difference of fully six degrees between' Falmouth, 

 in Cornwall, and Shetland. This difference is 

 vbAefly attributable to the difference of their lati- 

 iudes. It becomes greater as the force of the sun's 



rays increases ; so that, while the winter tempera- 

 tures are respectively 44 '2 and 39 '0, the summer 

 temperatures are 60 '6 and 53 '4. The highest sum- 

 mer temperature is 64 '2 in London, and the lowest 

 52'2 at North Unst, the difference being 12 '0. A 

 pretty regular decrease of temperature, with an 

 increase of latitude, will be observed, particularly 

 if the places on the west side of the island be re- 

 garded as a series by themselves. The temperatures 

 of places on the west are in excess of those of places 

 in the same latitudes, but at some distance from 

 the Atlantic. In winter, the differences between 

 the west and the other parts of the country are still 

 greater. Thus, whilst the January temperature of 

 Falmouth is 44*2; Guernsey, 43 "0; Ventnor and 

 Barnstaple, 42'0 ; Isle of Man, 40'8 ; Liverpool, 

 40 '6 ; and Greenock, and the whole of the west 

 coast of Scotland as far as Shetland about 39 '5 

 that of Greenwich is 38*4; Nottingham, 37 '2; 

 York, 36-7; Scarborough, 38 '3; Leith, 38 '1; Aber- 

 deen, 37 '3; and Culloden, 37 '5. 



The south-west winds are the most prevalent 

 throughout the year, except in April and May, 

 when they give place in a considerable degree to 

 the north-east winds. The notoriously dry and 

 parching character of the latter renders them very 

 deleterious to health. On the other hand, the 

 south-west winds, coming from the Atlantic, are 

 moist and genial, and it is on their greater frequency 

 being, as compared with the north-east, in the 

 proportion of two to one that the salubrity of the 

 British climate in a great measure depends. 



In those districts of England where hills do not 

 intervene, the annual rainfall is about 25 inches, 

 an(J in similar parts of Scotland about 28 inches ; 

 but these amounts, which may be considered as 

 the rainfalls of the driest districts of the two 

 countries, are variously increased by proximity to 

 hills or rising grounds, according as the place is 

 situated in the east or west of the island, viewed in 

 relation to the direction of the wind which brings 

 the rain, and by its lying on the wind or on the lee 

 side of these hills. Since it is the south-west winds 

 which bring by far the larger proportion of the rain- 

 fall, the heaviest falls take place among the hills in 

 the west of the country ; and it may be here observed 

 that, in the west, where there are no hills lying to 

 the north-west, west, or south-west, the annual rain- 

 fall is only about 40 inches. Except in a few scat- 

 tered and restricted districts, the amount nowhere 

 rises above 40 inches ; but over broad districts in the 

 West Highlands and Skye, and in limited areas in 

 the Lake district, and in North and South Wales, 

 the annual rainfall exceeds 80 inches. At the head 

 of Glencroe, Argyllshire, it rises to ] 28^ inches, and 

 at the Stye, Cumberland, to 186 inches. At the 

 Ben Nevis Observatory the amount is 127 inches. 

 Over all districts where the annual rainfall is large, 

 or considerably in excess of the average, the greater 

 proportion falls during the winter months ; but on 

 the other hand, where the rainfall is small, as is 

 characteristic of all the great agricultural districts 

 of these islands, the greater proportion falls during 

 the summer months, and there the falls Avhich 

 accompany thunderstorms and east winds occasion- 

 ally rival the torrential falls of equatorial regions. 



Fauna. The animals fou'nd in Britain are for 

 the most part the same as those inhabiting similar 

 latitudes over the whole of the North Temperate 

 or Palsearctic region of the Old World. In fact 

 Wallace says that the majority of genera in 

 countries so far removed as Great Britain and 

 northern Japan are identical. As the British 

 Islands were formerly connected with the Con- 

 tinent, the general similarity is intelligible enough, 

 while the geological changes of insulation and the 

 restriction of area are enough to account for the 

 one great difference that the British, and especially 



