THE WEATHER. 213 



selves at a great distance from the ship ; th,eir way 

 stretched through a trackless wood, and they were 

 unprovided with refreshments, their only provisions being 

 a vulture, which they had shot in the course of their 

 journey. Nor did the dawn of day remove their appre- 

 hensions ; for at the approach of light nothing presented 

 itself to their view but a dreary expanse of snow. It 

 was not till six o'clock in the morning that they could 

 discover the place of the sun through the clouds, which 

 then began to disperse. With foreboding apprehensions 

 they went in search of poor Richmond and the other 

 man, whom they found quite dead. A dog, which 

 belonged to one of them, was however still alive and 

 standing close by his master's corpse, which he unwil- 

 lingly left to follow the company. The hardy nature of 

 this animal enabled him to brave the severity of the 

 weather, and he was for several years afterwards alive in 

 England.' 



This diminution of heat is, however, by no means 

 regular. Different countries equally distant from the 

 equator are very different in climate, according to their 

 situation. The average warmth of the atmosphere at 

 any place is learned by keeping, for a long time, a record 

 of the weather and obtaining the mean of all the obser- 

 vations. There is another method somewhat singular : 

 that is, to take the temperature of the springs of water. 

 These it is supposed come from such a distance below 

 the surface of the ground that they are not affected by 

 the ordinary changes of heat and cold in the atmosphere 

 above, and they are accordingly found to remain nearly 

 the same during the year. In making such observations, 

 however, a proper regard must be had to the situation of 

 the springs, the strata through which they come, and 

 their elevation above the level of the sea. 



(6) Diminution of Heat from the Surface of the Earth 

 upwards. 



Although this fact is very generally known and ac- 

 knowledged, the cause of it is not very obvious. An 

 observer at the equator, in the middle of a sultry summer's 

 day, might perhaps imagine that if he were to ascend 



VOL.1 NO. IX. 19* 



