70 CLIMATE OF BATAVIA. 



atmosphere that we realize the enormous influence 

 which moisture has in modifying climate by check- 

 ing the radiation of heat. In hot, damp climates, such as 

 that of the Equatorial Zone for instance, it is the means 

 whereby the night temperature is kept up to nearly 

 the same point as that of the day. Thus, at Batavia r 

 " the usual daily range of the thermometer averages 

 only a little more than 1 1 Fahr. : being 12 6 X in 

 September, when it is greatest, and only 8 i' in 

 January, when it is least" * the heat of the day 

 being at the same time so moderated by the atmo- 

 sphere, that it is rarely very hot; the very high tem- 

 peratures met with in dry regions being here totally 

 unknown. 



During the fifteen years, 1866 to 1879, both inclusive, 



"the greatest maximum temperature (in November 1877) was 

 96 8' Fahr., and the lowest minimum 66 69' F. (in Sep- 

 tember 1877) and the mean temperature for the same period 

 was 78 69' F. It is this long unbroken continuity of high 

 temperatures which proves trying to the European constitu- 

 tion, for the new-comer seldom feels himself much oppressed 

 by the heat." f 



The great reason why hot damp climates are so trying 

 to Europeans, is because of the great heat of the night, 

 the atmosphere being always precisely like that of a 

 plant stove or orchid house at home. In fact the 

 object of these structures is, as we know, to create an 

 artificial atmosphere similar in all respects to that of 

 the native habitat of the plants intended to be grown 

 therein; and in some of the most trying of these 

 climates the natural condition of the atmosphere is 



* Tropical Nature, by Alfred R. "Wallace, 1878, p. 4. 



\ Encyclop. Brit. 9th edit. Vol. xiii. p. 60 1; Article "Java." 



