SECT, xxvi.] CONFIGURATION OF LAND AND WATER. 295 



caloric, and cool the air by evaporation ; but, on account of 

 the chilled and dense particles sinking to the bottom, deep 

 water diminishes the cold of winter, so long as ice is not 

 formed. 



In consequence of the difference in the radiating and 

 absorbing powers of the sea and land, their configuration 

 greatly modifies the distribution of heat over the surface of 

 the globe. Under the equator only one-sixth part of the 

 circumference is land ; and the superficial extent of land in 

 the northern and southern hemispheres is in the proportion 

 of three to one. The effect of this unequal division is greater 

 in the temperate than in the torrid zones, for the area of land 

 in the northern temperate zone is to that in the southern as 

 thirteen to one, whereas the proportion of land between the 

 equator and each tropic is as five to four. It is a curious 

 fact, noticed by Mr. Gardner, that only one twenty-seventh 

 part of the land of the globe has land diametrically opposite 

 to it. This disproportionate arrangement of the solid part 

 of the globe has a powerful influence on the temperature of 

 the southern hemisphere. But, besides these greater modifi- 

 cations, the peninsulas, promontories, and capes, running out 

 into the ocean, together with bays and internal seas, all affect 

 temperature. To these may be added the position of con- 

 tinental masses with regard to the cardinal points. All 

 these diversities of land and water influence temperature by 

 the agency of the winds. On this account the temperature 

 is lower on the eastern coasts both of the New and Old 

 World than on the western : for, considering Europe as an 

 island, the general temperature is mild in proportion as the 

 aspect is open to the western ocean, the superficial tempera- 

 ture of which, as far north as the 45th and 50th degrees of 

 latitude, does not fall below 48 or 51 of Fahrenheit, even 

 in the middle of winter. On the contrary, the cold of 

 Russia arises from its exposure to the northern and eastern 

 winds. But the European part of that empire has a less 



