82 



THE WISE PROVISION OF NATURE. 



miles in extent and seven feet thick. This will give an 

 idea of the quantity of ice which is carried out of the Polar 

 regions, independent of the icebergs, and drifted into 

 warmer climates. 



The formation and destruction of ice within the Arctic 

 Circle is a beautiful provision of Nature for adjusting the 

 inequality of temperature. Had only dry land been thus 

 exposed to the sun, it would, in summer, have been actually 

 scorched by its beams, yet severely pinched during the 

 darkness of the winter by the most intense and penetrating 

 cold. None of the animal or vegetable tribes could have 

 supported such extremes. But in the actual arrangement 

 the surplus heat of summer is spent in melting away the ice. 

 As long as ice remains to thaw or water to freeze, the tem- 

 perature of the atmosphere can never vary beyond certain 

 limits. 



