6S REPORT — 1861. 



speedy, have confen'ed numerous benefits upon all those of every nation who follow 

 the sea. 



Thus a sort of maritime and scientific confederation of the principal commercial 

 nations has been practically formed, for the purpose of carrying on certain investi- 

 gations concerning the physics of the sea, in which all the world has a stake. 



During these investigations, it has fallen to my lot to be led, by the paths of in- 

 duction thus opened, to certain conclusions that are of general concern — not indeed 

 to the people of any one nation alone, but to all who own ships,— and which I beg 

 to lay before you, with the hope that you will deem them of suflicient consequence 

 to be brought to the notice of the Government you so worthily represent, to the 

 end that such further steps may be taken in the premises as the increase of our 

 knowledge concerning the planet we inhabit and the good of mankind may seem 

 to require. 



I may be pei-mitted to remark, that though this system of reseai'ch upon which 

 we are engaged presents the most extensive combination that has ever been foiined 

 among navies, and though it giyes employment to the largest coi-ps of observers 

 that has ever been known to unite in any one plan of physical research, yet it is 

 almost literally without cost ; at least the expenses are so divided between the 

 observers and the public exchequers of the States concerned, that the chief expense 

 consists in discussing and publishing the obsei-vations after they ai-e made. In fact, 

 the obseiTera are quite wiUing to render their services upon the simple condition 

 that they may have the free use of the results obtained. Thus all the gi-eat na- 

 tions have been brought to unite and cooperate in a uniform system of physical 

 research at sea. 



In the com-se of these investigations, facts and cumuustances have been brought 

 to light which affoKl grounds for the belief that the Antai'ctic winter is by no means 

 as severe as that of the Arctic. This belief, connected with the fact that there is 

 about the South Pole an unexplored area that in extent can compass Europe more 

 than twice, induces me to lay the matter before yom'self and others at this time, 

 trusting that by biinging the subject to such notice, as well as to that of my own 

 Government and others equally interested and concerned, measures loolring to fur- 

 ther examination and exploration of those imkuown regions in the Soutli may be 

 set on foot. 



Reasons for believing the Antarctic to be much less severe than the Ai'ctic winter, 

 have been stated at some length in a work on the ' Physical Geogi-aphy of the Sea 

 and its Meteorology,' recently published in London ; but as that work may not have 

 fallen imder yom* notice, I beg leave to call yom- attention to the Tables, Diagrams, 

 and Plates in the accompanying Nautical Monogi-aph, No. 2, on ' The Bahometer 

 AT Sea,' still more recently issued by this ofiice. Our observations on the barometer 

 at sea are nimierous and abimdant. They reach from the parallel of 60° S. to the 

 ice-bound seas of the North ; they are for all seasons, months and days of the year. 

 They have been made over and over again ; some by German, some by Russian, 

 some by English, Dutch, French, Spanish, Danish, Swedish, Portuguese, Italian, 

 Austrian, Chilian, Siamese, Sandwich Islands, Brazilian and American navigators. 

 They have been repeated and midtiplied by so many, by such factors, and so often, 

 that they leave but little room for doubt as to the approxunate mean pressure of the 

 atmosphere on every square foot of ocean sm-face within the range of modern navi- 

 gation. They enable us for the first time literally to gauge and weigh the atmo- 

 sphere that rests upon the sea ; they also aiTord us data for computing its pressure 

 upon evei-y square foot of sea sm-face from pole to pole. A patient discussion of 

 these observations has revealed a wonderful degree of atmospherical attenuation 

 within the Antarctic Ch'cle. They indicate that the average quantity of air super- 

 incumbent upon a square foot of the eai-th's siu^face there, does not weigh as much, 

 by about 130 lbs., as that which is supeiincumbent upon a square foot here. 



The unexplored regions environing the South Pole embrace in round numbers 

 an aj'ea of eight millions of square miles. The quantity of atmosphere that rests 

 upon these eight millions lacks then, according to these observations and this 

 computation, no less than 12,943,500,000,000 tons in weight, of being as much as 

 usuallj' rests upon an area of like extent in these northern latitudes. 



This is an inconceivably great mass, whether we attempt to comprehend it by its 

 weight or its volimre. 



