A VENERABLE CLIMATIC FALLACY 183 



than 1,000 miles from the nearest known land to the south and 3,800 

 miles from the nearest land on the north. It is therefore t3^ically 

 oceanic. The severity and sterility of its climate are so pronounced 

 that it stands as a type of inhospitality. Its mean temperature is 

 only about 39° F.(4° C). Bearing directly on the question here at 

 issue, the Encyclopedia Britannica says: "Its temperature is kept 

 down by the surrounding vast expanse of sea." Relative to its 

 discoverer, Yves Joseph de Kerguelen Tremaric, it further says: "He 

 was one of those explorers who had been attracted by the belief 

 in a rich southern land, and this island, the South France of his 

 first discovery, was afterwards called by him, 'Desolation Land' in 

 his disappointment." 



For comparison with this southern land of desolation in the heart 

 of a typical ocean, let us follow the same meridian to the same lati- 

 tude in the Northern Hemisphere. It leads to a point in Central 

 Asia, the heart of the earth's greatest continent, and is thus admir- 

 ably adapted to our purpose. The comparison point lies about 

 350 miles south of the Trans-Siberian Railway. The region has 

 long been inhabited and has played a notable part in human history. 

 In its habitability, it is in strong contrast with Kerguelen. The 

 region habitable for man in the Northern Hemisphere extends about 

 1,400 miles farther north, while no human habitation lies between 

 Kerguelen and the South Pole or would probably lie there if more 

 islands lay between to furnish sites for settlements. 



Now, taking these two contrasted stations as key points — 

 Kerguelen as representative of oceanic conditions, and the corre- 

 sponding point in Central Asia as representative of continental 

 conditions — ^and following the parallels of 50° around the globe, we 

 may gather a generalized view of the climatic effects of sea and of 

 land, respectively, just above mid-latitude. Starting in Central 

 Asia and following this parallel westward, we find that nearly half 

 the great capitals of Europe lie north of it, viz: Moscow, Warsaw, 

 Prague, Berlin, Stockholm, Christiania, Copenhagen, The Hague, 

 Brussels, and London. Let it be granted without reserve that the 

 western border of Europe is much affected by the warm currents 

 of the Atlantic; but in consistency it must be equally noted and 

 emphasized that this is a special effect of a special part of an ocean ; 



