Dr. Forry on the Climate of the United States, S^c. 41 



gree of cold induced by congelation, while in summer they will 

 convey the accumulated heat absorbed by the earth ; and thus is 

 produced, in a great measure, those extremes of the seasons which 

 characterize extra-tropical latitudes on the eastern coasts of con- 

 tinents. 



The difference of temperature on the eastern and western coast 

 of continents is still further increased by local causes. Europe 

 is separated from the polar circle by an ocean, while eastern Amer- 

 ica stretches northward at least to the 82° of latitude. The for- 

 mer, intersected by seas, which temper the climate, moderating 

 alike the excess of heat and cold, may be considered a mere pro- 

 longation of the old world ; while the northern lands of the lat- 

 ter, elevated from three thousand to five thousand feet, become a 

 great reservoir of ice and snow, which diminishes the temperature 

 of adjoining regions. "America," says Mr. Phillips, " with little 

 north tropical and wide polar land, gives us a case of extreme re- 

 frigeration from the pole towards the equator ; Africa and the 

 west of Europe compose a surface of wide and hot north tropi- 

 cal land, with free channels to a polar sea." Hence Lapland, 

 under the 72°, experiences a less rigorous climate than Greenland 

 mider the 60th parallel. On the other hand, between the 40th 

 parallel and the equator, the influence of land, if not very eleva- 

 ted, produces effects diametrically opposite ; for, the surface of 

 the earth absorbs a large quantity of caloric, which is diffused by 

 a radiation into the atmosphere. Thus Africa, as Malte-Brun 

 observes, " like an immense furnace, distributes its heat to Arabia, 

 to Turkey in Asia, and to Europe." On the contrary, the north- 

 eastern extremity of Asia, which extends between the 60th and 

 70th parallel, and is bounded on the south by water, experiences 

 extreme cold in corresponding latitudes. 



Another cause contributing to the same effect is the Gulf Stream, 

 the warm air arising from which being wafted by the westerly 

 winds mainly to the shores of Europe. But independent of the 

 westerly winds, which transport the tempered atmosphere of the 

 Pacific over the land, and conversely, in traversing the continent, 

 bear upon their wings the accumulating cold towards our eastern 

 shores, we observe, in attempting to account for the extraordinary 

 dissimilitude in the climate of our two coasts, on the eastern side 

 an unascertained prolongation of the continent towards the pole 

 and an oceanic current sweeping immense masses of ice south- 



Vol. xLvii, No. 1. — April-June, 1844. 6 



