8 THE NORTH-EAST ATLANTIC. 



the normal climate of these lands. In the middle of the North Atlantic, under 

 the 50° parallel, the waters have a temperature of over 54° Fahr. even in 

 January, whereas in Silesia and Russia, under the same parallel, the ther- 

 mometer at times falls to 20° or even 30° below zero. On the western 

 seaboard of Ireland, where the myrtle flourishes as on the Mediterranean shores, 

 the winter temperature is higher than that of Naples and Athens. In Great 

 Britain the northern extremity of Scotland, washed by these southern waters, 

 enjoys in January a somewhat warmer atmosphere than London and other towns 

 in the south of England. In short, the normal climatic laws are here reversed. 

 The winters of Iceland are less severe than those of Denmark. The mean 

 temperature of the sea, taken in January at the station of Fruholm, near Cape 

 North — that is to say, in a latitude where the sun remains an entire month 

 below the horizon — is 38° Fahr., nearly 5° above that of Yevey, on Lake 

 Geneva, and 2° more than that of Yenice, situated on the Adriatic. In Tresco, 

 one of the principal islands of the Scilly group, palms and other tropical plants 

 flourish in the gardens in the open air, although the Azores, 10° nearer to the 

 equator, are already beyond the geographical limits of the palm.* A traveller 

 proceeding in January from Philadelphia to the North Cape, 2,100 miles nearer to 

 the pole, would find himself always under the same isothermal latitude of 2° to 3°. 

 But going due north he would meet with a mean temperature of — 13° in Baffin's 

 Bay, under the same parallel as the extreme Scandinavian headland. The amount 

 of heat liberated by the Atlantic waters suffices to give the whole of North-west 

 Europe a temperature in winter which, but for it, this region could not enjoy even 

 in summer. 



Thanks to the two superimposed currents of air and water setting towards the 

 north-west shores of the continent, here is the chief laboratory of the European 

 climate, and from this point especially proceed the fierce hurricanes which begin 

 in the West Indies and United States, sweeping thence across the Atlantic over 

 the current of warm waters, and bursting on Europe after traversing the British 

 Isles. The comparative study of the barometrical waves is nowhere more important 

 than on the European shores of the North Atlantic. The rains falling on the 

 greater part of the continent, and giving rise to its multitudinous streams, are due 

 to the west winds prevailing on the western seaboard during the greater part 

 of the year. The vapour-charged atmosphere enveloping Europe as far as Central 

 Russia comes mainly from the North Atlantic. At the same time the moisture 

 diminishes gradually eastwards, so that the lands situated far from the ocean are 

 free from those dense fogs so frequent on the shores of England. These were 

 possibly likened to " marine slugs," being neither of the air, the earth, nor the 

 water, but a mingling of the elements, preventing the progress of vessels, as 

 described by the old navigator Pytheas, born under brighter skies by the blue 

 waters of the Mediterranean. Typical of these foggy climes is the tract stretching 

 north and west of Iceland. In 1868 the members of the German Polar Expedition 

 found these northern waters wrapped in fogs, on an average, for eight hours daily, 

 * Ot*car Diude, in Petermarm's Mittheilungen, 1878. 



