INTENSITY OF SUN'S HEAT AND LIGHT. 45 



less than what it is at the Pole, must also be considerably greater than at the equa- 

 tor. But, from twelve years' observations on the temperature of the icy regions, I 

 have determined the mean annual temperature in latitude 78° to be 16° or 17° F. 

 [that is, about fifteen degrees below freezing point] ; how then can the temperature 

 of the Pole be expected to be so very different V 



After some further argument, the author remarks in a note : " Should there be 

 land near the Pole, portions of open water, or perhaps even considerable seas might 

 be produced by the action of the current sweeping away the ice from one side 

 almost as fast as it could be formed. But the existence of land only, I imagine, 

 can encourage an expectation of any of the sea northward of Spitzbergen being 

 annually free from ice." 



On the other hand, the following indications in favor of an open sea, are derived 

 from a recent article upon Arctic Researches, announcing that " the existence of 

 the long suspected unfrozen Polar Sea has been ail-but proved." 



First, it was found that the average annual temperature about the 80th parallel, 

 was higher by several degrees, than that recorded farther south. At the island of 

 Spitzbergen, for example, under the 80th parallel, the deer propagate, and on the 

 northern coast the sea is quite open for a considerable time every year. But at 

 Nova Zembla, five degrees further south, the sea is locked in perpetual ice, and the 

 deer are rarely, if ever seen on its coast. This has led physical geographers to 

 suppose that the milder temperature of Spitzbergen must be attributable to the 

 well-known influence of proximity to a large body of water; while the contiguity of 

 Nova Zembla to the continent was thought to account for the severity of its climate. 



Secondly, Captain Parry reached Spitzbergen in May, 1827 ; from thence he went 

 northward two hundred and ninety-two miles in thirty-five days, during which 

 it rained almost all the time. The ice being much broken, and the current setting 

 toward the south, he could not make way against it, and was compelled to return, 

 which the current greatly facilitated. Besides the current here noticed by Parry, 

 others had been determined before, and more have been ascertained since ; so that 

 powerful currents of the Arctic Ocean southward, may be considered as established. 



Thirdly, in 1852, Captain Inglefield, while making his summer search for Sir 

 John Franklin, in the northeast of Baffin's Bay, beheld with surprise " two wide 

 openings to the eastward into a clear and unencumbered sea, with a distinct and 

 unbroken horizon, which, beautifully defined by the rays of the sun, showed no 

 signs of land, save one island." Further on he remarks, " the changed appearance 

 of the land to the northward of Cape Alexander was very remarkable. South of 

 this cape, nothing but snow-capped hills and cliffs met the eye ; but to the north- 

 ward an agreeable change seemed to have been worked by an invisible agency — 

 here the rocks were of their natural black or reddish-brown color ; and the snow 

 which had clad with heavy flakes the more southern shore had only partially 

 dappled them in this higher region, while the western shore was gilt with a belt of 

 ice twelve miles broad, and clad with perpetual snows." 



To these may be added the discovery of the southern boundary of an open Polar 

 sea, in the expedition from which Dr. Kane has just returned, October, 1855. 

 " There are facts," observes this distinguished explorer, " to show the necessity and 

 certainty of a vast inland sea at the North. There must be some vast receptacle 



