1855.] 



MEAN METEOROLOGICAL RESULTS AT TORONTO DURING 1854. 



161 



surface of the sea, whicb. maintained a comparatively high 

 temperature. This high temperature was brought by the S.E. 

 current previously alluded to as setting from the southern por- 

 tions of the south connecting current, and the rates and dura- 

 tion of which were inferred from the examples cited at from ten 

 to twenty-five miles per day. Arriving at the face of the icy 

 barrier this current was lost, close under it there being but 

 little movement felt ; what there was being a drift to the west- 

 toard, — a circumstance similar to what has been related north 

 of Siberia. On the surface, then, no outlet is appreciable for 

 the waters, but the drifting of the immense tabular bergs, im- 

 mersed 800 feet, and rising 200 feet out of the water, was a 

 proof of a northern or rather a north-easterly set, which by 

 different observations was considered to move from twelve to 

 eighteen miles per day when free from the barrier. The zone 

 of equal temperature of the ocean, 39°-5, was observed by 

 Capt. Sir James Ross to encircle the South Pole in a mean 

 latitude of 56° 26' S. On this circle the temperature was the 

 .same from the surface to the bottom, and was connected with 

 these surface and subsurface currents moving in opposing 

 directions. The icebergs and drift ice being thus transported 

 into more temperate climates disappear, and the north-east drift 

 adds its share to the eastward currents, which strike the 

 western shores of Patagonia, and then turning northward form 

 the Peruvian current, and against the west coast of Africa 

 forming the cool south African cun-ent. In this manner the 

 frigid influences of the antarctic climate were attempered, and 

 brought into connexion with the other portions of the great 

 world of waters, and illustrated that mighty system of ocean 

 circulation everywhere evident in its effects on climate and the 

 subject of meteorology in general. In the North Polar Sea 

 a very different oi'der of things exists: in many points a per- 

 fect contrast to those just described ; but, as the subject was 

 more familiar, it was not so largely entered into, the chief 

 features only being selected. The fact of the Arctic Basin 

 not being a sea of perpetual ice (or one solid mass of ice) was 

 an evidence that it was pervious to the influences of more 

 temperate climates ; and that there being no old ice was a 

 proof that means were at work for renewing it and dissipating 

 the surplus of what the short summer does not dissolve. The 

 current through Behring Strait, — an offset of that which the 

 author first described, in 1851, as the Japanese current, similar 

 in the Pacific to the Gulf Stream in the Atlantic, — was shown 

 to be an unimportant northerly set through the narrow strait, 

 and, therefore, was finite inadequate to produce any marked 

 effect on the polar ices. The main body of warm water passed 

 between Greenland, or rather Iceland, and Norway, and was 

 an ofiset to the north-east of a portion of the Gulf Stream. 

 The mode of this drift was explained by a diagram of the 

 winds in lat. 47'}° north, long. 321° west, derived from Com- 

 mander Maury's observations, but which showed some imper- 

 fections in the recording or arrangement. In this the great 

 prevalence of the south-west over the north-east winds was 

 clearly seen; and to this was owing the drift, which renders 

 England and Iceland habitable, and enters the Arctic Basin, 

 as has been described. The course of this stream was then 

 traced step by step, eastward, till it emerged into Baffin's Bay 

 or north of Greenland, between it and Spitzl)ergen, whence, 

 passing southwards, it joined tlic southerly set down Baffin's 

 Bay, across the banks of Newfoundland, transporting the 

 deeply immersed bergs into the warm waters of the superficial 

 Gulf Stream, and then, turning to the south-west, between the 

 Gulf Stream and the coast, it was last at Cape llatteras. In 

 the north, then, a.s well as in the south, the circulatory system 



is apparent, and then each portion of the waters of the ocean 

 visits, by turns, every portion of the earth. The fate of Sir 

 John Franklin was next brought forward as a collateral sub- 

 ject. 3Ir. Findlay held that the statement, that two deserted 

 and dismantled ships, seen on the ice on the north edge of the 

 Newfoundland Banks on April 20, 1851, was quite possible, 

 and that if true, of which he had no doubt, they were the 

 unfortunate Erebus and Terror. The perfect consistency of 

 the story as related by the different parties, and the improba- 

 bility of any whaling ships remaining perfect for many years, 

 led to the conclusion that they could be no other. Similar 

 instances, as related by Dr. Scorcsby, the parent of Arctic 

 meteorology, of the drift of Sir James Ross, and of the Grin- 

 nell Expedition, might all be taken as evidences of the possi- 

 bility of the statement. It was, therefore, believed that 

 Franklin's track might be followed up the Wellington Channel 

 from 1846 for one or two seasons ; that, proceeding to^ the 

 west or north-west, perhaps for 500 miles each step, he either 

 cot fixed in the main pack or else in some enclosed bay, like 

 that of Capt. M'Clure as at present, and then deserting his 

 ships, has not been able to reach any point where rescue wa.s 

 at hand ; and that the ships, obeying the universal law, that 

 all floating bodies within the Polar Basin must come out, 

 drifted by the ocean currents either through Smith's Sound, 

 found clear by Capt. Inglefield in the succeeding spring, or 

 round Greenland, and down between it and Iceland, reached, 

 without any great chances of demolition, the spot^ where they 

 were stated to have been seen. There is no difficulty in 

 allowing all this, and in finding perfectly analogous cases; 

 but the main point, the ultimate end of the unfortunate Expe- 

 dition, it was thought, would ever remain shrouded in the 

 most painful mystery, as the search had only just begun in 

 the right direction, and the last ray of hope would be extin- 

 guished if the present Expeditions return without bringing any 

 intelligence. 



Mean Meteorological Results at Toronto during the 

 Year 1854. 



Read before the Canadian Institute, Saturda;/, 20th January, 1855, by 

 3. B. Chebri.man, M.A. 



The mean temperature of the year 1854 has been above the 

 average of 14 years by 0°-87, due chiefly to excess of heat 

 in July and Octoberj but reduced by a fall in December; 

 the months form May to November were above their average 

 temperatures ; the rest, with the exception of INIarch, below. 



The year is tho hottest on record, with the exception of 1846. 



The hottest month was July, and the coldest February, 

 which is in accordance with the normal march of the tempera- 

 ture; the climatic difference is 51°-4, which is 7°-9 above the 

 average. 



July was the hottest month ever recorded, being 5°-7 above 

 its average temperature, and no less than 3° -6 above the next 

 inferior, which was July 1850. 



The hottest day was July 3d (81°-3), and the coldest Janu- 

 ary 28th (l°-6), the difference between these being 79°-7. 



Thr greatest daily range occurred on July 4th, amounting 

 to 44°-5, and the range on the whole year is 110°-0, between 

 99°-2 on the afternoon of August 24th, and — 10°-8 on the 

 morning of February 3d, the former being by 4°-9 the highest 

 temperature ever recorded. 



