412 J. R. Mayer on Celestial Dynamics. 
ocean is, generally speaking, nearer to the store of heat in the 
interior of the earth than the dry land is, and hence that the 
temperature increases most probably in a greater ratio from the 
bottom of the sea toward the interior of the globe, than it does 
in our observations on the land, Secondly, we have to consider 
that the whole bottom of the sea is covered by a layer of ice- 
cold water, which moves constantly from the poles to the equa- 
tor, and which, in its passage over sand-banks, causes, a8 
Humboldt aptly remarks, the low temperatures which are gen- 
erally observed in shallow places. That the water near the 
bottom of the sea, on account of its great specific heat and its 
low temperature, is better fitted than the atmosphere to withdraw 
the heat from the earth, is a point which requires no further 
discussion. 
We have plenty of observations which prove that the earth 
suffers a great loss of heat through the waters of the ocean. 
Many investigations have demonstrated the existence of a large 
expanse of sea, much visited by whalers, situated between Ice- 
land, Greenland, Norway, and Spitzbergen, and extending from 
lat. 76° to 80° N., and from long. 15° E. to 15° W. of Greenwich, 
where the temperature was observed to be higher in the deeper 
water than near the surface—an experience which neither ac- 
cords with the general rule, nor agrees with the laws of hydro- 
statics. Franklin observed, in lat. 77° N. and long. 12° E., that. 
the temperature of the sea near the surface was —}°, and at @ 
depth of 700 fathoms +6°. Fisher, in lat. 80° N. and long. 11°R., 
noticed that the surface-water had a temperature of 0°, whilst at 
a depth of 140 fathoms it stood at +8. 3 
As sea-water, unlike pure water, does not possess a point of 
greatest density at some distance above the freezing-point, and 
as the water in lat. 80° N. is found at some depth to be warmer 
than water at the same depth 10° southward, we can only eX- 
plain this remarkable phenomenon of an increase of temperature 
with an increase of depth by the existence of a source of heat 
at the bottom of the sea. The heat, however, which is requ! 
to warm the water at the bottom of an expanse of ocean more 
than 1000 square miles in extent to a sensible degree, must 
amount, according to the lowest estimate, to some cubic miles 
heat a day. 
The same phenomenon has been observed in other parts of 
the world, such as the west coast of Australia, the Adriatic, the 
zo h iore, &. Especial mention should here be made 
bservation by Horner, according to whom, the lead, when 
from a depth varying from 80 to 100 fathoms im the 
mighty Gulfstream off the coast of America, used to be hotter 
n boiling water. .- 
The facts above mentioned, and some others which might be 
clearly show that the loss of heat suffered by our globe 
