412 Europe : — apopular Physical Sketch. 



The following table will afford a notion of the climate of 

 the British Isles : — 







Annual. 



Winter. 



Summer. 



Edinburgh, 



. . . 56° north lat. 



47.75° 



38.75° 



57.8° 



Dublin, 



... 53° 30' 



48.87° 



39.8° 



59° 



London, 



... 51° 30' 



50° 



38.75° 



61.2° 



Penzance, 



... 50° 



51.12° 



42.12° 



60.1° 



The annual mean temperature of Edinburgh is but little 

 higher than that of Copenhagen, but the winter is 7.85 

 warmer, whereas the summer is 57.6° colder ; Edinburgh 

 consequently partakes much more than Copenhagen of an 

 island-climate, (which indeed might be anticipated from the 

 locality of these two cities,) and this generally speaking 

 holds good with all the British Islands. 



The difference between summer and winter is less in Dub- 

 lin than in London, which is situated farther distant from 

 the influence of the sea ; but the difference between the 

 seasons is particularly small in Penzance, in the south- 

 western extremity of Great Britain, where the mean winter 

 temperature is equal to the mean temperature of the month 

 of April in Copenhagen, and yet the summer temperature is 

 not higher than that of Stockholm. 



The climate of the British Isles is very damp and rainy, 

 and a hazy and cloudy sky is much more frequent there 

 than on the continent. The quantity of rain from a mean 

 number of observations in many localities may be fixed at 

 23 inches on the east coast, and 39 inches on the mountainous 

 west coast, in single places this quantity increases to 60 

 inches, or more. The number of rainy days also (the snowy 

 of course included,) is very great; thus 208 for Dublin, 

 178 for London, while the number in Copenhagen amounts 

 to only 134. The greatest quantity of rain falls in summer 

 and spring. Snow falls in less quantity than in the same 

 latitude on the continent ; in the south-west of England and 

 Ireland it seldom remains for any length of time. Perpetual 



