186 Mr. J. Croll on Ocean- currents in relation to the 



that in nine days out of ten during the months of April, May, 

 and June more or less falls "*. 



On the north side of Hudson's Bay, for example, where the 

 quantity of floating ice during summer is enormous, and dense 

 fogs prevail, the mean temperature of June does not rise above 

 the freezing-point, being actually 13 0, 5 below the normal tem- 

 perature ; while in some parts of Asia under the same latitude, 

 where there is comparatively little ice, the mean temperature of 

 June is as high as 60°. 



The mean temperature of Van Rensselaer Harbour, in lat. 

 78° 37' N., long. 70° 53' W., was accurately determined from 

 hourly observations made day and night over a period of two 

 years by Dr. Kane. It was found to be as follows : — 



Winter .... -28'59 



Spring .... -10-59 



Summer .... +3338 



Autumn .... — 4*03 



But although the quantity of heat received from the sun at that 

 latitude ought to have been greater during the summer than in 

 Englandf, yet nevertheless the temperature is only 1°*38 above 

 the freezing-point. 



The temperature of Port Bowen, lat. 73° 14' N., was found to 

 be as follows : — 



Winter ...... -2509 



Spring ....: — 5*77 



Summer H-34'40 



Autumn -f 10'58 



Here the summer is only 2°*4 above the freezing-point. 



The condition of things in the antarctic regions is even still 

 worse than in the arctic. Captain Sir James Ross, when between 

 lat. 66° and 77°'5, during the months of January and February 

 1841, found the mean temperature to be only 26°'5 ; and there 

 were only two days when it rose even to the freezing-point. 

 When near the ice-barrier on the 8th of February, 1841, a 

 season of the year equivalent to August in England, he had the 

 thermometer at 12° at noon; and so rapidly was the young ice 

 forming around the ships, that it was with difficulty that he 

 escaped being frozen in for the winter. " Three days later," he 

 says, " the thick falling snow prevented our seeing to any distance 

 before us ; the waves as they broke over the ships froze as they 

 fell on the decks and rigging, and covered our clothes with a 



* Scoresby's 'Arctic Regions,' vol. i. p. 425. 



t See Meech's memoir " On the Intensity of the Sun's Heat and Light," 

 Smithsonian Contributions, vol. ix. 



