The Midnight Sun. 



101 



FIG: 4-. 



T 



readily accessible by Europeans desirous of witnessing the 

 glorious spectacle of the unsetting sun. It is also a most in- 

 teresting country on other accounts. Despite its northern 

 position, corn still grows in latitudes which elsewhere are 

 sterile, for which it is indebted to the Gulf Stream impinging 

 on the coast of Norway; while the luxuriance of its flora, 

 during* the short but brilliant summer, and the profusion of 

 animal life peopling the magnificent scenery, render it well 

 worthy a visit, and a trip to Norway is now becoming compara- 

 tively frequent. To all such intending tourists a perusal of the 

 Spring and Summer in Lapland will be most essential, con- 

 taining, as it does, full information for reaching either Hammer- 

 fest, near the North Cape, or Happaranda, at the head of the 

 Gulf of Bothnia, in the best manner; while in a natural 

 history point of view the book is invaluable. 



To illustrate still more clearly the effect of increased latitude 

 in producing continuous daylight, it will be desirable to intro- 

 duce a few more diagrams. Figs. 4, 5, and 6 have the 

 same letters of reference. Fig. 4 explains the long days 



and short 

 nights of 

 the north- 

 ern sum- 

 mer (the 

 sun about 

 the 21st of 

 Junebeing 

 over the 

 Tropic of 

 C a n c e r, 

 and there- 

 fore at its 

 greatest 



northern declination), and, at the same time, the short days 

 and long nights of corresponding southern latitudes. N S is 

 the axis of the earth; E Q, the equator; E C, the ecliptic; 

 C R, and C N, the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn ; and T e, 

 the line separating light and darkness, or the real horizon. At 

 the central line of the globe, on the side turned towards the sun, 

 it is mid- day ; at the terminator, or line of shading, it is, on 

 one side of the globe, sunrise ; and on the other, sunset ; while 

 on the central line of the side in shade, it is midnight. At N, 

 and the adjacent parts down to the Arctic circle, no portion of 

 the globe will be carried by the diurnal rotation into darkness, 

 and there is, therefore, continual daylight. At the Tropic of 

 Cancer places are carried through unequal portions of the light 

 and shaded parts, and there are long days and short nights. 



