INLAND AND ISLAND; CAUSES. 183 



The great difference of the extreme limits of 

 temperature, as well as that of the temperatures of 

 winter and summer at different places, according 

 as they are more or less distant from the ocean, 

 has led to a distinction being drawn between the 

 Continental or Inland Climate, and the Island and 

 Coast Climate, The temperature of an island must, 

 by means of the air, be brought to agree the more 

 nearly with that of the surrounding sea, the less 

 its circumference is, and the farther it lies from the 

 mainland. If, for instance, you compare the 

 difference of the mean winter and summer tem- 

 peratures at Teneriffe with that of Cairo ; that 

 of the Faroe Isles with that of Konigsberg or of 

 Moscow; that of Iceland or of the North Cape 

 with that of Irkutsk ; that of Dublin with that 

 of Prague, and so on; you will readily perceive 

 that the inland-climate becomes the more marked 

 the farther the places lie towards the interior of the 

 continent. You will observe, however, that the 

 western coasts of the continents partake of the 

 island climate more than do the eastern. These 

 characters at least are distinct in the northern parts 

 as well of the old continent as of the new. 



It is only by the knowledge of the mean summer 

 and winter temperature of a country that you will 

 be enabled to form a correct judgment of its fitness 

 for being inhabited or cultivated, as well as of its 

 entire character. At Bombay, Pondicherry, 



