210 OBSERVATIONS ON THE MEAN TEMPERATURE 



mean temperature, according to the observations of Messrs 

 Miller and Adie, is 46°. 23 *, agreeing very nearly with the 

 calculated results. 



Hitherto we have considered only the temperature of the 

 Old World, as determined under meridians passing through 

 the west of Europe ; and previous to actual observation, it was 

 reasonable to infer, that under other meridians the heat would 

 follow a similar law of distribution. The testimony of travel- 

 lers, however, soon corrected this hasty inference ; and as the 

 condition of more distant climates was better known, the seve- 

 rity of a Canadian and a Siberian winter became proverbial. 

 Notwithstanding this evidence, Mayer, and Kir wan, who 

 adopted his formula, have considered it as universally appli- 

 cable ; and Mr Leslie has maintained, on the authority of a 

 few insulated facts, that the average temperature of the Old 

 and New World will be found the same f. 



These speculations, however, have been completely over- 

 turned by the researches of Humboldt. He has shewn, that 

 though the temperature of the Equatorial regions is nearly the 

 same under all meridians, yet in higher latitudes it declines 

 rapidly in the New World, and under the eastern meridians of 



Asia. 



Mean Temperature at Edinburgh from 



Black Spring, - - 46 .81 



Mean Temperature at Edinburgh from 



Crawley Spring, - 47 .35 



General Mean Temperature of Springs 



at Edinburgh, - - 47 .08 



* These observations were made in Merchant Court, 230 feet above the level 

 of the sea. 



•j* Edinburgh Encyclopaedia, Art. America, Sect. Climate of America, vol. i. 

 p. 614. 



