636 Dr. W. B. Carpenter on the [June 13, 



" was great when I could not detect any thing under the microscope." — 

 As this distinctive blue colour has not been observed in the North-Cape 

 stream, I should be disposed to attribute it to the diffusion of the fine sedi- 

 mentary particles brought down by the Dwina and Mezen rivers (Report 

 for 1870, §§ 98, 99). The Specific Gravity of the water of the Kanin stream 

 being only 1*025, it is high only in relation to that of the water of the 

 White Sea, which is reduced by the large quantity of river-water discharged 

 into it. At Cape Swatoi, which does not lie in the supposed Gulf-stream, 

 the Specific Gravity of the water was found to be 1*026. 



f. The Zoological researches of Th. Jarshinski (1869) along the Mur- 

 manian (N.E. Lapland) coast of the Polar Sea, are stated by Von Mid- 

 dendorf to prove the affinity of its Fauna with that of the Atlantic Ocean. 



g. The remarkable agreement of the temperature of the Air with that 

 of the Water, and the manifest dependence of the temperature of the Air 

 on that of -the Water, induce Von Middendorf to adopt, without hesita- 

 tion, the doctrine of direct heating by warm water. " We should have been 

 " able," he says, " to determine by the temperature of the Air, without 

 " ascertaining that of the Water, whether we were or were not within the 

 " warm water of the extension of the Gulf-stream. The direction of the 

 " wind had evidently but a subordinate influence on the temperature of the 

 " Air." — It is expressly stated by Von Middendorf, that when speaking of 

 " currents " he does not intend to imply more than the result of Tempe- 

 rature-observations, which indicate a flow of warm water from the west. 



161. The Temperature-observations recently made by Messrs. Weyprecht 

 and Payer (§ 1 5) in still higher Northern Latitudes, show that this warmer 

 surface-layer rapidly thins off towards the north-east ; and that instead 

 of a rise of Temperature with increase of depth in the Polar area (which is 

 the doctrine still maintained by many Physical Geographers), there is a rapid 

 reduction, — glacial water being found at a less and less depth in proportion 

 to the Northing obtained, as I ventured to predict in my last Report 

 ('Proceedings,' vol. xix. p. 190) would prove to be the case. 



162. Further, the observations collected by Dr. Miihry* relating to the 

 Temperature of the Western coast of Greenland, seem to indicate a 

 northward flow of comparatively warm water along that side of Baffin's 

 Bay, in antagonism to the Polar current which flows southwards on the 

 Labrador side. It is certain that the climate of the south-western coast 

 of Greenland is much milder than that of either its eastern coast or the 

 eastern coast of Labrador under the same parallels ; and the summer 

 Isotherm of 41° is carried northwards in Dr. Petermann's Chart nearly as 

 far as Upernavik, while the summer Isotherm of 36|° extends in 70° W. 

 Long, to Smith's Sound, as in 10° E. Long, it extends to Spitzbergen. 

 According to Admiral Irminger, a distinct current can be traced as far north 

 as Lat. 64° or even 67° ; and this brings with it Mimosce and other tropi- 

 cal products, — such as a mahogany log, found on Disco Island, which was 



* Geographische Mittheilungen, 1854, p. 187. 



