Europe : — a popular Physical Sketch. 195 



diseases of the chest and gout are more common in the 

 north. 



Europe considered as a whole, is situated between 35 and 

 71° north latitude ; a small part only belongs to the Arctic 

 zone ; the rest is situated in the temperate zone, which, 

 if divided in two, taking the 45° north latitude as the 

 line of demarcation, will place by far the greater part 

 in the colder temperate zone. Europe is situated between 

 6° west latitude, (or if Iceland be excluded 7° 30',) and 

 75° east of Ferro. 



On east, Europe is thoroughly connected with Asia, and 

 the transition is imperceptible. On this, the eastern frontier 

 appears an immense plain from the Polar Sea to the Black 

 Sea ; continuing towards west, but is cut into a cuneiform 

 shape by the Scandinavian mountains on one side, and 

 Balkan, the Karpathians, Sudetes, Erzgebirge and the Harz 

 mountains on the other side, and in this basin the Baltic is 

 confined. West of the Harz mountains, the plain expands 

 between the Atlantic on one side; the Weser, and the 

 French mountains on the other. In this basin we might 

 fancy the North Sea to be enclosed, the north-western brim 

 of which in that case would be the British mountains. From 

 this mode of view there would appear one large plain, 

 divided into two minor ones, however, of unequal magnitude, 

 by the Danish peninsula. From this enormous plain access 

 to the Highland is opened first by the Hungarian plain, and 

 the communicating deeply entering Danube- valley ; secondly, 

 by the equally deeply entering Rhine-valley. Although the 

 Central European mountain chains in the preceding have 

 justly been separated from themselves and from the Alps, 

 they might, in a more common point of view, be united to 

 those, and viewed as one immense Highland, if looking 

 upon the base, on which the smaller mountains rest, as low 

 side-terraces shooting from the Alps, and thus we obtain a 

 definite distinction between the Highland and Lowland of 



