62 
THE OCEAN WORLD. 
Some curious speculations arc hazarded by I)r. Maury, arising out ll1 
his investigations of winds and currents, facts being revealed ffh^ 1 
indicate the existence of a climate, mild by comparison, within ^ 
Antarctic Circle. These indications are a low barometer, a high deg 1 ®, 
of aerial rarefaction, and strong winds from the north. “ The win^' 
lie says, “ were the first to whisper of this strange state of things, > l,1 ‘ 
to intimate to us that the Antarctic climates are in winter very 
the Arctic for rigour and severity.” The result of an immense ui |F 
of observation on the polar and equatorial winds reveals a maflr 
difference in atmospherical movements north, as compared with 
same movements south of the Equator ; the equatorial winds of 
northern hemisphere being only in excess between the tenth ^ 
thirteenth parallel, while those of the southern hemisphere ^ 
dominant over a zone of forty-five degrees, or from thirty-five degiW 
south to ten degrees north. 
“ The fact that the influence of the polar indraught upon the wi^ 
should extend from the Antarctic to the parallel of forty degrees sour 
while that from the Arctic is so feeble as scarcely to be felt in fifty degi' 0p 
north, is indicative enough as to the difference in degree of aerial ra^ 
faction over the two regions. The significance of the fact is enhanced ^ 
the consideration that the ‘ brave west winds,’ which are bound to ^ 
place of greatest rarefaction, rush more violently and constantly 
to their destination than do the counter-trades of the northern he' 1 ' 1 
sphere. Why should these polar-bound winds differ so much ^ 
strength and prevalence, unless there be a much more abund fl,)( 
supply of caloric, and, consequently, a higher degree of rarefaction, ^ 
one pole than at the other ?” 
That this is the case is confirmed by all known barometrical obs^ 
vations, which arc very much lower in the Antarctic than in the Ar^f 
and Dr. Maury thinks is doubtless due to the excess in AxitahJl 
regions of aqueous vapour and this latent heat. 
“ There is rarefaction in the Arctic regions. The winds show it, yj 
barometer attests it, and the fact is consistent with the Eussian th^ 
of a Polynia in polar waters. Within the Antarctic Circle, on ^ 
contrary, the winds bring air which has come over the water for ^ 
distance of hundreds of leagues all around; consequently, a 1 $°, 
portion of atmospheric air is driven away from the austral regions ® 
the force, of vapour.” 
