2^6 M. Humboldt on Isothermal LineSy and the 
distinguish under the temperate zone between the climate of the 
interior, or the continental climate, and that of islands and coasts. 
Mean Temperature. 
Diffe- 
I 
Places, 
Lat. 
Coldest 
Warmest 
Observations. 
Month, 
Month. 
rence. 
Cumana, 
Pondicherry, 
10 ° 27 
SOM 
84°.4 
4°.3 
Uninterrupted trade winds. 
11 55 
76,1 
91.4 
15.3 
Monsoons. Radiation of the sands. 
Manilla, 
U 36 
68.0 
86.9 
18.9 
Monsoons. 
Vera Cruz, 
19 11 
70.0 
81.7 
11.7 
North winds in winter. 
Cape Fran(jais, 
19 46 
77,0 
86.0 
9.0 
Uninterrupted trade winds. 
Havannah, 
23 10 
70.0 
8 . 3.8 
13.8 
North Vvdnds in winter. 
Funchal, 
32 37 
64.0 
75.6 
11.6 
Insular climate. 
Natchez, 
31 28 
46.9 
78.8 
31.9 
Transatlantic region. Interior. 
Cincinnati, 
39 6 
29.6 
74.4 
44.8 
Same system of climate. 
Pekin, 
Philadelphia, 
39 54 
24.8 
84.2 
59,4 
Region of eastern Asia. 
39 56 
29.8 
77.0 
47.2 
Transatlant. region. Eastern coasts 
New York, 
40 40 
25.3 
80.8 
55.5 
Idem. 
Rome, 
41 53 
42.1 
77.0 
34.9 
Cisatlantic region. 
Milan, 
45 28 
33.8 
55.2 
21.4 
Interior land. 
Buda, 
47 29 
27.7 
71.6 
43.9 
Idem. 
Paris, 
48 50 
35.1 
69.8 
34.7 
Nearer the western coast. 
Quebec, 
46 47 
14.0 
73.4 
59.4 
Transatlant. region. Eastern coasts 
Dublin, 
53 21 
37.6 
60,3 
22.7 
f Region of the west of Europe. 
( Insular climate. 
Edinburgh, 
55 58 
38.3 
59.4 
21.1 
Idem. 
Warsaw, 
52 14 
27.1 
70.3 
43.2 
Interior land. 
Petersburg, 
59 56 
8.6 
65.7 
57.1 
East of Europe. 
North Cape, [ 
71 0 
22.1 
46.6 
24.5 
Climate of coasts and islands. 
We may conclude in general, that for any given place in the 
curves which express the annual temperatures, the ordinates of 
the concave and convex summits differ the more from one ano- 
ther, as the temperatures diminish. In the New World, under 
40° of latitude, we find a greater difference between the warm- 
est and coldest months of the year than in the Old World, at 
Copenhagen and Stockholm under 56° — 59"^ of latitude. At 
Philadelphia the thermometer descends to 50° or 59° below 
the freezing point, while under the same parallel in Europe 
it descends scarcely 80°.6 below it. 
I have endeavoured to shew, in another work, how this cir- 
cumstance which characterises the regions which Buffon indi- 
cates by the name of Excessive Climates^ influences the physi- 
cal constitution of the inhabitants. In the United States, the 
Europeans, and indeed all the natives, are, with great difficulty, 
inured to the climate. After winters that have been very rigo- 
rous, not from the general temperature, but from an extreme de- 
pression of the thermometer, the irritability of the nervous sys- 
S 
