INTRODUCTORY GRAFTER . 43 
summer heat. This is a conj ecture, but, probably, as good 
a one as that advanced by some, that the Gulf Stream 
flows right across the Pole, that is, by Spitzbergen, and 
out again through Smith Sound and Behring Strait. 
The ice presses against the northern coasts, and where 
the passages to the south are narrow, blocks them 
up with ice. On either view the evidence is in favour 
of a continuous sea across the Pole; for if the Gulf 
Stream flows across the polar area there must be sea, 
and where the water is not perceptibly cooled, probably 
open sea. The idea seems, however, to be prepos¬ 
terous. On the other hand the outflow of warm water 
in all directions from the Pole involves a large and 
open sea around the Pole. 
In zoology and botany something has been done, 
but there is much more to do. The facts to be dis¬ 
covered cannot fail to have an important influence on 
all theories connected with their present and past dis¬ 
tribution. This has been well shown in the case of 
botany by Dr. Hooker, whose remarks we quote. He 
referred to the existing flora of Greenland as being one 
of the most poverty-stricken in the globe, and yet pos¬ 
sessed of unusual interest. “ It consists of some 300 
kinds of flowering plants (besides a very large number 
of mosses, algae, lichens, &e.), and presented the fol¬ 
lowing peculiarities (1.) The flowering plants were, 
