^ FORRY'fi) METEOROLOGY: COMPRISING A DESCRIPTION OF THE ATMOSPHERE AND ITS PHENOMENA, THE LAWS OF CLIMATE IN GENERAL, AND ESPECIALLY THE CLIMATIC FEATURES PECULIAR TO THE REGION OF THE UNITED STATES; (Mj )cA!V^> WITH SOME REMARKS UPON' THE CLIMATES OF THE ANCIENT WORLD, AS BASED ON FOSSIL GEOLOGY BY SAMUEL FOllRY, M.D., AUTHOR OF "THE CLIMATE OF THE UNITED STATES AND ITS ENHKMIC IMXIJIXCES," ETC. WITH THIRTEEN ILLUSTRATIONS. )™tf cXi^.sb ' '■ ft IP {<^ ■ ' v- - ^J A SE.COND EDITION DR. FOBRVS CLIMATE OF THE UNITED STATES. THE CLIMATE OF THE UNITED STATES AXD ITS ENDEMIC INFLUENCES, IMSED CniEFLV ON THE RECORDS OF THE MEDICAL DEPARTMENT AND ADJUTANT GENERAL'S OFFICE, UNITED STATES .UOIY. BY SAMUEL FORRY, M.D. Tius work is printed, upon excellent paper in the ordinary book i'.)r:u, making nearly 409 pages- octavo, with two copperplate en-i cravings. Tne price of the first edition was $2 50 a volume ; but j -s this is the era of che^p literature, we will now place it within' r-?ach of the public at half the price. Those desirous of investigating j the subject of Climatology still more extensively than it is presented in the accompanying work on " Metkorology," may find in this| volume the meteorological tables upon which all the results are! based ; and as regards the diseases peculiar to the various regions oil the United States, and especially the ben?fits to be derived by a pulmo- ' nary patient or any other invalid from change of climate, without the' necessity of leaving his country, no other book can at all be con-|i Mdered as a rival. It is in every respect adapted to the popular reader. j Terms.—Single copies, $1 2">. To those taking four or more;, copies, a discount of 23 per cent, will be made. Orders will be'! received by J. WINCHESTER, 30 Ann street, j " This is an important subject, treraed in a comprehensive, able, and sci- entific minner. * * * The highest praise that we can award to this .ureal labor—for so it maybe tru'y designated—is that the older country,: with all its industrious intelligence, has nothing of the kind: most of the; contributions in local medical topography that adorn the pages «f the Tran- sactions of the Provincial Medical Association will not b;ar comparison ;|| and it rrli cU altogether the highest credit on the medical literature of the Ciited States."— [London Literary Gazette. '' In respect to works of its own class, this volume may be regarded as the E30K of eooes—or it might be called the book—there being, as far as we are informed, no produc:ion resembling it, either in the English, or any other language. Assuredly there is none strongly resembling it ; much less is there any one equal to it, in many of its most interesting and important qualities. It is therefore not only original, but unique in its kind. * * * The excellence of its plan and arrangement, the elevation and even gran- deur of its aim, the masculine spirit and love of philosophy which pervade it, and the elegant style in which it is composed, are in no respect inferior to the matter which it contains. * * * His style we pronounce eminently spirited, graphic, and scholar-like. * * * We have yet to loarn that a single work of the kind has heretofore appeared, in any language, compara- ble to that which now lies before us."—[Western Journal of Mediciue" and Surgery. ''Dr. Fdnry has been long known by his meritorious labors in various departments of s:atisf.ie-=, particularly by his 'Report on the Sickness and .Mortality in the Army of the United State.;,' and the ' Army Meteorological Register.' In the present work, advantage has been^taken of the materials collected by the returns from the virious military posts, and also from other sources, to draw »ut a general and comprehensive view of the climate of-the (United .Sates, and of North America in general. The work seems well done, and the author deserves the commenda'ion of all, for his labors in this new and important field of investigation."—[Silliman's Journal of Science and Arts. '' It is with particular pleasure that we hail the treatise before us—a plea- sur; which we are sure will b? reciprocated at large by our medical brethren."—[American Journal of Medical Sciences. "A volume of highly interesting fac's. It is creditable to the medical science of the United Slates."—[London Athetueum. " This.is a sensible and useful work, upon a subject f.f much importance and daily increasing interest."—[Dublin Journal of Medical Science. " The present work of Dr. Forry's com-?? out under peculiarly imposing auspice*-. This is.just s ich a volume as every physician has fclr llie want of."—[Bell's Select Medical Library. "Dr. Forty's work is unquestionably one of the most interesting produc- tions that have appeared on this interesting subject."—[Dunglison's Arae- riean Medi.:al Intelligencer. "Dr. Fonv, in the successful accomplishment of the task of which this bv-k is t.'-:e fruit, has laid the profession under deep obligations, snd has made mi .t:c -ssion to the scien'ific literature of the coun'ry, of which it may feel us'ly proud- It must, as a matter of course, find its way to the banns of '.•very one of our readers, and occupy a placj in every library."—[New jrni-k Lancet. " A work well sui'ed by its subject and by the valuable knowledge it con- ■;-. n-, fir general perusal. The public are much indebted to Dr. Forry for 'ie industry, methoo,.and good sense, which he has brought to the compo- iiion of this work, and the miss of information which he has collected and " This is to the medical student a most interesting, and to ererv rf-Jb » most valuable work."—[New York Tribune 3 " Muc'i intellec'ual acumen is discoverable in every page, and the industry manifested reminds us of the indefatigable diligence of Kepler, called by way of eminence, the navigator of the skies. Dr. Forry has an undisputed c aim to the honor of having methodically investigated a class of phenomena almost wholy overlooked by his predecessors, and we are sure that very few of ins contemporaries will dare to interfere in a domain so successfully cul- tivated by himself."—[Boston Medical and Surgical Journal. rr> Y\e rnend this valuable w >rk to the attention of our readers."— [Knickerbocker. " The topics—and f.jw are more universally interesting—treated in this volume, seem to us to be fairly and philosophically discussed. It is a book which the curious and inquisitive generally may read with satisfaction, for it is written in a poptfr&rstyle, and is nowhere repulsive by a ihow of techni- calities or pretension."—New York American. •'We commend the work to our readers, not only as a new book, but a valuable one. '— [Maryland Medical and Surgical Journal. [ "Embracins, as it does, a connected view of the leading phenomena of | our climate, both physical and medical, based on a series of facts of unques- tioned au'horiiy, ihis volume presents us with results of ttie most important character, and which are to be found in no other work, fi must be gratifying to the author to know that it has received unqualified praise from the philoso- phers of Europe, and that his labors are appreciated abroad in som* men- sure commensurate with their value."—[New York Commercial Advertiser. " As this production has already taken a place among the standard works of the day, it is scarcely necessary »\r us to say that Dr. Furry, in the suc- cessful accomplishment of his most laborious enterprise, has mado a vast accession to the scientific literature of the country."—[Hunt's Merchants' l»Iag?z;ne. " This volume contains the results of his laborious and mist ably executed enterprise. As a vast collection of documents, the book will be much read,. and more consulted by those who take an interest in the important subject of the influence of the climate of the United States on human life."—[Phila- delphia Medical Examiner. "This excellent work is as valuable for the authenticity as for the origin- ality of its materials. In its preparation, its laborious avd judicious author has accumulated a mass of facts for which alone he is eminently entitleu to the thanks, not only of the scientific world, but in a peculiar degree, of his countrymen at large—data which have required years to collect, and years to collate and digest. Unlike all other treatises on the same subjec, which are generally loosely written and made up of the most vague and genera! statements, the deduc'ions of this volume are based upon precise instrumental observations."—[Democratic Review. " This v llume i; the work of a man of talent, learned in his own profes- sion/and imbued with a philosophy and a spirit of research which not only entitle him to a high place in his own walk of science, but to the special gratitude ef his countrymen in general. The result is the production of a book of vast value, not only to the physician, but to the general philo- sopher."— [New York Courier and Enquirer. "In regard to the manner in which Dr. Furry has executed his task, we deem it unnecessary to say anything, inasmuch as his various writings on. these subjects have already stood the test of criticism, eliciting approbdtion on both sides of the Atlantic."—[New York Medical Gazette. NEW STEREOTYPE EDITION. PRICK 23 CE*:TS.. LIEBIG'S ANIMAL CHEMISTRY,. OR, ORGANIC CHEMISTRY IN ITS APPLICATION TO PHYSIOLOGY AND PATHOLOGY. BY jrSTTJS LIEBIO TKOFESSOR OF CHEMISTRY 1\ THE UNIVKKSiTY OP GUSSET We eommen-ed our edition of popHlnr standard works by the iwie. on the 4»h ol • October last, of an edition of Tex Thocfand Copies of this learned nnd valuable treatise on Organic Chemistry: and so prest was if* success, that, in lets tuan tire uumt/is, f»1 a eopy was left on hand. Since then, nnd for more than two months p:ist, we have been overwhelmed with orders for the work from oil parts of the country,. which we have boen total!}* unable to supply. Wo have, therefore, in obedience to the eatij of ii;:ent> and others, determined to issue n new edition, stereotyped on nil entire new and benHtifiil type, which cannot fni! to give Jatisfuetion. $3" Notice is therefore given to ull those whu have already ordered, and tiioee \»1k> W'sh o«piok of this work, that it will be K-ady in nhnuttwo weeks. TVr.ms— Single copies, 25 cents—five copies for .*1, or $1G a hundred LIFE AND EXPLOITS O F T H E "•""^b^ested into fixed results."—[Xew York Evening Post. "TnHjiii an exceedingly v.iknb'e and interesting volume, and richly «!e--i'rves it widepopularity."—[Nr\v World. ''It is the proifto'liin., f such volumes as this which gives a character to Ae li'crature and science of a»country."— [Brother Jonathan. DUKE OP WELLINGTON, ' Illustrated by forty-four well executed Engravings, whiali picture the most memora* his scenes in tire career of this ureal Commander. They Five nn increased inlcre-tt to the t.-vt; for they are designed with wonderful spirit nnd fidelity. The work comprint a perfect account «f a period of hL-tory, than which there is none- imire important and exritin-r. It details with life-like power the mighty deeds which were enacted in the PeniiiMilnr War, nnd duriu; the-whole course of the Spanish Involution. It w, in a word, the best popular h*to-.-y of - the J)i,I;k" that has ever be*n iKsued from tMi;re«. It present*, in a stvle ofeomprehensive simplicity, every prominent event in the lite ol the C.roij Contain. It is indeed, a matter of surprise, and it mi^t strike every reader ilia' sii'-h a mass ol lustorv can have been condensed into so >umll a cninpn-'. No under of ta-m. who h dc-iror.s of information either for himsoh or the member, of.-, household, whether old or.voui.?,should fail to procure a work, from which m much can b" , v «ed, at so little co,t. Five copies for SI—S'1 H<" hundred. THE NEW WOKLD. PARK BENJAMIN EDITOR. J. WINCHESTER, PUBLISHER. ' NO PHNT-UP UTICA CONTRACTS OTJR POWERS ; FOR THE WHOLE BOUNDLESS CONTINENT 15 GTJRS." EXTRA SERIES. OFFICE 30 ANN-STREET. NUMBERS 66, 67. BOOKS FOR THE PEOPLE. NEW-YORK, APRIL, 1843. PRICE 25 CENTS. METEOROLOGY: COMPRISIN& A DESCRIPTION OF THE ATMOSPHERE AND ITS PHENOMENA, THE LAWS OF CLIMATE IN GENERAL, AND ESPECIALLY THE CLIMATIC FEATURES PECULIAR TO THE REGION OF THE UNITED STATES; WITH SOME REMARKS OTON THE CLIMATES OF THE ANCIENT WORLD, AS BASED ON FQSSIL GEOLOGY.* BY SAMUEL FORRY, M.D., -A'Ufor of" The Climate of the United States and its Endemic Influences," etc., etc WITH THIRTEEN ILLUSTRATIONS. INTRODUCTION. This beautiful Department of Science makes us acquainted with the natural history of the atmosphere and all its properties and relations. So closely identified is this science with the every-d*y occurrences of life, that man is by nature a meteorologist. The shepherd and the mari- ner, in ages remote, when philosophy had not yet asserted its noble preroga- tive of releasing the mind from the bondage of superstition, were wont to look with awe upon the face of heaven as an index to prognosticate future results frwn present appearances, and to read upon it " times and seasons." To Aristotle is due the credit of having first treated this subject systemati- cally. Constantly employed in observing and comparing natural objects, ke assigned the cause of the rainbowand^the halo, and described minutely the! Tarious appearances of clouds, rain, hail, snow, meteors, and other atmo-! spheric phenomena. Among the Romans, Pliny, Virgil, and Seneca, give j us abundant meteorological observations, confounded with much that is ab- j surd and fabulous. From the. latter period to the revival of letters in Eu- rope, meteorological science slumbered in oblivion ; and it was not till the middle of the last century that men of genius again directed their energies to the investigation of aerial phenomena. No longer confined to the mere I observance of casual atmospheric appearances, meteorology soon became, in the rapid advancement of human knowledge, a new and extensive branch of natural philosophy, comprising nearly the whole circle of the natural sciences, but more particularly the atmosphere and the phenomena prsduced by heat, light, electricity, and magnetism. Although the general laws in •Entered according to Act of CongreM, in the year of our Lord, 1843, by Samwel Foaav, M.D., in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the Uaited States, for the Southern District of New York. relation to thunder and lightning, clouds, rain, hail, snow, frost, land and water-spouts, wind, etc., have, in a measure, been established; yet the laboratory of nature is so immense and complicated in its processes, as to defy the finite powers of the human intellect. Bewildered in the inextrica- ble mazes of causes and effects, the genius of man has never been able to grasp the vast mass of facts presented, and to generalize them in systematic harmony. But fortunately, as in other departments of knowledge, so in that of meteorology, nature has found faithful interpreters content to observe facts and to trace their relations and sequences, thus bestowing upon it the characters of a true science. It is now being daily improved by the results of researches the most varied and extensive. The averages of heat under every variety of general and local causes ; its distribution by isother- mal, isotheral, and isocheimal lines; its mean at different depths and alti- tudes, and under the various influences of reflection and radiation ; and the temperature of waters ;—the phenomena of clouds, dew, and evaporation ; of rain, hail, and snow ; and the relative quantity of rain in different locali- ties and elevations ;—the electrical or magnetic states of the air ; the barom- etrical conditions of the atmosphere; and their periodical or irregular oscil- lations, as influenced by heat, electricity, the ocean-tides, or lunar attrac- tions ;—and the phenomena of winds and hurricanes, as regards their di- rection, velocity, and physical causes ;—all these operations of nature both in regard to the explanation of the phenomena themselves, and their mutual relations and sequences, are at this time the subjects of active and fruit- ful investigation. These investigations and those of a kindred nature, tend to show that be- tween the corporeal powers and intellectual faculties of man, and the prop- erties of the various forms of matter which surround him, there exists a mutual harmony. The atmosphere supplies him with the aliment, which alone can support the breath of life. From the same source are derived water, heat, and light,—those universal agents which are equally, but not so immediately, necessary to the wants of man. The mineral kingdom, though not a direct supporter of life, yet sustains, in the form of natural soils, the growth of all vegetation, upon which animil life essentially de- pends for nutrition ; and from this source are also obtained those various metallic and earthy bodies, which are of indispensable importance in the promotion of many of the arts of civilized society. Were the earth a uni- versal plain, it would be void of the life and beauty bestowed upon it by the ! terrible convulsions by which its mountains have been upheaved; for, as there could be no springs of water, no rivers, no metals for the purpose of tools,.or no stone or lime to serve for architecture, and as the atmosphere itself would necessarily be baneful, all animal aad vegetable life would languish in its lowest existence. It is thus demonstrated that the external world is admirably adapted to the physical condition of man; and equally obvious is the harmony which exists between that world and his moral [condition. | Thus do we behold on every side the evidence of design—the agency of a j Supreme Intelligence not only adapting mechanism to an end, but adjust- I ing, as the physical history of our globe proves, the mechanism to the alter- | ed conditions under which it was to exist. With every change in the physi- cal state of the earth, for instance, we discover a corresponding change » * organized creation. C of valleys, on hills or around elevated peaks, become, when carried off Thus have these deductions been developed by Dr. Wells in a long se- by winds, so many clouds, modified', as they rise into the higher regions ries of experiments, as c >nelusiveas they are ingenious. His admirable:! 0f the atmosphere, by the intermixture of strata of different tempera- work is well worth being consulted by every one who takes an interest tures and in different states of saturation. That clouds have a vesiou- in physical facts as a science, or by the mere practical horticulturist, j i lar structure is now almost universally acknowledged On the Alps, His extensive observations have enabled him to apply many useful pre- cautions to the cultivation and preservation of fruits, flowers, and plants. Thus the effect produced by the intervention of a substance between the radiating body on the surface of the earth and the upper regions of Saussure saw a multitude of small globules, resembling soap-bubbles, floating before him, being generally about the size of a pea, and seem- ingly covered with an inconceivably thin coating ; and these vesicles, he regarded as the component parts of a cloud. The same phenomenon, the air, which are well known to be the abode? of perpetual congelation, j| the vesicles being only much smaller, has been witnessed by the author has ati important bearing on horticulture. Even a thin wire gauze, suspended .over a body which readily admits the deposition of dew, will suffice to prevent its occurrence. "I had often," says Dr. W., " in the pride of halt-knowledge, sailed at the means frequently employed by gardeners to protect plants from cold, as it appeared to me impos- sible that a thin mat, or any such flimsy substance could prevent them from attaining the temperature of the atmosphere, by which alone I in crossing the Alleghany chain in Pennsylvania. These particles, it is believed, are charged with electricity of the same name; and ps they thus repel each other, they are prevented from assuming a liquid state and falling as rain. It has, indeed, been proved by the experiments of Yolta and Cavallo, that in the process of evaporation, not only is caloric absorbed, but electricity is also developed, the vapor acquiring positive electricity, while the remaining fluid possesses the opposite electric state. thought them liable to be injured. But wh;n I had learned that bodies Much electric fluid is thus carried into the atmosphere ; and when, in on the surface of the earth become, during a still and serene night, •'.....----—■-----'' *■---:- - colder than the atmosphere, by radiating their heat to the heavens, I perceived immediately a just reason for the practice which I had before deemed useless. Being desirous, however, of acquiring some precise information on this subject, I fixed, perpandicularly, in the earth of a grass-plot, four small sticks, and over their upper extremities, which were six inches above the grass, and formed the corners of a square, the sides of which were two feet long, drew tightly a very thin cam- bric handkerchief. The temperature of ths grass which was thus shielded from the sky was upon many nights afterwards examined by the upper regions of the air, a partial condensation of the vapor dimin- ishes its capacity for electricity, it is not improbable that the spherules of vapor may become surrounded with atmospheres of electric Suid ; and thus the mutual repulsion of the particles of vapor may prevent their coalescing into drops so heavy as to descend by their gravity to the earth,—an inference favored by the fact that a stratum of air chanted with moisture is specifically lighter than dry air at the same temperature. There is still, however, much to be learned in relation to clouds; and in order to be enabled to explain their diversified phenomena., it is neces- sary to accumulate all the data in our power in leferenee, to the proper- Meteorology. THE NEW WORLD; 9 ties of vapors, as well as the composition, form, color, extent, and ele- vation of clouds. Notwithstanding the endless diversity of figure and appearance pre- sented by clouds, a classification has been adopted by which meteorolo- gists are enabled to compare their observations and results. The sys- tem of nomenclature here adopted is that proposed by Mr. Luke How- ard, who divides them into three primary forms and four modifications. The three primary forms are: 1. Cirrus.—This cloud resembles a feather or a lock of hair, com- posed of fibrous-like stripes, parallel, flexuous, or diverging, unlimited in their extent or direction. This form of cloud is confined chiefly to the higher regions of the atmosphere. It has less density than any other kind, and is generally formed of white radiated streaks, pencilled on an azure sky; but some- times, it may be seen stretching over half the horizon. " Its duration," says Higgins, "is as variable as its extent; for, although it will fre- quently retain the same form for many hours, it does occasionally change its appearance so rapidly as not to be recognized, after a few minutes, as the cloud whirm was first observed. Its direction is not less various. From the primitive threads which are first woven, others are thrown, some laterally, others upward or downward, some or all becom- ing in time the branches of new shoots: while, under some circum- stances, transverse lines are formed, which, intersecting the lateral threads, produce a reticulated structure. There is, in fact, no modifi- cation that is so various in its extent, duration, and form, as the cirrus ; but we think it will be found more constant in all these particulars when formed at great heights, than when at small elevation." The cirrus is considered as generally indicating a breeze, and it often precedes a storm. " Horizontal sheets of cirrus," says Dr. Traill, " with streamers pointing upward, often indicate rain ; while the depending fringes^are the precursors of fine weather." When the cirrus is lower and denser than usual, it may be regarded as prognosticating a storm; and, gene- rally, the storm advances in the opposite direction. It is now generally believed that this cloud performs the part of an electric conductor from one mass of air to another, or from cloud to cloud. The cirrus, in con- sequence of the variety of form it assumes, has been styled the Proteus of the sky; and hence it often confuses the student in his earlier observations. 2. Cumulus.—This primary form is characterized by being heaped together in convex or in conical masses, increasing upward from a horizontal base. CUMULI'S. The cumulus is generally a dense hemispherical cloud moving near the surface of the earth. In fair weather, it has a well-defined rounded surface. Beginning in the morning, it obtains its greatest magnitude about 2 p. m., and usually decreases before sunset, breaking up and dis- appearing before nightfall. When it is the harbinger of rain, it increases rapidly in size, mass rolling upon mass like Pelion upon Ossan, the whole presenting the appearance of a vast aerial mountain scene. It!- dense masses, which are now nearer the surface of the earth than usual, present, instead of a rounded surface, a fleecy appearance. Spcakins of this modification of clouds, Mr. Howard makes the following re- marks :—" Independently of the beauty and magnificence it adds to the face of nature, ihe cumulus serves lo screen the earth from the direct rays of the sun ; by its multiplied reflections, to diffuse, and, as it wer«» to economize the light; and also to convey the product of evaporation to a distance from the place of its ongin. The connection of the finer round forms, and more pleasing dispositions and colors of these aggre- gates, with warmth ana calmness ; and of everything that is dark, and abrupt, and shaggy, and blotched, and horrid in them, with cold, and storm, and tempest, may be cited as no mean instance of the perfection of that wisdom and benevolence which formed and sustains them." 3. Stratus-—This cloud spreads horizontally in a level, continuous. and wide-extended sheet, increasing from below. It is the lowest of all clouds, being often seen, in calm evenings, creeping along the ground, near lakes and rivers, and rising toward the higher grounds. At night, it often travels over plains and invests the summits of moderate eleva- tions, and usually melts away before the morning sun, after being gra- dually separated from the earth. The stratus has been long known as the harbinger of fair weather, the day ushered in by it being almost invariably serene and cheerful. Of the four modified forms of cloulds, two are intermediate and two are composite. Of the forjner, the first is the— Cirro-cumulus.—This modification consists of small, well-defined,. roundish masses, arranged in close horizontal order or contact. The cirro-cumulus. • cirrus here appears to lose its fibrous character, its streaks seeming to contract and form themselves into globular masses,- an alteration otjorm supposed to result from the cessation Of its function as the electrical conductor of the atmosphere. Sometimes the sky. on a fine summer s evening, is nearly covered with the nubecula? of the cirro-cumulus, while at othT times these well-defined and roundish masses are widely separated. It is usually a prognostic of fine weather, except when it ac- companies the cumulo-stratue; and then it is the harbinger of a storm. The Cirro-Stratus forms the other intermediate modification. Ihe masses composing this form are likewise small and rounded, being attenuated toward a part or the whole of their circumference : when m groups, their arrangement is either horizontal or slightly inclined, and their masses are either undulated or bent downward. It often changes cirro-stratus. its form. It has a uniform hazy appearance when seen overhead ; but viewed on the horizon, as it is here presented edgewise, it often seems very dense. When it is stationary, it indicates rain or storms of snow. A.s the halo appears most frequently in this species of cloud, it is hence, in all probability, as Mr. Howard suggests, that this phenomenon has come to be regarded as a prognostic of foul weather. The cirro-stratus often envelopes mountain summits, and descends, in cold weather, into plains as soaking dense mist. Of the two compound modifications of clouds, the first is designated the.— Cumulo-Stratus, which is made up of the cirro-stratus blended with the cumulus, the former either intermingling with the larger masses of the latter, or superadding a wide-spead structure to its base. As this modification is a compound of those clouds which indicate fair, as well is those which bring unsettled weather, it is not unusual in those coun- tries which are subject to atmospheric vicissitudes. Hence its indica- tions are not uniform. This cloud, ever-varying in its forms, often 10 THE NEW WORLD METEOROLOGr assumes a portentous size, in which the imagination may picture in bold outline, its wildest vagaries. CUMULO-STRATUS. Sometimes we see a cloud that's dragonish ; A vapor sometimes, like a bear or lion, A towered citadel, a pendent rock, A forked mountain, a blue promontory, With trees upon't that nod unto the world And mock our eyes with air. That which is now a horse, even with a thought The rack dislimns, and makes it indistinct As water is in water.—Shaxspere. The Cumulo-Cirro-Stratus, or Nimbus, is (he second composite form, being a horizontal stratum ol aqueous vapor, over which clouds CUMULO-CIRRO-STRATUS, OR NIMBUS. of the cirrous form are spread, while those of the cumulous form enter it laterally and from beneath. This is the cloud or system of clouds, from which rain falls. It has its origin generally in the cumulus. Pre- vious to the fall of rain, vast masses of cumuli may often be seen rising into towering aerial mountains, and taking imperceptibly the structure of the cumulo-stratus; and this modification, becoming more dense, and increasing, at the same time, in extent and irregularity of figure, soon forms itself into the nimbus or rain-cloud. Although the cumulus and cumulo-stratus frequenllv*ss>une a darker and more threatening aspect, yet no cloud is so readily distinguished as the nimbus or cumulo-cirro- stratus. This cloud, which is always in an electrified condition, is never absent during a thunder-storm ; and then its dark and apparently compact structure, as the electric fluisl darts from cloud to cloud, or cleaves its way to the earth, seems :. u^ rent by the terrific violence of this mysterious power. As regards tlie.wiofion of clouds, it may be remarked that a more frequent subject of optical delusion is perhaps never presented. This is well illustrated in the following extract from Prout's Bridgewater Treatise: " Let us suppose a cloud moving from the distant horizon toward the place where we stand. Let us also suppose that the cload during its motion retains the same size and figure, and that it proceeds along its course in a uniform horizontal line. A cloud so moving, when first seen, will appear to be in contact with the distant horizon; and will thus necessarily, from its remote position, appear to be much smaller than in reality u is. During its advance toward us, the cloud will seem to rise into the sky, and to become gradually larger, till it is almost directly overhead. Continuing its progress, it will then seem again to descend from the zenith, and to lessen in size as gradually as it had before increased, till at last it vanishes in the distance, opposite to where it commenced its movement. Thus the same cloud, without deviating from its motion in a straight line, and retaining throughout the same size and figure, will, by optical delusion, seem continually to vary m magnitude. The line of its motion also, instead of being straight, will appear to be a curve having its vertex directly above us, and its extremes boundless in opposite points of the horizon. We have given the most simple case that can be supposed. But clouds, as they exist in nature, are unceasingly varying in shape, in magnitude, in direction, and in velocity; so that to form a just estimate of their figure and d:rpcf:on, or to unravel their motions, becomes absolutely impossiblp " The uses of clouds in the >conomy of nature are almost without number. Water is thus transported from the ocean to inland countries, which would otherwise suffer from deprivation. As they greatly miti- gate the extremes of temperature, clouds are of vast benefit to extra- tropical countries. By day, they not only produce the agreeable vicissi tude of shade and sunshine, but protect vegetation from the seorchin influence of solar heat; and at night, the earth wrapt in its mantle of clouds, retains the caloric that it would otherwise lose by radiation, causing an extreme of temperature prejudicial to vegetation. Having completed the consideration of the various states of visible vapor, it remains to examine the phenomena of the precipitation of wa- ter from the atmosphere in the form of Rain, Snow, Sleet, and Hail. Suusection 8.—Rain. As rain has its origin from the clouds, no theory of its production will be entirely satisfactory, until their formation shall be clearly under- stood. This subject, like many others in meteorology, will, doubtless, be relieved from many of its perplexing circumstances, when we come to be better acquainted with the influence of electricity upon the con- ditions of atmospherical phenomena. Among the numerous specula- tions relative to the production of rain, one of the most ingenious is that proposed by Dr. James Hutton. Rain, according to this hypothesjs, results from the intermingling of extensive strata of air saturated with moisture at different temperatures. From the law of the elastic force of vapor, already described—that temperatnre and solution do not in- crease by equal increments—it follows that when two atmospheric cur- rents of different temperatures, but equally saturated with vapor, are mixed together, notwithstanding the resulting temperature of the mix- ture will be the mean of the two, the resulting force of the vapor will ex- ceed the tension belonging to the resulting mean temperaturo. This theo- ry has been so well illustrated, in an excellent paper in the Encyclopaedia Metropolitana, by Mr. Harvey, that a quotation here will not be con- sidered out of place. " Let it be required to mingle two volumes of air, of the temperature of 40° and 60°, each being saturated with humi- dity. The force ot vapor at these temperatures is known to be respec- tively 0.263 and 0.524 inches of the mercurial column. The compound mixturef Africa, on the water which soaked through the earth, and that which ran off at the low coast of Egypt, and a portion of the coast of Peru. As a uniform upper pipe, wene both collected. On commencing the experiment, the wind must produce constant precipitation or no rain at all, the perma- soil was soaked with water. A rain-gauge of dimensions similar to that nency of the result will depend on the permanency of the cause. As of the cylinder being placed near it, the amount of evaporation was the prevailing wind, for example, on that part of the coast of Peru just estimated by subtracting the quantity which passed into the bottles from ' adverted to, passes from a colder into a warmer region, there can be the whole rain. Thus in— ! no precipitation, because its capacity for moisture continually aug- 1796. 1797. 1798. ments. Rain . . . . 30.629 inches. 38.791 inches. 31 259 inches. | As regards the seasons, the greatest amount of rain Tails when the Evaporation. . 23.725 " 27.857 " 23.862 " | mean monthly temperature is highest; but, although the quantity is giving 25.148 inches for the mean annual evaporation, and 33.559 inches greater in summer than in winter, the latter exhibits the greater num- for the annual condensation, at Manchester j but to this, in the opinion ber of rainy days. Rain falls in greater abundance during the day than of Dr. Daiton, there ought to be added five inches for the annual dew, the night. thus making the total annual evaporation about thirty inches. As the ! The drops of falling rain vary in size from l-25th to l-3rd of an inch in mean annual evaporation is generally estimated at thirty-four inches,! diameter: and their ultimate velocity, it has been calculated, is in the the whole mass of water raised by this process from the surface of the duplicate ratio of their diameters. To ascertain the quantity of rain earth is equal to 105,614 cubic miles, which is the estimated quantity that falls in any place, various kinds of instruments, known by the annually precipitated on our globe. These calculations, however, are names of udometers, ombrometers or rain-gauges, have been employed. nothing more than rude approximations. In different countries, al-| it is not, however, deemed necessary to give a description of them. Tn though the relative proportion of water evaporated, and of the water' regard to the proper position of a rain-gauge, some practical difficulties condensed, must necessarily vary exceedingly, yet it is probable that are presented, inconsequence of the fact now repeatedly v-rifi'-d, that in the same country, these proportions exhibit little variation. As a j the mean annual quantity of rain is less in proportion as the receiving large proportion of water condensed on the land, must have been evapo- - \ vessel is elevated above the surface of the earth. This result, as 11 I < >1- rated from neighboring seas, it follows that in countries which dis- lows uniformly, cannot be referred to accidental circumstances. The charge superfluous waters into the ocean, condensation must exceed j| experiments made atthe Royal Observatory, at Paris, during a i.ncd ot evaporation. . 'fourteen successive years, as well as at Yorkshire, England. ?i-t;i!■';«1 -.*■* There are many causes which exert a powerful influence upon the the fact beyond all doubt. The mean annual quantity falling at Paris, annual fall of rain; such as, its position in relation to the equator, its( i m the court of the Observatory, is 56 centimetres, while at an eleva- proximity to the sea and its elevation above its level, aswell as the ex- ( tion of 28 metres above this point, on the roof of the building, the mean posure of the place, and the mountains, woods, &c. in the vicinity It has been already shown that the mean annual quantity decreases from the equator to the poles. The following table, according to Hum- boldt, exhibits the proportional quantity of rain in different latitudes: Latitude. Mean annual quantity of rain. 0°......96 inches. 19......80 45......29 „ 69......17 Although in the table given above we find the annual quantity, from Vlea- borg, Lapland, to St. Domingo, varies from 135-10 to 150 mr-lies, yet there is no regular average throughout a parallel. While in some places it seldom or never rams, as in the Great Desert of Africa, and on the arid shores of Peru between the 15° and 30° of lat.; there are, on the other hand, regions in which rain is almost constantly falling. In the British Possessions on the western coast of Africa, for example, * Dalton. t Daniell. t Howard. § Adic. tl From the Encyclopaedia Metropolitana. Article Meteorology, p. 123. quantity is only 50 centimetres. It. was satisfactorily ascertained that even a difference of only five or six feet,affected the annual result in a sensible degree. These differences, which are fully confirmed by the experiments at Yorkshire, may be attributed, in a great measure, to the circumstance that each drop of rain, in its passage through the atmo- sphere, augments, on the principle of condensation, in proportion as it approaches the surface of the earth. It is necessary to determine not only the mean annual, but also the mean montiily quantities of rain, inasmuch as the latter results have a more direct relation with vegetation. The "directions" at our military posts, at all of which the conical rain-gauge is u?ed, are as follows:—"It will be kept remote from all elevated structures, to a distance at least equal to their height, and still further off, where it can be conveniently done. It is to be suspended in a circular opening made in a board, which i» to be fixed to a post, eight feet from the ground; the opening to be five inches diameter, and bev- elled, so us to fit the side of the gauge, into whieh the can is to be fixed, base downward, to prevent evaporation. * * * in freezing IS THE NEW WORLD. Meteorology. weather, when the rain-gauge cannot be used out of doors, it will be taken into the room, and a tin vessel will be substituted for receiving the snow, rain, or sleet, that may then fall. This vessel must have its opening exactly equal to that of the rain-gauge, and widen downward to a sufficient depth with a considerable slope. It should be placed where nothing can obstruct the descending snow from entering, and where no drilt snow can be blown into it. During a continued snow- storm, the snow may be occasionally pressed down. The contents of the vessel must be melted, by placing it near the fire, with a cover to prevent evaporation, and the water produced poured into the gauge to ascertain its quantity, which must then be entered on the register." Subsection 9.—Snow. In regard to the formation of this substance, our knowledge is limited; but in respect to the different forms of crystallization which the flakes assume, our observations are more complete. When carefully examined by a microscope, flakes of snow are found to consist of amass of beau- tiful crystals, more or less perfect and regular. These appearances were first described in 1740 br.Dr. Nettis of Middleburgh ; but it is to Captain Scoresby, who availed himself of the opportunities for its investigation presented in his polar voyages, that we are chiefly indebted for our knowledge on this interesting subject. His work contains the delinea- tions of about 100 very curious and remarkable figures; but it were foreign to the object of this work to detail his results. Modifications or combinations of the hexangular prisms, often consisting of a star of six rays, formed of prisms united at angles of 60°, are exhibited by these flakes, the whole having a plumose appearance of exquisite beauty. The quantity of snow which falls in any place is regulated by its cli- mate, as depending on latitude, elevation, and position. In the polar regions, according to Mr. Scoresby, it snows nine days out of ten dur- ing April, May and June, the heaviest falls occurring when a moist cur- rent from the sea encounters a cold breeze from the surface of the ice. During the most inclement season, when the inhabitants of these inhos- Sitable climes have immured themselves in their huts, it is necessary, ,e says, to prevent the admission of the cold air by stopping up every crevice, or otherwise the vapor of the confined air would be imme- diately precipitated as snow. As snow is a bad conductor of caloric, it shields vegetation and pre- serves the seeds intrusted to the earth, from the rigorous cold of the higher latitudes—a property well known to the husbandman from time immemorial; but it is only since the successful investigatioBs of Dr. Wells in regard to dew, that science has been able to afford a satisfac- tory explanation. It not only prevents the loss of terrestrial heat by radiation, but defends the surface from the frigorific influence of very cold winds. That the air is warmer during a fall of snow, than before or after, is a well known fact, which is attributable to the extrication of heat in the sensible form during the transition of the vapor from a fluid to the solid state. Another striking instance of design on the part of Nature, is exhibited in the laws of atmospheric temperature as regards snow and ice ; for, were these laws the same as we observe in other bod- ies, every country liable to snow and ice would be annually destroyed by inundation. In the liquefaction of ice, as already shown, 140° of caloric become inappreciable by the thermometer; and hence, were not this immense quantity of caloric rendered latent in the liquefaction ■of snow, the greatest accumalation would at once be converted into water as soon as the atmosphere should rise above the temperature of 32°. There are also what are call e6-frost- smoke, spicular snow, and sleet. The first, which is not unfrequently witnessed in polar latitudes, consists of frozen particles ot water, which float in the atmosphere in the form of crystallized spicules. The second, which is supposed to have its origin in causes similar to those which produce snow, is composed of minute needles, grouped and intermingled so as to have the appearance of a delicate bouquet. Sleet, which is the thin transparent layer of ice, fre- quently observed in winter covering the surface of the earth and other objects, is forro'ed by rain which freezes as it falls upon the ground. Subsection 10.—Hail. As these phenomena, so formidable to the interests of the husbandman, is of very frequent occurrence in the south of France, the subject has been very closely studied by the philosophers of that nation. Hail seems to be the production of sudden and intense cold in the higher regions of the atmosphere; and hence a fall of hail is not un- common in warm climates, in which snow is utterly unknown. These frozen balls or hail-stones exhibit great variety as regards form and size. The ordinary size varies from l-10th to l-3rd of an inch in diameter; but occasionally they are much larger, being three or four inches in diameter, and weighing from ten to thirteen ounces. In June, 1811, an enormous hail-stone fell during a storm, in England, which meas- ured 6£ inches in diameter, having the appearance of a congeries of fro- zen balls about the size of walnuts. As the icy nucleus doubtless has a temperature far below the freezing point, the hail must necessarily acquire magnitude as it descends, by condensing on its surfaee the vapor of the lower regions of the atmosphere. Hence they are always more or less roianded? and composed of concentric layers. Notwith- standing it usually hails but a few minutes, extending very rarely to a quarter of an hour, the quantity of ice which falls is so great as frequent- ly to eover the ground to the depth of several inches. A hail shower is often ushered in by a peculiar rattling noise, which has been compared to the sound prdduced by a number of bags of nuts suddenly emptied together on a floor. The clouds that bring hail have a remarkably ashy color, and are little elevated in the atmosphere ; and they are of great extent, with rugged edges and enormous protuberances on the lower surface. Hail is sometimes accompanied with thunder; and it gene- rally precedes the rain of a storm, and is sametimes mingled with it. It is most frequently formed in the spring and summer, and during the warmest part of the day. In winter or during the night, it seldom hails. So great is the fury of hail-storms in France that whole districts are sometimes laid waste ; and these calamitous visitations are usually ac- companied by whirlwinds and the most terrific electrical phenomena. And here the hail-stones have often an irregular shape, being angular masses of many pounds in weight, as though they were fragments of a thick sheet of ice. To guard against these destructive visitations, the ingenious device of the Paratonnerre has been used in France,—a con- trivance which consists in the erection of pointed electric conductors on the surrounding hills, with the view of abstracting the electricity silently and gradually from the air, and thus prevent those dangerous accumu- lations over the included districts. " In hot climates," says Dr. Traill, in the Encyclopaedia Britannica, "the descent of large masses of frozen water is still more common than in Europe, especially within the calms off the western coast of Africa." The celebrated Volta accounts for the first formation of hail in the following manner:—"The clouds are formed of hollow vesicles,the external surface of which is fluid. The myriads of these, which form the tipper surface of a cloud, must undergo, toward the south, a strong evaporation, both on account of the intensity of the solar rays and the dryness of the air in which they swim. The elastic vapor thus produced by the solar heat must first saturate the dry air through which it passes, and at length, by the low temperature of some superior stratum, become again reduced into a vesicular state, forming another cloud, differing in its electrical condition from the first The upper cloud will have positive electricity, on account of that species of electricity being devel- oped during the precipitation of vapor, the lower having changed its character to negative, in consequence of the evaporation it has under- gone. A diminished temperature at length may produce, between the clouds, icy particles, or hail in a nascent state, which the opposite elec- trical states of the upper and lower clouds will cause to oscillate, until, by gathering matter from the surrounding moisture, they become at length enveloped in compact and opaque ice, and attain a size which, overpowering the electric forces, compels them by gravity to descend." The most powerful argument against this theory is that urged by M. Arago, who asks how it is that the clouds, which may be supposed to attract each other as well as the hail, are not brought together. But no theory has so far embraced all the phenomena. A satisfactory explana- tion requires in the first place a knowledge whence the cold arises, by which the nucleus of each ball of hail is produced ; in the next place, a knowledge of the process by which these balls augment in size; in the the third place, a knowledge of the force which sustains in the atmo- sphere masses of ice, weighing sometimes a pound or more, (but, as al- ready observed, they may form as they fall, and fall as they form;) and, in the last place, a knowledge why electrical phenomena are so ener- getic, passing rapidly from one state to another, whenever the sky ex- hibits those low, rugged, swollen, and ash-colored clouds, which an- nounce the impending hail-storm. The theory of Mr. Espy in regard to the formation of hail and several other atmospheric phenomena, will be noticed in the sequel. ... All the preceding phenomena which belong to the precipitation of water from the atmosphere viz., Dew, Fogs, Clouds, Rain, Snow, and Hail, have a close relation with one another, depending no doubt on some general fundamental cause; and to arrive at a theory satisfactory in every point of view, further research is demanded. SECTION V.—Winds in General. In continuation of the accidental phenomena pertaining to meteor- ology, the extensive and complicated subject of winds will now be brought under examination. Whatever disturbs the equilibrium of the atmosphere produces wind; and as the most important of these disturbing causes is the action of the sun, winds are produced chiefly by that law of fluid matter which com- pels the atmosphere to seek its level in obedience to the attraction of the earth. Atmospheric currents may be considered under two heads: the first being of a general character, extend over the whole globe; and the second being of a local nature, arise from a great variety of dis- turbing causes in physical geography, as influencing the equal distribu- tion of heat oyer the surface of the globe, or modifying the hygrometric and electric states of the atmosphere. The general currents of the atmosphere depend principally upon the unequal temperature of the poles and the equator, in connection with the earth's diurnal motion upon its axis. As the mean annual tempera- ture in the vicinity of the equator, at the level of the sea, is upward of 80°, while in the polar regions it is constantly below the freezing point of water, 32°, and as the entire pressure of the atmosphere, at the level of the sea, is the same over all the earth's surface_, being equivalent to that of a column of mercury about thirty inches in height, it follows, to maintain this equilibrium, that two grand currents will be in perpetual motion. As a given bulk of air at the level of the sea in the polar re- gions, must consequently be specifically heavier, than a similar volume at the level of the sea under the equator, it is obvious that the dense cool air of the polar and temperate regions naturally tends to take the place of the more rarefied air over inter-tropical regions, which, ©wing to its lightness, ascends and flows back again over the colder stratum, north and south toward each pole, so as to preserve the equilibrium. Thus are established two currents, a polar and an equatorial, which, being as permanent'in their operation as the causes that produce them, constitute one primary element of the winds—phenomena of the utmost importance in the economy of nature, as tending to equalize the distri- bution of temperature over the surface of the globe. The other primary element of the winds is the result of the earth's diurnal motion upon its axis. If the earth were at rest, and its surface a plain, the northern hemisphere would, of course, experience a con- stant noith wind, and the southern hemisphere a constant south wind; but as the earth is in an unceasing state of motion upon its axis from west to east, these currents are deflected from their northern and south- ern course, producing an easterly current in the atmosphere. The ve. locity of every point on the earth's surface, in its diurnal rotation, in- creases from the poles to the equator, the ratio of which, according to Captain Basil Hall, is as follows: 0° - - - 1000 miles. 50° - - - 640 miles. 10 - - - 985 60 - - - 500 20 - - - 940 70 - - - 342 30 - - - 866 80 - - - 174 40 - - - 766 90 ... 0 Thus while the velocity of any point on the equator is about 1000 miles an hour, the poles are quiescent; and from this extreme, the rate of motion gradually increases until it attains its maximum at the equa- tor. The under-current of air from the polar regions to the equator, is consequently influenced by a force acting at right angles to that which Meteorology. THE NEW WORLD. 13 results from the rarefaction of the atmosphere at the equator; for as the ^particles of these currents cannot acquire a velocity equal to the continual- ly accelerating rotary motion from west to east, they will gradually seem to acquire a motion in a direction opposite to that of the rotation of the earth. Impressed by two forces, these currents take an intermedi- ate path, describing a curved line with its convexity toward the east; and thus, by gradually declining to the west,assume in the northern hemi sphere the character of a N. E., and in the southern, of a S. E. wind This effect of the augmenting velocity of the earth's surface," says Dr. Traill in the Encyclopaedia Britannica, " in approaching the equi- noxial line, is increased by the continual movement of the point over which the sun is vertical, and conseqently his heat the greatest, to the west; and the effect ot the gravitation of the sun and moon on the at- mosphere, as was shown by D'Alembert, must directly tend to increase the force of the easterly wind. The influence of these luminaries on our atmosphere is corroborated by the observations of Bacon, Halley. and Gassendi, on the frequency of storms about the equinoxes, or at full and new moon, and the general occurrence, in calm weather, of light airs of wind at the time of high water. When these causes are not counteracted by the superior rarefaction of air over land heated by the sun's rays, the easterly winds blow with much regularity, as in the great oceans; and, from their important influence on navigation, they have obtained the denomination of trade-winds." These winds extend to about 30° on each side of the equator. At their extreme northern and southern limits, they generally blow nearly due east; but. as the equator is approached, in both hemispheres, these currents, as they gra- dually acquire the velocity of the earth, finally proceed due north and south. "The reason why the trade-winds," says Dr. Neil Arnott, ." at their external confines, which are about 30° from the sun's place, appear almost directly east, and become more nearly north and south as they approach the central line, is, that at the confine they are like fluid coming from the axis of a turning wheel, which has approached the cir- cumference, but has not yet acquired, the velocity of the circumfer- ence ; while nearer the line, they are like the fluid after it has for a con- siderable time been turning on the circumference, and has acquired its rotatory motion, appearing at rest as regards that moiion, but still leaving sensible any motion in a cross direction." The opinion of a counter-current in the upper regions, distributing the heated air toward the poles, was for a long time merely speculative, but more recently many striking proofs have been noted in confirmation. At the summit of the peak of Teneriffe, for example, repeated observa- tions have proved that there is always a powerful current in a direction contrary to that of the trade-wind on the surface of the ocean below. Ano- ther instanceis afforded by the fact that the volcanic dust thrown forth from the Island of St. Vincent,hasbeen repeatedly observed by the inhabi- tants of Barbadoes, hovering over them in thick clouds and falling, having travelled more than 100 miles in a direction opposite to the powerful tradi;-winds, to avoid which ships take a circuitous course. This clear and satisfactory theory of the great atmospheric circulation is, in a great measure, due to Mr. Daniell; and this theory was subse- quently illustrated by Captain Basil Hall, in his interesting essay on the trade-winds.. Were the surface of the globe one expanse of water, the trade-winds would blow all round the equator, and the only other winds known would probable be N. and S. winds between the poles and tropics, at which point they would gradually bend from E. to W. to form the trade-winds. But, und~r existing cirumstances, as the atmosphere over the land is much more heated by the sun's rays than over the sea, great interruptions to the regularity of the trade-winds are caused by large * islands and continents. On the coasts of Africa, for example, westerly gales are not unknown within the limits of the trade-winds ; and along the western shores of that continent, from Cape Palmas to the Cape of Good Hope, a soutlierly wind prevails. On this coast from 10° to 4° N., there is a tract remarkable for its calms, which, on this account as well as sudden alternations attended with tremendous storms of thunder and lightning, is avoided by seamen. Tt is on the western coasts especially that the force and direction of the trade-winds are modified. On the western coast of Mexico, between the 8th and 22d degrees of north latitude, a complete inversion of the trade-wind occurs; for here, instead of an easterly current, an almost permanent westerly wind pre- yails. Moreover, the phenomena are not the same in the two hemis- pheres, and they are also modified by the seasons. As the northern hemisphere contains more land than the southern, and as the atmo- sphere of the former is consequently more rarefied, the line which marks the blending of the S. E. and N. E. trade-winds is between two and three degrees north of the equator. In the Indian Ocean, the trade winds are so much modified by local causes, that they change their direction every six months, constituting the Monsoons, so called from a Malayan word signifying seasons. As the great continent of Asia lies chiefly north of the equator, the atmo- sphere over Arabia, Persia, India, and China, during the summer-half of the year, becomes so rarefied as to produce a constant influx of the colder air of the regions south of the equator; but, as soon as the sum- mer of the southern hemisphere approaches, the current gradually changes its direction, and soon rushes toward the more rarefied air of the ocean. This constitutes, in reality, a sea-breeze of six months, and a land-breeze of the same period. This semi-annual change is attended with a remirkable effect on the climate of these countries. It is the harbinger of the rainy season, a most striking picture of which is given by Mr. Elphinstone in his account of Caubul. " The most remarkable rainy season is that called in India the S. W. Monsoon. It extends from Africa to the Malayan peninsula, and deluges all the intermediate countries, within certain lines of latitude, for four months in the year. In the south of India, this monsoon com- mences about the beginning of June, but it gets later as we advance toward the north. Its approach is announced by vast masses of clouds, that rise from the Indian Ocean, aud advance toward the N. E , gather- in? and thickening as they approach the land. After some threatening days, the sky assumes a troubled appearance in the evenings, and the monsoon in general sets in during the night. It is attended by such a thunder-storm as can hardly be imagined by those who have only seen that phenomenon in a temperate climate. It generally begins with violent blasts of wind, which are succeeded by floods of rain. For some hours, lightning is seen almost without intermission; sometimes it only illumines the sky, and shows the clouds near the horizon; at other times, it discovers the distant hills, and again leaves all in dark- ness ; when, in an instant, it re-appears in vivid and successive flashes,. and exhibits the nearest objects in the brightness of day. During all this time the distant thunder never ceases to roll, and is only silenced by some nearer peel, which bursts on the ear with such a sudden and tre- mendous crash as can scarcely fail to strike the most insensible heart with awe. (Malabar is most distinguished for the violence of the mon- soon.) At length, the thunder ceases, and nothing is heard but the continued pouring of the rain, and the rushing of using streams. The next day presents a gloomy spectacle; the rain still descends in torrents, and scarcely allows a view of the blackened fields: the rivers are swollen and discolored, and sweep down along with them the hedges, the huts, and the remains of the cultivation which was carried on dur- ing the dry season, in their beds. "This lasts for some days, after which the sky clears, and discovers the face of nature changed, as if by enchantment. Before the storm, the fields were parched up. ard, except in the beds of rivers, scarce a blade of vegetatiyn was :o be seen. The clearness of the sky was not interrupted by a single cloud, but the atmosphere was loaded with dust: a parching wind blew, like a blast from a furnace, and heated wood, iron, and every solid material, even in the shade: and immediately before the monsoon? this wind had been succeeded by still more sultry ealms. But when the first violence of the monsoon is over, the whole earth is covered with a sudden but luxuriant verdure: the rivers are full and tranquil: the air pure and delicious; and the sky is varied and embellished with clouds. The effect of this change is visible on all the animal creation, and can only be imagined in Europe by supposing the depth of a dreary winter to start at once into all the freshness and bril- liancy of spring. From that time the rain falls at intervals for about a month, when it comes on again with great violence, and in July the rains are at their height: during the third month they rather diminish, but are still heavy; and in September they gradually abate, and are often suspended till near the end of the month, when they depart amid thunders and tempesta,as they came." From the parallel of 30° to the pole in both hemispheres, the winds, as the influence of the sun is here less potent, occasionally obey other causes than those just enumerated. The general causes of winds in temperate climates operate with less force and constancy than in tropi- cal countries; and the disturbing causes, such as the vicinity of land, change in atmospheric density from moisture and dryness, etc., act with more uncontrolled energy. Hence the winds of temperate climates are much less regular, and are called variable. Between the parallel of 30° and 50°, westerly winds prevail in both hemispheres; and these blow with so much uniformity, that they are almost as deserv- ing of the name of bcule-winds as the easterly winds within the tropics. They cross the Atlantic from Newfoundland to Cornwall, and traverse the Southern Ocean from the Plata to the Cape of Good Hope, and thence to New Holland. Hence the packets from New York to Liver- pool make the voyage, on an average, in nearly half the time as those sailing in the opposite direction. According to a register kept by John Hamilton, the captain of a packet, daring tw«nty-six voyages between Philadelphia and Liverpool, from 1799 to 1818, the prevailing winds, in 2029 days, was from the west. His tables present the following ratios:— 20* days from the northward, 167 " " " southward, 361 " " " eastward, 1101 " " " westward, 192 " " " variable, 2029 These westerly winds beyond the tropics, it is generally supposed, are merely the upper equatorial currents of air descending to the earth's surface, which, transporting the celerity of equatorial rotation, on reach- ing the higher latitudes which have gradually less eastward motion, run faster than these parts, and consequently become westerly winds. In other words, these currents will appear to blow from the western quar- ter in proportion to the excess of their previous celerity above that of the parallels which they strike. Subsection 1.— Land and Sea Breezes. The sea-breeze is felt more or less on the coasts of all warm coun- tries; and it often occurs in places where the land-breeze is quite unknown. Commencing about 10 o'clock A. M., the sea-breeze con- tinues throughout the day, till toward 6 P. M.; and at about £ o'clock, when it has gradually died away, it is succeeded by a much lighter breeze from the land, which, continuing during the night, usually ceases at about 6 o'clock in the morning. The sea-breeze finds an explanation in the rarefaction of the incumbent atmosphere by the heat of the land, and the rushing in of the denser airof the sea to establish an equilibrium; and as the influence of the sun decreases, this breeze dies away. Dur- ing the night, on the contrary, as the ocean parts with its caloric much more slowly than the land, the reverse action, to seme extent, or the land-breeze, takes place ; but this breeze is produced, in a great mea- sure, by the descent of air from mountainous regions, flowing, by its gravity, toward the sea ; and hence it is scarcely known at all on the flat coasts of America. Without the sea-breeze, many islands and coasts would be absolutely uninhabitable ; and while this current is all purity and freshness, the land breeze is often laden with unhealthy exhalations from the forests and marshes. Subsection 2.—Sirocco. The Sirocco is occasioned by the passage of a current of air over the heated sandy wastes of Arabia and Lybia, which render it so dry and rarefied as to unfit it for respiration. But in traversing the Mediterra- nean, it absorbs so large a quantity of moisture as to cause the dew- point, during its prevalence on the islands of that eea, to fall sometimes from ten to twenty degrees. "The walls of houses, stone floors, and pavements," says Dr. Hennen, "invariably beccme moist vhm the sirocco blows. I have seen the stone floors at Corfu absolutely wet without any rain having fallen." At the same time, a sudden and great rise of the thermometer occurs, accompanied by a haze which obscures the pure sky of those countries, the sun appearing dimmed and >hom I of his beams. During this state of things, the inhabitants of Italy, 14 THE NEW WORLD. Meteorology^ Malta, Sicily, or Corfu, are oppressed with excessive langour and a sinking of the mental energies. . The following remarks are from the pen of the philosophic John Davy. Esq., of the Medical Department of the British Army, who has had the most abundant opportunities of observation :— " The south-east wind is well-known, and of evil report, under the name of Sirocco. Respecting this wind, much varieiy of opinion exists, and very contradictory accounts are to be found in authors. By some it is described as excessively damp; by some as extremely dry ; it has even been described as both damp and dry, and one writer denies that it is possessed of any peculiar qualities. This discordancy has proba- bly arisen from partial and superficial observation on the part of travel- lers, who may have drawn their inferences from exceptions in particular situations, and have generalized from them. "The Sirocoo wind in Malta, and, it may be added, in the Mediter- ranean generally, as well as in the Ionian Islands, is invariably charged with moL-ture, and even more so in summer than in winter. When it blows with any strength, the difference between a moist thermometer and a dry one, exposed to it, seldom exceeds 4° or 5°. Its temperature is never very high, even in the height of the hot season. I have never seen it raise the thermometer above 86°. The atmosphere, when this wind prevails, is always hazy, as if palpable vapor were suspended in it. Dust is raised by it in a remarkable manner, and carried along with it.* The sensations which it produces at different seasons arc far from being the same. In winter, when its temperature may be about 60°, it feels mild and agreeable. In spring and early summer, when its tempera- ture may be about 70°, it is not generally unpleasant. It is chiefly in summer and autumn that it is disagreeably felt and complained of, when its temperature ranges between 75° and 85°. The-higher its temperature, so much the more distressing are its effects, owing to the little evaporation which it produces. .This is connected with its com- parative humidity ; and this, its humidity, is, I belieye, the principal cause of all its peculiarities,—of the oppressive sensation of heat,—oi the perspiration in which the skin is bathed,—of its relaxing and debili- tating effects on the body, and its lowering and dispiriting effects on the mind. Other effects, too, which are unquestionable, may be referred to the same quality,—as its retarding the drying of paint,—the promoting the decomposition of animal and vegetable matter,—the rusting of metals,—the fermentation of wines, and the acetous fermentation,—to which may be added the propagation of odors." Dr. Davy does not believe that these peculiar effects of the Sirocco are owing to any particular electric state, but are due solely to its humidity. From a series of experiments conducted by him " no well marked difference," he says, "was perceptible in the electrical condi- tion of the atmosphere, from whatever quarter the wind blew, under ordinary circcumstances,—whether the clear north-east or north-west wind prevailed, or the hazy Sirocco, the electrical state of the atmo- .gphtsfe was found to be opposite to that of the earth,—the former nega- tive, the latter positive."f The Solano of Spain is only a modification of the Sirocco. "We have experienced it," says Dr. Traill, in the Encyclopaedia Britannica, "as most oppressive on the eastern shores of Spain; and it is greatly detested by the natives, who gravely remark, that' no animals except a pig and an Englishman are insensible to the Solano.' The Italian con- demnation of a stupid work, 'erascritto in tempo del Sirocco,' is not more pointed than the Spanish adage,' no rogar algunagracia en tiempo de Solano,' not to ask any favor during the Solano; and both proverbs sufficiently indicate the belief of the people of southern Europe in the disagreeable qualities of the S. E. wind. We have observed fine dust deposited from the Solano or Levanter at Gibraltar, and to this we partly attribute the haze with which it is accompanied. If this dust be Drought with ttu1 Solano from Africa, it is less surprising than the fol- lowing instance of dust carried by the easterly wind into the Atlantic. On the morning of the 19th January 1826, when the Clyde East India- man was on her voyage to London, in lat. 10° 40' N., and long. 27° 41' W., her rigging was observed to be covered with an impalpable powder of a brownish color, and on unfurling the sails at two P. M. to catch the breeze, they emitted clouds of dust, which had lodged in them during a strong gale from the E. and N. E. In this case, the nearest land in that direction was about 700 miles distant." The Htrmalfan of the west coast of Africa, the Samieloi the Turks, the Simun of the Arabs, and the Khamsin of Syria, all seem to be mere modifications of aerial currents produced by the same causes which give rise to the Sirocco. There is this striking difference, how- ever, that whilst the Sirocco acquires much moisture in crossing the Mediterranean, these other winds are characterised by extreme aridity, derived from blowing over sandy deserts intensely heated by the sun. Laden with impalpable sand which penetrates into the closest packages, these winds cause difficult respiration, a shrivelled skin, and a distress- ing sense of heat. Their effect is compared by Volney to the sensation produced by the hot air from a baker's oven. Subsection 3.— Whirlwinds and Hurricanes. The name of Whirlwind has been given to eddying currents, produ- ced by the contact of two or more atmospheric streams coming from different points of the compass, and also depending seemingly on elec- tricity. It sometimes rages with surprising fury, overthrowing buildings and tearing up trees by the roots ; and when it passes through a forest, it often leaves a long lane of inconsiderable breadth. But fortunately, this violent agitation of the atmosphere is usually local in its operations. It is in some parts of Africa that the effects of the whirlwind are most to be dreaded. During the storms that often rage in the desert, as des- cribed by Bruce, the loose sand is transported into the air in such dense clouds as to intercept the piercing rays of even an African sun, whilst at other times it is raised into massive and gigantic moving columns. Wo to the traveller that encounters this terrific phenomenon ! How sublime, but at the same time how fearful the sight, to behold on every side enormous pillars of sand, moving with impetuous violence over the unmeasured waste, their tops reaching to the clouds, and their base Sometimes unsupported save by the attenuated air ! The Hutrimnes of the West Indies, the Typhons of the Chinese Seas, the Ox-eye of the Cape, and the Tornadoes of all tropical climates. have been well described by navigators and others. They consist of violent and extraordinary agitations of the air, generally accompanied by thunder-storms. Fortunately, they are usually of brief duration. In reflecting upon these terrific phenomena, let not the reader be led to infer that any terrestrial agent is active for the mere purpose of des- truction. Although the traveller may be occasionally overwhelmed in the desert by vast masses of sand, the stately ship may be swallowed up in the furious agitation of the mighty deep, or the smiling valley may be rendered desolate in an hour, yet the same agent still ministera to the wants and pleasures of man. The effects of winds combine utility and pleasure. By maintaining a perpetual agitation of the atmos- phere, the miasmata exhaled from the earth are dissipated ; whilst the clouds destined to fertilize the soil, ?re transported upon their wings. As nature adapts*«ieans to the accomplishment of her ends, so myriads of seeds furnished with their little pinions, ride upon the tempest and extend afar the empire of vegetation. Nor has man, in his ingenuity, neglected to avail himself of this agent; for, as the ocean is the high- way of nations, the winds are the untiring coursers which impel our ships from shore to shore, thus carrying over its swelling bosom the riches and intellect of foreign climes' Subsection 4.— Water-spouts. This curious and perplexing phenomena may here be brought under notice as having some connection with atmospheric currents. These meteors, although more frequently met with at sea, under the form of enormous clouds of a columnar shape, or that of an inverted cone, seve- ral hundred feet high, yet often make their appearance on land, des- troying every thing, including trees and houses, that opposes their vio- lent impetuosity, it is still a disputed point among meteorologists, whe- ther the phenomenon is due to the agency of electricity, or to the mechanics! action of whirlwinds. Dr. Buchanan, who saw water- spouts several times during a voyage to and from India, says that his attention was first attracted to the phenomenon by observing a dark heavy cloud which threw out a long curved spout, while at the same time a thick fog rose out of the sea. This fog was of the same color as the spout, and resembled the smoke of a steam-engine. After an inter- val of about two minutes, the spout rushed down find joined the cloud which kad risen from the sea. The following diagram, according te Mr. Maxwell, represents the different appearances which these pheno- mena generally assume. They appear, he says, at their first formation^ * Perhaps in consequence of the specific gravity of the dust being dimi- nished by the absorption of moisture. f Notes and Observations on the Ionian Islands and Malta. water-spouts. of a conical tubular form, dropping from a black cloud before any dis- turbance of the sea is observable. The fog on the sea now appears and ascends, and the black conical clouds descends, until both join. After several minutes, the black cloud withdraws itself and the fog recedes into the sea; but sometimes a thin transparent tube connected with the latter still remains for a short time. The firing of several guns will generally destroy them, either by being struck by shot or by the agita- tion caused in the air by the discharge. In one instance, witnessed by the Honorable Captain Napier, as described by him in the Philosophi- cal Journal, in which a shot passed through a water-spout at the dis- tance of one-third from its base, it presented for a minute the appear- ance of being cut horizontally in two parts, the divisions waving to and fro as if agitated by winds, but suddenly the ends reunited, and soon afttr the whole was dissipated in an immense dark cloud and a shower of rain. Many observers assert that, when the column from the cloud reaches the sea, they have distinctly seen the sea-water move up its hollow centre ; but if, as is stated by others, the water discharged on the bursting of a water-spout is always fresh, it follows that any water derived from the sea must have arisen in the form of vapor. Subsection 5.—Observations upon Winds, and the degree of their velocity. It remains now to say a word in regard to the observations proper to be made in reference to winds. According to the " Instructions for the Scientific Expedition to the Antartic Regions, prepared by the Presi- dent and Council of the Royal Society of London," the points most important to remark respecting the winds, are : 1. Its average intensity and general direction during the several por- tions of the day devoted to observation. 2. The hours of the day or night when it commences to blow from a calm, or subsides into one from a breeze. 3. The hours at which any remarkable changes of its direction take place. 4. The course which it takes in veering, and the quarter in which it ultimately settles. 5thly. The usual cause oi periodical winds, or such as remarkably prevail during certain seasons, with the law of their diurnal progress, both as to direction and intensity; at what hours, and by w 1 at degrees they commence, attain their maximum, and subside ; arid thuugh what points of the compass they run in so doing. Meteorologt. THE NEW WORLD. 15 tj-.hly. The existence of crossing currents at different heights in the atmo-ihere, as indicated by the courses of the clouds in different strata. Tthly. The times of setting-in of remarkably hot or cold winds, the quarters from which they.c»me, and their courses, as connected with the progressive changes in their temperature. B'hly. The connection of rainy, cloudy, and fair weather, with the quarter from which the wind blows, or has blown for some time pre- viously. Many ingenious instruments hive been invented for indicating the variations of winds. The anemoscope shows the direction of winds, regis- tering upon a slate the maxima and minima, thus saving the trouble of frequent daily observations. The anemometer determines the varying force of winds. There are several of these instruments, the acting principle of which is the direct pressure of the wind on a given surface, maintained by a vane perpendicular to the direction of the breeze. There are dif- ferent modes of measuring this pressure, several of which are very in- genious. Some of these instruments give both the force and direction of winds. The velocity of the wind varies from a barely perceptible motion up to 100 miles in an hour; and. according to some, the maximum is consider- ably higher. It is generally estimated that a gentle breeze moves four or five miles an hour, and has a force equal to two ounces on a foot square ; that a brisk pleasant gale has a motion of ten or fifteen miles. with a force of twelve ounces; that a high wind moves at the rate of thirty or thirty-five miles, with a force of five or six pounds; and that a hurricane, levelling houses, trees, etc., has a velocity of 100 miles an hour, and a force of 49 pounds on the square foot. Winds are considered as being produced in two ways—by propulsion and by aspiration. When the blast and current are in the same direc- tion, as is most usually the case, wind is said to he caused by propulsion; and, on the other hand, by aspiration, when the curreat is in one direc- tion and the blast in the opposite course. Of this latter kind, there are many instances, designated as storms and hurricanes, which are charac- terized chiefly by their excessive velocity. They seem te begin at that point toward which they blow—a result which has been ascribed to a vacuum in the atmospheric ocean, produced by a fall of rain caused by the sudden condensation of vapors. The N. E. storms on our coast af- ford us, unfortunately, too many illustrations of these hurricanes, which, commencing over the Gulf of Mexico, move toward the north by aspi- ration. As early as 1740, these phenomena attracted the notice of our distinguished countryman, Dr. Franklin. This extraordinary philosopher relates that he was prevented from observing an eclipse of the moon at Philadelphia, by a N. E. storm, which came on about7 o'clock in the evening; ana this storm, he was subsequently surprised 10 learn was not experienced in Boston until four hours later. This led him to compare many other accounts of this storm as it manifested itself at various lo- calities ; and the result was the discovery that, notwithstanding it blew from the N. E., it was all the while advancing from the S. W., at the rate of 99 miles per hour, o nearly 145 feet per second. Subsection 6.—Redfield's Theory of Storms. It is but a comparatively short period since the belief was prevalent that a gale differed from a breeze only in the velocity of the air which was put in motion; and hence a hurricane was supposed to be quite sat- isfactorily explained, when it was decribed as a wind travelling in a rec- tilineal direction at the rate of 100 or 120 miles an hour. Franklin, as stated above, was aware that what are called north-east storms, came in reality from the south-west, that is, that they were first felt in Florida, then in Georgia, the Carolinas, Virginia, New Jersey. New York, Con- necticut, Massachusetts, etc.; but his ingenious explanation that from some cause a partial vacuum was formed near the point where the gale was first experienced, causing currents of air toward the vacant space, which movements were continued from the south-west to the north-east, is not near so satisfactory as the theory of W. C. Redfield, Esq., of New York. The doctrine maintained by Mr. Redfield, and substantiated by Lieut. Col. Reid, of the Royal Engineers, is, that a hurricane or great gale is simply a whirlwind, the main body of the storm whirling in a ho- rizontal circuit round a vertical or somewhat inclined axis of rotation, which is carried onward with the st^rm; and that the direction of this rotation, in the northern hemisphere, is from right to left, or in a course contrary to that of the hands of a watch, while the storms of the south- ern hemisphere revolve in the opposite direction. These views of Mr. Redfield are based on many observations of storms during a period of upward of twenty years. As the following " Observations on the Hur- ricanes and'Storms of the West Indies, and the Coast of the United States, by W. C. Redfield," extracted from " Blunt's American Coast Pilot," present a condensed view of the subject, their introduction here de- mands no apology:— "It has been found, by a careful attention to the progress and phe- nomena of the more violent storms which have visited the Western Atlantic, that they exhibit certain characteristics of great uniformity. This appears, not only in the determinate course which these storms are found to pursue, but in the direction of wind, and succession of changes which they exhibit while they continue in action. The same general characteristics appear also to pprtain, in some degree, to many of the more common variations and vicissitudes of winds and weather, at least in the temperate latitudes. The following points may be considered as established. |* " 1. The storms of greatest severity often originate in the tropical lati- tudes, and, not unfrequently, to the northward or eastward of the West India Islands; in which region they are distinguished by the name of hurricanes. " 2. These storms cover at the same moment of time, an extent of contiguous surface, the diameter of which may vary in different storms, from one hundred to five hundred miles, and in some cases they have been much more extensive. They act with diminished violence toward the exterior, and with increased energy toward the interior, of the space which they occupy. " 3. While in the tropical latitudes, orsouth of the parallel of 30°, these storms pursue their course or are drifted toward the west, on a track which inclines gradually to the northward, till it approaches the latitude of 3-'.°. ..n tne vicinity ot tnis parallel, their course is changed some- what abruptly to the northward and eastward, and the track continues to in;Iine gradually to the east, toward which point, after leaving the lower latitudes, they are found to progress with an accelerated velocity. " The rate at which these storms are found thus to advance in their course, varies much in different cases, but may be estimated at from twelve to thirty miles an hour. The extent to which their course is finally pursued, remains unknown; but it is probable, that as they pro- ceed, they become gradually extended in their dimensions, and weak- ened in their action, till they cease to command any peculiar notice. One of the hurricanes of August 1830, has been traced in its daily prog- ress, from near the Canbbee Islands, to the coast of Florida and the Carolinas, and from thence to tke banks of Newfoundland ; a distant of more than three thousand miles, which was passed over by the storm in about six days. The duration of the most violent portion of thisgale, at the different points over which it passed, was about twelve hours, but its entire duration was in many places, more than twice that period. Another hurricane which occurred in'the- same month, passed from near the Windward islands, on a mor^ c attern but similar route, and has also been traced in its daily sta7'- = oy means of the journals and reports of voyagers, near two Humtrv.it jive hundredmiles. It was in thisstorm that the Russian Corvette Kensington, Captain Ramsay, suffered so severely. The hurricane of August 1831, which desolated the island of Barbadoes, on the 10th of that month, the daily progress of which has also been ascertained, passed in nearly a direct course to the northern shores of the Gulf of Mexico and New Orleans, where it arrived on the 16th of the same month, having passed over a distance of twenty-three hundred statute miles in six days after leaving Barbadoes. Many cases of like character might be adduced. " 4. The duration of the storm at any place within its track, depends upon its extent and the rate of velocity at which it moves, as these cir- cumstances are found to determine the time which is required for the Btorm to pass over any given locality falling within its route. Storms of smaller extent, or dimensions, are usually found to move from one place to another with greater rapidity than larger storms. "5. The direction and strength of the wind exhibited by a storm e-ver the greater portion of its track, is found not to be in the direction of its progress. The rate or velocity of this progress would indeed be insuffi- cient to produce any violent effect. "6. In the lower latitudes while drifting to the westward, the direction of the wind at the commencement, or under the most advanced portion of these storms, is from a nortlum quarter, usually at some point from north-east to north west; and during the latter part of the gale, it blows from a southern quarter of the horizon, at all places where the whole gale is experienced. " 7. After reaching the more northern Iatitudes,and while pursuing their course to the northward and eastward, these storms commence with the wind from an eastern or southern quarter„and terminate with the wind from a western quarter, as will appear more distinctly under the three following heads;—the latter portion of the storm being usually at- tended with broken or clear weather. "8. On the outer portion of the track, north of the parallel of 30°, or within that portion of it which lies fartliest from the American coast, these storms exhibit at their commencement, a southerly wind, which, as the storm comes over, veers gradually to tlie ivcstward, in which quar- ter it is found to terminate. "9. In the same latitudes, but along the central portionsof the track, the first force of the wind is from a point near to south-east, but after blowing for a certain period, it changes suddenly, and usually after a short inter- mission, to a point nearly or directly opposite to that from which it has previously been blowing, from which opposite quarter it blows with equal violence till the storm has passed over or has abated. This sudden change of a south-easterly wind to an opposite direction, does not occur toward either margin of the storm's track, but only on its more central portion, and takes effect in regular progression along this central part of the route, from the south-west toward the north-east, in an order of time, which is exactly coincident with the progress of the storm, in the same direction. It is under this portion of the storm, that we notice the great- est fall of the barometer, and the mercury usually begins to rife a short time previous to the change of wind. In this part of the track, the the storm is known as a south-easter, and is usually attended with rain previous to the change of wind, and perhaps for a short time after. " 10. On that portion of the track which is nearest the American coast, or which is the farthest inland if the storm reaches the continent, the wind commences from a more eastern or north-eastern point of the hori- zon, and afterwards veers more or less gradually, by north, to a north- western or westerly quarter, where it finally terminates. Here also the first part of the storm is usually, bnt not always attended with rain, and its latter or western portion with fair weather. The first orfoul weather portion of the storm, is on this part of its track, recognized as a north- easter. " It should be noted, however, that near the latitude of 30° and on the shores of Carolina, where the storm enters obliquely upon the coast, while its track is rapidly changing from a northwardly to an eastwardly direction, the wind on the central track of the storm will commence from an eastern or north-eastern point of the compass, and will gradually become south-easterly as the storm approaches its height. " 11. A full and and just consideration of the facts which have been stated, will show conclusively that the portion of the atmosphere which composes for the time being the great body of the storm, whirls or blows in a horizontal circuit, around a vertical or somewhat inclined axis of rotation which is carried onward with the storm; that the course or direction of this circuit of rotation is from right to left; and that the storm operates in the same manner, and exhibits the same general characteristics, as a tornado or whirlwind of smaller dimensions; the chief difference being in the magnitude ot the scale of operation.* This view of the subject, when fully comprehended, affords a satisfac- tory solution of the otherwise inexplicable phenomena of storms; and will also be found to accord entirely with the fact, which has betn pre- viously stated, that in the phases or changes which pertain to a storm, the wind, on one maTgin of its track, veers in seamen's phrase v'-th the sun, or from left to right, while under the opposite margin of the same storm it veers asraim't the sun, or from rieht to left; for this peculiarity *it is lo be- understood thai the diameter of the whirlwind which consti- tutes the storm is commensurate with the width of the track over which the storm passes. fc, 16 THE NEW WORLD Meteorology. necessarily attends the progress of any whirlwind which operates hori- *°"l2 yThe Barometer, whether in the higher or lower latitudes, always einks while under the first portion or moiety of the storm on every part of its track, excepting, perhaps, its extreme northern margin, and thus often affords us the earliest and surest indica'ion of the approaching tempest. The mercury in the Barometer always rises again during the passage cf the last portion of the gale, and commonly attains the maxi- mum of its elevations on the entire departure of the storm. "The great value of the Baromekr to navigators is becoming well understood, and its practical utility might be greatly increased by hourly entries of the precise height of the mercurial column, in a table pre- pared for the purpose. Its movements, unless carefully recorded, often escape notice or recollection; which may easily happen at those times when a distinct knowledge of its latest variations might prove to be ot the greatest importance. " In the foregoing statements our design has been to designate in a sum- mary manner the principal movements which, in these regions at least, constitute a storm: and,we do not attempt to notice the various irregu- larities, and subordinate or incidental movements and phenomena of the atmosphere, with which a storm may chance to be connected, or which may necessarily result from such violent movements in a fluid which is so tenuous and elastic in its character. It may be remarked in -general, that the most active or violent storms are usually the most re- gular and uniform in the developement of those characteristic move- ments which we have already described. It is also probable, that the vortex or rotative axis, oi a violent gale or hurricane, oscillates in its course with considerable rapidity, in a moving circuit of moderate ex- tent, near the centre of the hurricane ; and such an eccentric movement of the vortex may, for ought we know, be essential to the continued ac- tivity or force of the hurricane. Such a movement will fully account for the violent flans or gusts of wind, and the intervening lulls or remis- sions which are so often experienced towards the heart of a storm or hurricane, wh?n in open sea; but of its existence we have no positive evidence. " It frequently happens that a storm, during the first part of its progress over a given point, tails to take effect upon the surface, while it exhi- bits its full activity at a greater altitude. This commonly happens when this portion of tin storm arrives from, or has recently blown over a more elevated country, or is passing or blowing from the land to the sea. On land, the most violent effects are usually felt from those storms which enter and blow from the open ocean upon the shores of an island or continent. Upon the latter, under such circumstances, the first part of the gale is usually the most severe, and that coast of an island upon which a storm first enters, or blows, also suffers most from the early part of the gale, but its later or receding part, often acts with the great- est fury upon the opposite side of the island, which had previously de- rived some degree of shelter from the intermediate elevations and other obstacles opposed to the force of the wind, the benefit of which is now lost by its counter direction from the open ocean. Owing to similar causes, the force of the storm is sometimes very unequal at different places, situated in nearly the same part of its track, and such inequality, as we have before intimated, necessarily pertains to two places, one of which is near the centre and the other towards the margin of the route. " Of the multitude of facts by which these views might be illustrated, we will only state, that in the late hurricane of Barbadoes, (that of Au- gust 1831) the trees near the northern coast of that island, lay from N. N. W. to S. S. E. having been prostrated by northerly wind in the ear- lier part of the storm, while in the interior and some other parts of the island, they were found to lay from south to north, having fallen in the later period of the gale.—That after the same hurricane, advices which were received from the island of St. Croix and Porto Rico, (which lay near the northern margin of its track) stated that no hurricane had been experienced at these islands; but it afterwards appeared that some por- tions of these islands had suffered damage from this hurricane in the night of the 12th to 13th of August, two days after it had passed over the island of Barbadoes.—That the sea-islands which border the coast of Georgia and the Carolinas, are known to suffer greatly from these tempests, while little or no injury is sustained in the interior at the- dis- tance of a few miles from the coast. One of the most striking charac- teristics of these storms, is the heavy swell which in open sea is often known to extend itself on both sides of the track, entirely beyond the range of the gale by which it was produced. The last hurricane to which we have alluded, threw its swell with tremendous force upon the northern shores of Jamaica, having passed to the northward of that island. "A variety of deductions may be drawn from the general facts which we have stated, some of which, though deeply interesting to the philo- sopher and votary of science, might be out of place in a nautical work of this description. For ourselves, we disclaim any bondage to existing theories in meteorology; and shall on the piesent occasion, only pro- ceed to notice a few of the more practical inferences which, to navi- gators and others may, perhaps, be of no doubtful utility. "1. A vessel bound to the eastward between the latitudes of 32° and 45° in the western part of the Atlantic, on being overtaken by a gale which commences blowing from any point to the eastward of S. E. or E. S. E. may avoid some portion of its violence, by putting her head to the northward, and when the gale has veered sufficiently in the same direction, may safely resume her course. But by standing to the south- ward under like circumstances, she will probably fall into the heart of the storm. " 2. In the same region, vessels, on taking a gale from S. E. or points near thereto, will probably soon find themselves in the heart of the storm, and after its first fury is spent, may expect its recurrence from the opposite quarter. The most promising mode of mitigating its vio- lence, and at the same time shortening its duration, is to stand to the southward upon the wind, as long as may be necessary or possible; and if the movement succeeds, the wind will gradually head you off in the same direction. If it becomes necessary to heave too, put your head to the southward, and, if the wind does not veer, be prepared for a blast from the north-west. "3. In the same latitudes, a vessel scudding in a gale with the wind At the east or north-east, shortens its duration. On the contrary, a ves- sel scudding before a south-westerly or westerly gale, will thereby increase its duration. '4. A vessel which is pursuing her course to the westward or south- westward, in this part of the Atlantic, meets the storms in their course, and thereby shortens the periods of their occurrence; and will encoun- ter more gales in an equal number of days, than if stationary, or sailing in a different direction. "5. On the other hand, vessels while sailing to the eastward or north- eastward, or in the course of the storms, will lengthen the periods be- tween their occurrence, and consequently experience them less fre- quently than vessels sailing on a different course. The difference of exposure which results from these opposite courses, on the American coast, may in most cases be estimated as nearly two to one. 6. The hazard from casulties, and of consequence the value of insur- ance, is enhanced or diminished by the direction of the passage, as shown under the two last heads. " 7. As the ordinary routine of the winds and weather in these lati- tudes, often corresponds to the phases which are exhibited by the storms as before described, a correct opinion, founded upon this resem- blance, can often be formed of the approaching changes of the wind and weather, which may be highly useful to the observing navigator. " 8. A due consideration of the facts which have been stated, particu- larly those under our twelfth head, will inspire additional confidence in the indications of the barometer, and these ought not to be neglected, even should the fall of the mercury be unattended by any appearances of violence in the weather, as the other side of the gale will be pretty sure to take effect, and often in a manner so sudden and so violent as to more than compensate for its previous forbearance. Not the least reli- ance, however, should be placed upon the prognostics, which are usually attached to the. scale of the barometer, such as Sd-Fuir, Fair, Change, Rain, &c. as in this region at least, they serve no other purpose than to bring this valuable instrument into discredit. It is the mere rising and falling of the mercury, which chiefly deserves attention, and not its con- formity to a particular point in the scale of elevation. "9. These practical inferences apply in terms, chiefly to storms which have passed to the northward of the 30th degree of latitude on the Ame- rican ceast, but with the necessary modification as to the point of the compass, which results from the westerly course pursued by the storm while in the lower latitudes, are for the most part equally applicable to the storms and hurricanes which occur in the West Indies, and south of the parallel of 30°. As the marked occurrence cf tempestuous weather is here less frequent, it may be sufficient to notice that the point of di- rection, in cases which, are otherwise analagous, is in the West Indian seas, about ten or twelve points of the compass more to the left than on the coast of the United States in the latitude of New York. " Vicissitudes ol winds and weatlu ion this coast which do not conform to the foregoing specifications, are mofe frequent in April, May, and. June, than in other months. Easterly or southerly wii.ds under which the barometer rises, or maintains its elevation, arc not of a gyratory or stormy character; but such winds frtquently terminate in the falling of the barometer and the usual phenonif na of an easterly storm. "The typhoons and storms of the China sea and eas-tern coast of Asia, appear to be similar in character to the hurricanes of the West IndieB and the storms pf this coast, when prevailing in the same latitudes. There is reason to believe that the great circuits of wind, of which the trade winds form an integral part, are nearly uniform in all the great oceanic basins ; and that the course of these circuits and >>f the stormy gyrations which they may contain, is, in the southern hemisphere, in a counter-direction to those north of the equator, producing a correspond- ing difference in the general phases of storms and winds in the two hemispheres." Subsectiom 7.—Espy's Theory of Storms. The theory of Hutton relative to the deposition of water in the form of rain, ever since its promulgation about the year 1787, has maintained, in the absence of any other plausible rival theory, almost undisputed sway throughout the scientific world. As this theory has been already illustrated and several obvious objections have been adduced, any further elucidation is not deemed necessary. Anew theory of storms by Mr. Espy of Philadelphia, which professes, in his own words^ at once to explain " all the seven phenomena of rain, hail, snow, water- spouts, winds, and barometric fluctuations," has been, within a few years, presented to the scientific public; and as this theory commands a good deal of attention and rf spect, a brief synopsis of its leading fea- tures is surely demanded in this work. As the substance of the theory appears to be embraced in an article by L. H Parsons, A. M., in the " American Almanac)' for 1843, a portion of it will be here adopted: "1. Atmospheric air is subject to expansion,—either by heat, or by a diminution of pressure. "2. Aqueous vapor is specifically lighter than atmospheric air,—its weight, under given circumstances, being but about five-eighths of that of air. " 3. When a portion of air becomes lighter than the surrounding air, from expansion by heat, from being more lightly charged with vapor, or from any other cause, it ascends. "4. Air, in ascending from a lower to a higher region, is subject to diminished pressure, and consequently to expansion. " 5. The atmosphere is capable of containing, and does always con- tain, a certain quantity of water, in a state of transparent vapor. "6. This capacity of the atmosphere for containing water increases much more rapidly than the temperature.* "7. The quantity of water, actually in solution, varies greatly, at dif- ferent times and places, independently of the temperature; the air, at a given temperature, sometimes being filled nearly or quite to the extent of its capacity, while at others, it falls far short of it. "w. If from any cause, the temperature of a portion of air, containing a given quantity of vapor, be reduced to a certain point, that is, at all be- low the dew-point, f it must deposite a portion of the water. * At 32° Fah. the air is capable of holding 1.240th only of its own weight . of vapor: at 52°, it is capable of holding twice as much, or 1.120lh of its own weight; at 72°, 1.62d, and at 92°, 1.32d of its own weight. T The dew-point is the degree of temperature, at which irn isture begins to be precipitated. It may be ascertained by placing cold water (in sum- mer) or a refrigerating mixture (in winter) in a tumbler, and observing the Meteorology. THE NEW WORLD 17 • 9 Expansion, arising from diminished pressure, is attended by di- minished temperature. The actual diminution of temperature on this account, in ascending from the surface of the earth, is about one degree and a fourth, for every hundred yards; and consequently air highly charged witn vapor, that is, with a high dew-point, would not'have to ascend very high before condensation must commence.* "10. The condensation of vapor is attended with the disengagement ot a very large quantity—more than a thousand degrees—of latent cal- oric, in other words sufficient caloric is set at liberty, by the condensa- tion of a given quantity of vapor, to raise the temperature . f a hundred times that quantity of matter (of the same specific caloric) ten degrees f . "Now the theory is this. Air, near the surface of the earth, becom- ing heated to an unusual degree, or becoming highly charged with aqueous vapor, must rise. The tendency, it is supposed, would be to rise in a column or columns; the air surrounding each column, running into supply the vacuum, and, if similarly heated or charged with vapor following the other upward. If many up-moving columns should be formed in the same neighborhood, those not very remote from each oth- er, as they increased in size, would probably run into each other, and form one gr*at column. Ascending from the surface of the earth, this up-moving mass is subject to less and less pressure from the superincum- bent atmosphere. As this pressure is removed, the air, of course, ex- pands, and consequently grows colder. If the ascending air is very dry that is, if it has alow dew-point, or if other circumstances, which will soon be mentioned, are unfavorable, its temperature, and that of the air through which it passes, will probably come to an equilibrium, and the force of th* upward motion be spent, without any cloud being form- ed, or at most, without a cloud that will produce rain. But if the air be highly charged with vapor, it will not have to ascend very far before the temperature will be reduced by expansion, to such a degree as to cause a portion of the vapor to condense into cloud. The instant this takes place, the latent caloric, or caloric of elasticity, of the condensed yapor is evolved, and acts upon the air in which the cloud is formed, and, as it continues to ascend, heats it up, or rather prevents it from cooling down, as it did previously, and as it would otherwise do, from expansion. Mr. Espy has shown that it must cool only about half as fast after, as before condensation commences; that is, about five- eights of a degree to a hundred yards.J The tendency of this new, and continued (as it will be) accession of heat, will obviously be, to dis- turb still further the equilibrium between the ascending column and the surrounding air; and, of course, to increase its tendency and velocity upward. At the same time, the greater the velocity of the upward current, the more rapid will be the condensation, not only from the greater quantity of vapor brought by the rapid current under the influ- ence of the causes which produce condensation, but by the greater de- gree of cold arising from the extraordinary expansion, caused by the upward rush of the air; thus causiag an extension of the cloud-forming process downward, aswell as upward. "To produce rain, it is necessary, not merely that there should be a high dew-point, an upward current, and the'formation of cloud; the as- cending column, or vortex, must extend upward and unbroken to a very considerable height beyond the point where cloud first commences forming. And that can hardly take place, unless the mass of the atmo- sphere tiirough which it ascends, is comparatively at rest; or unless the upper and lower currents coincide to some extent, in direction and force. If the column of cloud, in ascending, enters a current moving in an opposite direction to that below, or moving in the same direction, but with a much greater, or much less velocity, its top will be liable to be broken off", and swept away; thus destroyiag, or greatly weakening, the force of the vortex, and preventing the formation of cloud of suffi- cient altitude ;—in other words, preventing the condensation of vapor in sufficient quantity to produce rain. " To supply and maintain this upward current, the theory supposes the surrounding air, at and near the surface of the earth, to flow in- ward,—that is, that the wind in the borders of a storm, and probably beyond its borders, blows inward, from all directions, toward the cen- tre,—ascending, of course, more or less, as it approaches the central vortex. As the column of air and cloud rises above the main body of the atmosphere, it must, of course, spread, and flow outwards, in the form of an annulus; chiefly, however, in the direction of the upper cur- rent. Ai I as this upper current probably controls the general direction and velocity of the storm itself, it would form a great wave, above the proper level of the atmosphere, moving along with, or rather in advance of, the storm. The first effect of this aerial svave would be an increased pressure at the surface of the earth. This increased pressure would cause highest temperature at which dew settles upon it. Or it may be ascer- tained, approximately, by swinging rapidly, a thermometer, whose bulb is covered by a piece of wet clath, and observing the lowest degree to which the mercury descends. The difference between the dew-point, and the temperature of the atmosphere, is called the complement of the dew-point. * The dew-point is supposed to sink about one-fourth of a degree for every hundred yards of ascent, so that cloud will begin to form, at about as many hundred yards from the earth, as there are degrees between the dew- point, and the temperature of the air at the time. t The specific caloric of a body, is the caloric which that body requires, as compared with water, to heat it any given number of degrees. The spe- cific caloric of air is but a little more than one-fourth that of water. Con- sequently, assuming the caloric of elasticity to be a thousand degrees, which is below the truth, the caloric evolved by the condensation of a pound of vapor would be sufficient to raise the temperature of a hundred pounds -of air nearly forty degrees : or of a thousand pounds, nearly four degrees. A thousand pounds of air, with a dew-point of 60s, would contain about eleven pounds of water, in a state of vapor. And a condensation of one pound of this water would require a depression of temperature of about three degrees only, which would take place from expansion, in ascending less than ti'Kt yards. The caloric evolved by the condensation of one pound of water, could cause the thousand pounds of air, at that elevation, to occupy more than 100 cubic feet more space (after allowing for the diminution ol bulk from the condensation of vapor) than it would otherwise have occu- pied. In other words, it would be about l-120th the lighter than the sur- rounding air, which would of course give it anew impulse upward. % This is strictly true, only when the dew-point is at about 70°. Above .that, the depression would be less, and below, tt would be a little more than ive-eights of a degree to every hundred yards.] ' a flow, or a tendency to flow, in all directions from the point where it is greatest;—toward the storm in that direction, nnd from it in the op- posite direction. So that, while within certain limits, surrounding the storm, the wind would blow inward, toward the centre, it would seem, that beyond those limits, at least, in one direction, and possibly in oth- ers, the wind would, or might, blow/rom the storm. " As to the course of storms, in passing over the earth's surface, Mr. I Espy supposes, as above intimated, that they are governed by an upper current of the atmosphere,—by the uppermost current which the vortex penetrates. He supposes that the whole ascending column obeys the impulse given to its head, as a rope suspended from a balloon, even j though the end dragged upon the ground, would, in its whole length, follow the motion of the balloon. It is quite probable, if not certain, that the direction of most lar?e storms, does coincide with, if it is not controlled by, an upper current."* |. Mr. Espy, as previously remarked, maintains that this theory, which, in the above extracts, is applied only to rain-storms, also explains satis- factorily several other atmospheric phenomena, which will now be seve- ! rally briefly noticed. As regards the formation of Snow, the only variation from the atmo- spheric conditions producing rain, according to Mr. Espy, is a tempera- ture so low, as to freeze the particles of water, after they have been condensed, but before they have coalesced into drops. In the production of Hail, this theory supposes a very high dew-point, not only absolutely but relatively to the temperature. Hence, when an ascending column is formed, as the quantity of vapor in solution is large, the condensation commences low; and consequently the develop- ment of caloric, in proportion to the ascent, is rapid and great, thus caus- ing a great disturbance of equilibrium. This upward current, Mr. Espy supposes to be so violent as to carry up with it the drops of water into the region of perpetual frost; and that here, becoming congealed, they are thrown out by the spreading top of the column, and permitted to fall to the ground. That hail should not always be produced, when the ve- locity of the upward current is sufficient to produce the effect just de- scribed, may be owing, according to Mr. E., to a whirlwind motion within the vortex, thus throwing the drops outward before reaching the region of frost; or even supposing hail-stones of moderate size to be formed, and thrown outside of the column, they may be dissolved, in falling through an atmosphere of high temperature, before reaching the ground. Tornadoes and Water Spotts are referable, by this theory, pre- cisely to the same atmospheric conditions as those which are produc- tive of hail, only that their operation is required to be more intense, that is, the dew-point must be so high as to approach very nearly the temperature of the atmosphere, which last must be in a state peculiarly favorable to an upward current of great height. In both these meteors, the cloud, as generally described, descends ; but, more properly speak- ing, it forms close to the surface of the earth or the water. By this theory, too, were it really founded in nature, ihe fluctuations of the Barometer might be naturally and easily explained. In proportion to the violence of the upward current at the centre of storms, must there be a diminution of atmospheric pressure, and a consequent depres- sion of the barometric column; whilst at the outside of the storm, under the annulus, there must, at the same time, exist an increased atmospheric pressure, and a consequent rise of the barometer. But unfortunately for the beauty and simplicity of this theory, the baro- metric changes which have been frequently observed in storms are not easily reconciled with its principles ; for there are storms, in the midst of whieh the barometer has been observed to be at the highest point. Many other objections might, indeed, be Breed against Mr. Espy's theory, were it compatible with the design of this work. Let it suffice to refer to Mr. Espy's great fundamental position, that there is an in- ward tendency of the air in the borders of a storm towards its centre,— a- conclusion which he has attempted to establish by a great number of observations collected from different parts of this and other countries. The proof of this central tendency of the wind, however, is insufficient and unsatisfactory ; and, on the other hand, we have almost conclusive evidence in favor of a whirling motion, in the investigations of storms by Mr. Redfield, Colonel Reid andJProf. Dove. The diagram at the top of the next page, from the Journal of the Franklin Institute, containing "Re- marks on Mr. Espy's Theory of Centripetal Storms, &c. By W. C. Red- field," will illustrate the peculiar views of each. In fig 1, the centripetal theory of Mr. Espy, as applied to the storm of 1821, isshown, which, in the latitude of Philadelphia, was moving nearly N.N.E., as indicated by the line and arrow head c, c ; and fig. 2 illustrates the rotary or whirlwind theory of Mr. Redfield as applied te the same storm, which, in its ad- vance would be intersected bv the several geographical stations, v, n, c, e, o, on the several lines of arrow heads which are found in line with these stations on both figures. The direction of the several arrow- heads represents the direction, as well as the order of changes, which the wind would present to an observer, at each of these stations, according to the two theories." That in tornadoes and water-spouts, there exists an upward current of great violence, we have direct and positive evidence. In the latter, as is well known, immense quantities of water are often carried up with great violence from the surface of the ocean; and in severe tor- nadoes, heavy bodies are not unfrequently raised perhaps perpendicul- arly, hundreds of feet from the surface of the earth. There is no posi- tive evidence, however, of this upward current in ordinary storms, unless we admit as proof sufficient the fact of an inward motion at the surface of the earth, and simultaneously with it, a diminished baro- metric pressure at the centre of the storm. It is not, in truth, easy to imagine h*w this supposed centripetal movement of the winds, even for hundreds of miles, in nearly right lines from all sides towards the centre of titj storm, is brought about, even supposing the barometer to !»? * The path of storms, originating in the torrid zone, is known to be a curve. Near the equator, their course is a little north of west,—gradually declining towards the north as the latitude increases, until in 25° or 30* of norm latitude, their course is nearly north. Further north, the general course of storms is northeasterly. And in mid He latitudes, say from 40w to 50° north, there is reason to believe the prevailing course to be not far from east: perhaps varying from one or two points north, to as many south of east. IS THE NEW WORLD. Meteorology. exceedingly low at the centre of the storm. "It should be here kept in mind," says Red- field, " that half of the entire atmosphere lies below the height of three and a half miles. I have also good reasons for believing that the entire ma«f? of our storms lie beneath this comparatively small elevation. What space for the exhibition of a vast centripetal column, whose semi-diameter is even imagined to have extended, in one case, from Iceland to Italy !" It is now an admitted fact that the barometer, in advance of nearly all great storms, rises con- siderably above its mean altitude, and that, during their passage, it sinks below this aver- age,—fluctuations whieh bear a ratio to the violence of the storm. In support of his theory, Mr. Espy adduces the fact that large fires, the eruption of vol- canoes, etc., are attended by storms, appa- rently in the relation of cause and effect. These causes, when the dew-point and other circumstances are favorable, inasmuch as they have a stron? tendency to produce an upward current in the atmosphere, are apt to be fol- lowed by storms. The two theories of storms here noticed are of great practical importance to navigation, as already remarked, and scarcely less so to agri- culture. Should the various relations above indicated be once indisputably established, the discovery will form an epoch in the annals of science; and to him fortunate enough to enrich science by unravelling these mysteries, a proud immortality is destined. As Mr. Espv is now connected, as meteoroligist, with the medical department of the army, his untiring industry will afford him abun- dant opportunities of establishing the truth, if really founded in nature, of his simple and beautiful tkeory. SECTION VI.—Luminous Meteors. If some of the phenomena la=f described, such as the trade-winds, do not strictly belong to the class of accidental meteorological phenomena, the same objection, if we except twilight, will surely not apply to what remains. Subsection 1.— Twilight. Many of the phenomena observed above and around us are the 're- sults of the refraction and reflection of light. Rays of light passing obliquely into a medium of different density are no longer straight, as when they move in a medium of uniform density and composition, but become bent or refracted towards the denser medium. Consequently, the rays of light from heavenly bodies, in traversing our atmosphere, as tkey are successively penetrating denser strata, are bent towards the earth; but the different rays suffer, according to their color, different degrees of refraction, that of red being the least, then orange, yellow, green, light blue, indigo, and violet. As regardsthe property of reflect- ing light, all solid bodies seem to possess it in a greater or less degree, the rays which are the most refrangible being also the most easily reflect- ed. We may thus explain the phenomenon of morning and evening twilight. When the direct solar beams, in consequence of the descent of the sun beneath the horizon, can no longer, even by the aid of re- fraction, reach-the earth's surface, they will strike upon the atmosphere, or the clouds which float in it, and produce, by being reflected down- ward, that secondary illumination, styled twilight. Subsection 2.—Rainbow. ■ The Rainbow owes its formation to the different degrees of refrangi- bility possessed by the differently colored rays of light; and the separa- tion of these rays is caused by their undergoing two refractions and one reflection. On entering the drops of falling rain, the solar rays are re- fracted to their farther surfaces, and are thence by reflection transmitted to the eye; but on escaping from the drop, the rays experience a second refraction, by which they are separated into their different colors. This satisfactory explanation is due to Sir Isaac Newton. To see a rainbow, it is essential that rain be falling, and the sua and bow be on opposite sides of the observer. Lunar rainbows, which occur occasionally, are produced by the rays of the moon falling upon drops of rain. Subsection 3.—Ha7o, Parhelion, Paraselene. These are optical phenomena produced by refraction of light by vapor, or minute spiculas of ice floating in the atmosphere. When the atmos- phere is free from vapor and other extraneous causes, the sun and moon never vary either in form or color; but when a body of vapor inter- venes between the earth and these luminaries, many curious phenomena PARHELIA OR MOCK SUNS. are produced. The most singular effect, however, is induced when the upper regions of the "atmosphere contain small, transparent, prismatic needles of ice, which, by varied refractions and reflections, may pro- duce the most complicated phenomena. These several effects are DIAGRAM ILLUSTRATIVE OF ESry's AND REDFIELD's THEORIES OF STORMS. known under the general term of Halo, while those resulting from solar influence have been distinguished by the name of Parhelia, and tnose from lunar, Paraselenae. The halos around the sun and moon, some- times called corona', consist of a broad circle of variable diameter, oc- casionally white, but more usually presenting a taint representation of the colors of the rainbow. Parhelia or mock-suns appear sometimes above and sometimes below the disc of the true sun. When in the polar regions, Captain Pany observed two parhelia, one of which, as it was thrown upon a thick cloud, wag very bright and prismatic, while the other, having a blue sky at its back ground, was scarcely perceptible. Each of the mock-suns, as shown in the diagram, had attached to it bright yellow bands of light. Parhelia, it is supposed, are seated in the points of intersection of different halos, and derive their brightness from the union of several reflections. It would seem that in the polar regions, parhelia are not very uncommon, and that the cause is sufficiently per- manent to keep up the appearance for several hours. Mock-moons or paraselenae, which occur less frequently than parhelia, are generally as- cribed to similar causes. Subsection 4.—Mirage. The cause of this phenomenon is the different refractive powers of the atmosphere, arising from its variable temperature. The curious effects of this unequal refraction are observed in all climates exposed to an ex- treme temperature. In arctic climes, the chilled traveller beholds be- fore him mighty cities, with their battlements and towers; but, alas! he finds no shelter in the optical delusions produced by the pinnacles of icebergs and the snow-capt peaks of barren rocks. So, too, in the deserts of Africa, the drooping spirits of the traveller are often cheered by the apparition of cool streams and verdant foliage, which prove an airy vision less substantial than the morning cloud. This deception was experienced most painfully by the French army in Egypt. They beheld before them extensive lakes, covered with green islands with beautiful villages; but in vain did the exhausted soldieiy press forward to reach this elysium, which seemed incessantly to fly before them like the fabled punishment of Tantalus. The effect produced upon the sol- diers by this illusion is thus described by Baron Larrey, the Surgeon-in- Chief:—"Des plaines aqueuses semblaient nous off'nr le terme de nos maux, mais ce n'etait que pour nous replonger dans une plus grande tristesse, d'ou resultaient r&battement et la prostration de nos forces qui se sont portes chez nos braves au dernier degre : appele trop tard* pour quelques-uns d'entre eux, mes secours devenaient inutiles et ilg perissaient comme par extinction: cette mort me parut douce et calme • car l'un d'eux, me oisait au dernier moment de sa vie, se trouver dang un bien etre inexprimable: cependant j'en ai ranime un tres grand nombre avec un peu d'eau douce aiguisee de quelques gouttes d'esprit- de:vin, que je portais constamment avec moi dans une petite outre de cuir." This phenomenon is sometimes witnessed in more temperate climes; as, for instance, at Ramsgate, in 1798, by that eminent philosopher, Dr' Vince. He beheld in the sky, immediately above a ship approaching the shore, the topmast only of which was visible above the horizon, two complete images of the whole vessel, one erect and one inverted. Both images remained visible after the ship had risen above the herizcn; but, as it came into view, they gradually became indistinct. Many other instances of ships in the air are upon record. Captain Scoresby, in a voyage in the polar region, observed, an inverted ship in the air. Having directed his telescope towards it, he' found that it was his father ship, the Fame, notwithstanding it was at that time far below the horizon. " It was," says Captain S. " so well defined, that I could distinguish, by a telescope, every sail, the general rig of the ship, and its particular character; insomuch that I confidently pronounced it to be my father's ship, the Fame, which it afterwars proved to be ; though on comparing notes with my father, I found that our relative positions, at the time, gave a distance from one another, ot nearly 30 miles, being about 17 miles beyond the horizon, and some leagues beyond the limit of direct vision. I was so struck with the peculiarity e-f the circumstance, that I mentioned it to the officer of the watch, stating my full conviction that the Fame was then cruising in the neighboring inlet." Vessels thus represented in the air by the unequal refraction of the atmosphere, Meteorology. THE NEW WORLD 19 has no doubt given rise to the stories of phantom ships; as, for instance the superstitious notion of the Flying Dutchman, which obtains general credence among sailors. Sometimes, sunken rocks and sands appear as if raised above the sur- face. It was under an illusion of this kind that the Swedes long searched in vain for an island, which had been seen from a distance, as if lying between the coast of Upland and the isles of Aland. Another illustration of the same illusive appearance is afforded by the fata mm'- gana of the Italians. A spectator at Messina sometimes beholds the shipping and buildings on the shore of Naples, as if floating in the air. Agam, standing on an elevated place in the city of Reggio, command- ing a view of the bay, with his back to the rising sun, the spectator may often observe, when the rays form an angle of about 45° with the hori- zon, the objects on the shore, palaces, castles, and towers, men, horses, and cattle, all vividly painted on the surface of the water. Similar appearances have been frequently presented upon the lakes of Ireland : and with all of these, some legends, as, for instance, the story of O' Donoughoo, who haunts the beautiful lake of Killarney, are connected. As this celebrated chieftain is doomed to ride oyer the lake on the morning of the first of May, on a horse shod with silver, (an exercise to be continued until the shoes are worn out,) thousands assemble on the shores to see him; and that the phenomenon has been observed can scarcely be doubted ; but if so, it is merely the shadow of a man on horseback riding on the shore. In 1744, an aerial reflection of a troop of horsemen was seen along Souterfell side, by twenty-six persons, two ©f whom swore to the cir- cumstances .witnessed. Advancing as regular troops along the side of the mountain, they moved at a rapid walk, and continued visible for more than two hours. Many divisions followed in succession; and fre- quently the last but one in a troop would quit his position, and gallop to the front. That these were troops exercising in secret, in prepara- tion for the rebellion which broke out in 1745, is the most probable opinion ; and here the unequal atmospheric refraction brought them to the opposite side of the hill. " It is impossible," says Dr. Brewster, " to study these phenomena, without being impressed with the conviction, that nature is full of the marvellous, and that the progress of science, and the diffusion of know- ledge, are alone capable of dispelling the fears which her wonders must necessarily excite even in enlightened minds." It is, indeed, true that man trembles when in the midst of nature's wildest solitude, he beholds troops performing their evolutions on the surface of a lake or on the face of an inacessible precipice, or if he sees a gigantic image of man him- self delineated on the sky, as in the Spectre of the Brockcn to be now described, or if when in the solitude of the ocean's waste, ships are seen in the air, notwithstanding none are within reach of the eye. As these extraordinary phantasms appear in the character of the real pheno- mena of nature, a satisfactory knowledge of the causes can alone remove the impressions of supernatural agency. For centuries past, one of the peaks of the Hartz mountains, elevated about three thousand three hundred feet above the sea, has been cele- brated as the site of spectral appearances; but, unfortunately tor the lovers of the marvellous, the philosophical investigations of Mr. Haue, in 1797, divested this spot of its high reputation of being the chosen seat of supernatural powers. Long anxious to view the phenomenon, M- Hiue had many times ascended the mountain unsuccessfully ; but, about fowr o'clock in the morning of the 23d of May, 1797, as he was awaiting the rising of the sun, the meteor made its appearance. The sky being clear, he saw on a cloud opposite to the rising sun, a gigantic human figure with his face toward him. While, with a feeling not free from superstitious dread, he was gazing on the prodigious spectre, a lit- tle accident, otherwise unimportant, quickly dispelled from his mind such idle terrors. Lifting his hand to detain his hat, which a sudden gust of wind threatened to blow away, M. Haue observed the action mimicked by the spectre. Profiting by this hint, he changed his place and attitude, and found that his motions were always imitated by the figure. Being now joined by a person who had accompanied him, a second colossal spectre made its appearance ; and sooh after, a third figure appeared, caused, no doubt, by the duplication ot one of the shadows by the unequal refraction of the atmosphere. This scene is represented in the following figure. SPECTRE 01' THE BROCKEN. Several very curious instances of refraction are mentioned by Mr. Scoresby, in his "Account of the Arctic Regions." Sailing along the coast of Spitsbergen with an easterly wind, he observed a singular transformation ofCharles' Island. It presented the appearance ot a mountain in the form of a slender monument, and near it a perfect arch thrown over a valley at least a league in breadth. The scene now shitted with all the effect of a dramatic display, presenting the appearances of towers, spires, castles, and battlements. " Every object," says Mr. Scoresby, "between the northeast and southeast points of the compass, was more or less deformed by this peculiar refraction." From a great number of analogous observations, Mr. S. deduces the following results: 1. That tiie effects of unusual refraction are most frequent on the approach of easterly winds, and that they occur in the evening or night after a clear day. 2. That the causes of these phenomena are the commingling, near the surface of the sea or land, of atmospheric currents of different tempera- tures, and the irregular deposition of imperfectly condensed vapor. Subsection V.— Thunder and Lightning. As regards clettrkal phenomena, it does not comport with the plan of this work to bring them under detailed examination. The identity of lightning with the common electricity excited by the machine, was so completely established by o«r celebrated countryman, Franklin,that no doubt has since existed on the subject. When perfectly dry and pure, atmospheric air is one of the most complete non-conductors of electri- city known ; but the moment it takes up water in the form of vapor, it acquires the property of being a conductor of electricity. As a mass of visible vapor, that is, a cloud, when floating in a mixed atmosphere of air and vapor, becomes insulated, it is capable of electrical accumula- tion; and when these derangements of electrical distribution become equalized, the phenomena of thunder and light/nine are produced. We thus behold the phenomena of the electrical machine on a large scale. The interior and the exterior coatings of an electrical jar surcharged with the two opposite forms of electricity, are represented by a cloud and the earth, or two clouds, similarly surcharged; the interposed and non-conducting glass is represented by the intervening and non-con- ducting air; and the spark and explosion resulting from the union of the two electricities find their counterpart in the lightning and thun- der. Like heat and light, the distribution of electricity increases from the poles toward the equator. It is in the intertropical regions alone, that the effects of this energetic agent are fully displayed. It is, how- ever, often manifested with great power in the summer season of tem- perate climates, especially in mountainous regions. Thunder, that is, the sound which attends the phenomenon of light- ning, is modified in character and intensity by the extent and elevation of the electric clouds, and the physical peculiarities of the country. The rolling sound of thunder is caused by reverberation among the clouds. If the discharge is far distant from the hearer, a deep grum- blimg noise is produced ; if near at hand, an instantaneous crash is per- ceived. When it occurs over a level country, as there are no objects to produce a reverberation, the sounds consist of a series of regular ex- plosions ; but when over a mountainous or broken district, the sound is generally modified into successive clare, irregular both in time and intensity. Thunder, as just remarked, is more frequent as we approach the equator, being totally unknown in the Arctic regions. It is seldom heard at a greater distance than two miles. The distance of an electri- fied cloud from the place of observation may be estimated approximately, by allowing 1090 feet for each second which elapses between seeing the flash of lightning and hearing the report. Subsection VI.—Aurora Borealis. The aurora borealis, or northern light, which is supposed to have some connection with electricity, is a remarkable luminous phenom- enon, which occurs during the night, and most commonly in clear or frosty weather. These merry dancers or streamers, as they have been called, become more frequent as we approach the poles, it being, in- deed, unknown in low latitudes. Mr. Dalton's description of it as seen in England, is exceedingly interesting. His attention was first excited by a remarkably red appearance of the clouds to the south, by which light sufficient was afforded to read at 8 o'clock in the evening, not- withstanding there was no moon or light in the north. " From 9£ to 10 P. M.," he says, " there was a large luminous horizontal arch to the southward, almost exactly like those we see in the north, and there was one or more concentric arches northward. It was particularly noticed that all these arches seemed exactly bisected by the plane of the mag- netic meridian. At half-past 10 o'clock, streamers appeared very low in the southeast, running to and fro from west to east; they increased in number, and began to approach the zenith, apparently with an accel- erated velocity, when all of a sudden the whole hemisphere was covered with them, and exhibited such an appearance as surpasses all description. The intensity of the light, the prodigious number and volatility of the beams, the grand intermixture of all the primitive colors in their utmost splendor, variegating the glowing cancpy with the most luxuriant and enchanting scenery, afforded an awful, but, at the same time, a most pleasing and sublime spectacle. Every one gazed with astonishment; but the uncommon grandeur of the scene only lasted ©ne minute ; the variety of colors disappeared, and the beams lost their lateral motion, and were converted as usual into the flashing radiations; but even then it surpassed all other appearances of the aurora, in that the whole hem- isphere was covered with it." In Sweden, Lapland, and the polar re- gions, the aurora borealis is singularly beautiful; and so constant is it during the long winter nights, as frequently to serve the traveller instead of the light of the moon. It was long believed that the aurora is much feebler and less frequent in the southern than in the northern hemis- phere, but it is now well established that such is not the fact. That the aurora is a luminous representation of electricity flowing from the equator to the poles for the restoration ot electric equilibrium, is #n opinion considered probable by Dr. Farraday. There also seems to be some connection between the magnetic poles and the aurora, it having been observed in Europe that the most elevated point of the au- rora is always situated in the magnetic meridian of the place of the observer. It is, likewise, inferred that it has some relation with the temperature of the atmospheric strata in which it is produced. The fact that the aurora can be imitated by passin™ electricity through a vacuum, causing beautiful streams of light which vary in color and in- tensity, according to the amount of air present, would seem to imply a common origin. Subsection VII.—St.Elmo's Light. This is a luminous meteor that frequently settles upon tkc tops of ship masts, and at the points of spears and other warlike instruments when in motion. The ancients called a single flame of this kind Hel- lena; but when seen in pairs, Castor and Pollux. It was formerly re- garded by mariners to be a visible representation of their tutelar deity, St Elmo ; and hence arose its appellation. When confined to the top- mast, it was considered by sailors to be a favorable prognostic; but when it descends the mast, it is regarded as a haibinger of evil in pro- portion to this descent. Its character as an omen ot ill did not escape the attention of Falconer, in his " Shipwreck"— 20 THE NEW WORLD Meteorology. High on the masts, with pale and livid rays, Amid the gloom, portentous meteors blaze. It is generally believed to be an accumulation of electric matter, from the well-known aptitude of a pointed conductor in transferring electri- city from a highly electrical atmosphere. Of a similar nature is the more common meteor, vulgarly called tne Sliooting Star. Subsection VIII.—Ignis Fatuus. The Ignis Fatuus or Will o' the Wisp is a meteor generally produced by the disengagement of phosphoretted hydrogen gas, which inHamesat the ordinary temperature of the atmosphere, or, as is supposed tysome, by a strongly electrified animal vapor. A flickering and unsteady light, and irregular in its motion, it is often seen hovering over boggy grounds; it sometimes plays over dunghills; and it occasionally appears, to the no small terror of the ignorant, as a lambent flame in church-yards. Among the uninformed peasantry, it has ever been considered the visible repre- sentation of an evil spirit, that delights to lead astray the benighted traveller amid bogs and morasses. In the words of Milton— A wand'ring fire, Hovering and blazing with delusive light, Misleads the amazed night-wanderer from his way To bogs and mires, and oft through pond or pool, There swallowed up and lost, from succor far. Subsection IK.—Zodiacal Light. The Zodiacal Light maybe described as a luminous appearance, seen before and after sunset; it resembles the milky way, but is of a fainter light; its base is always turned toward the sun, and its axis is vari- ously inclined toward the horizon. This pyramidal light, computing ZODIACAL LIGHT. from the sun at its base, has a length sometimes of 45°, and at others of 150°. It was accurately described, in 1683, by Dominique Cassini, who gave it its present name. Its cause is generally ascribed to an at- mosphere surrounding the sun, on the supposition that when the sun is below the horizon, a portion of this luminous atmosphere will appear above it like a pyramid of light. That the sun has an atmosphere, there is good reason to believe from the circumstance that, in total eclipses, a luminous aurora seems to surround his disc. The obliquity of thesun's equator to the horizon, if this theory is a true one, will of eourse affect the obliquity of the zodiacal light; and hence about the time of the ver- nal equinox, it will foim a very great angle with the horizon. The lat- ter part of February and the early part ot March, has accordingly been found the season most favorable for observing it. Objections, however, have been made to this theory, Regnier being of opinion that it is caused by the refraction of the solar light by the earth's atmosphere. Subsection X.—Falling Stars. Falling Stars are exceedingly interesting phenomena, which, until within a few years, have not received proper attention. It is not in- tended to argue the concurrent question, whether a new planetary world is about being revealed to us. It is now proved that they do not originate within our atmosphere, but come from beyond its limits. Particular at- tention should be paid to these appearances from the 20th to the 24th of April, and on the nights of the 10th, 11th, 12th, 13th, and 14th of Novem- ber, to ascertain whether, as on several previous occasions, they will recur at these periods. SECTION VII.—Foreign Bodies in the Atmosphere. Foreign bodies are occasionally found in the atmosphere, some being merely suspended in.a state of mixture, while others exist in a state of elution. Subsection I.— Various Bodies. Both in ancient and modern times, we have had showers of blood, of sulphur, of ashes, of manna, etc., as well as red snow. The nature of these coloring matters has been found to vary mueh in different instan- ces, being mostly of vegetable origin. Minute licheBsand other crypto- gamous plants may, by the agency of winds, be transported from a great distance, and be diffused in myriads through the atmosphere. The showers of blood, which have at various periods, caused much popular excitation, are now ascribed, as in the case of the red snow of Green- land and the Alps, to the red globules or seeds of the uredo nivalis, or to minute red insects. The red excrement of insects has also occasionally given the appearance of drops of blood falling from the air. The shower of sulphur, which is rcorded as having occurred at Copenhagen, in May 1646, was doubtless the same as the phenomenon of May 1804 ; but this last yellow deposit, on analysis, was found to consist of vegetable pollen, resembling the powder of lycopodium. A shower of yellow powder was also observed, in 1761, at Bordeaux; but this was immediately recog- nized as the pollen of some neighboring pine forests, carried up into the air by a violent gale. That small frogs and fishes occasionally descend with rain, is not improbable, as such animals, and even matter a hun- dred-fold more ponderous, have been raised into the atmosphere by whirlwinds. The color has been occasioned, in other instances, by earthy and metallic matter in a state of very fine powder; and in these cases, the descent is usually accompanied by violent electrical phe- nomena, analogous to those which almost alwa Meteoric stones or Aerolites. A striking example of the showers of dust, which are recorded as hav- ing fallen at different times in various parts of the globe, is given by Dr. John Davy.f One of the most remarkable circumstances connected with it, is the extent of surface over which the dust fell, comprising Italy, Malta. Sicily, Sardinia, and perhaps even more distant parts. This oc- curred, as noted by Dr. Davy, in Malta, on the 15th of Mvy, 1330. " In the morning of thit day," he says, " a strong sirocco wind prevailed ; the atmosphere was hazy, the sky overcast, of a sooty hue ; at eight A. M. the dry thermometer was 69°, the moist 63°. Toward noon, the wind moderated, and at the same time the obscurity of the atmosphere increased; so that the natives became alarmed and apprehensive of some impending calamity, such as an earthquake or something extraor- dinary. Between one and two o'clock, it became almost calm, with the same state of atmosphere. About that time, 1 believe, the falling of dust was first perceived. I happened then to be riding into the country, and was surprised to perceive that the rain-drops, of which there were but a few, left a reddish stain on my linen; and on going into a garden, I found the leaves of the plants generally covered with a reddish dust of extreme fineness. The exact time the dust was falling was not ascer- tained ; it probably did not exceed two or three hours. It ceased soon after four P. M., about which time the wind changed to westerly, and the haze diminished. When the dust was falling fastest, and the obscurity was greatest, there was sufficient light to see objects distinctly. The quantity, too, of dust which fell was incansiderable; what was swept from the deck of the Windsor Castle, a ship of the line of seventy-four guns, then lying an anchor in the great harbor of Valletta, was supposed sufficient to fill two buckets." Subsection 2.—Aerolites. Aerolites have frequently descended from the atmosphere from the re- motest antiquity. It is only within the last half century that they have been carefully observed in Europe and in our own country ; but the Chinese and Japanese have paid particular attention to these phenomena, having a descriptive catalogue ot the falls of stones extending as far back as the seventh century befors the Christian era. The origin of these stones, in the present state of our knowledge, is inexplicable. Some, con- sidering aerolites to be the productions of our own planet, imagine them to have been fragments of rocks projectedfrom volcanoes to great height, and which fall back again after having performed several revolutions around the globe. Others suppose them, the possibility of which has been demonstrated by calculation, to be ejected from the volcanoes of the moon, to such a distance as to come within the sphere of the earth's attraction. It is maintained by a third class that they are generated by the combination and condensation of their component parts, previously diffused in the atmosphere in the gaseous form. Others allege that they are detached bodies, moving through the boundless regions of space by virtue of the planetary actions, and that they come in contact with our planet only when its attraction preponderates over their centrifugal force. It is now generally admitted that aerolites, while in the higher regions of the atmosphere, are often in a state of intense ignition. Traversing the air with amazing velocity, they assume the form of brilliant mete- ors; and as they approach the earth^ they hurst with a terrible detonation, followed by a shower of stones. Some of these balls descend with all the disastrous effects of thunder and lightning, destroying animals, breaking through the roofs of houses, and shattering vessels at sea. Evident marks of fusion are generally exhibited by these stones; and as many of them have been picked up while still warm, there could exist no doubt of their being bona fide aerolites. They are all distin- guished by one remarkable similarity. They contain invariably iron cobalt, or nickel, or two or all three of these metals, in union with va- rious earthy substances. Aerolite; have been found of every dimension, varying from the weight of a few grains to ih-nt of several hundred pounds. The isolated masses of iron of this latter magnitude, which have been seen in various parts of the world, are now generally allowed to be of meteoric origin. t Notes and Observations on the Ionian Islands and Malta, Meteorology. THE NEW WORLD. 21 Subsection 3.— ry Fogs. These Fogs are those matters, whatever their nature may be, which have been known to spread as a haze over large tracts of the earth's surface These great fogs or mists have some connection with earth- quakes and volcanic eruptions, and also with pestilential diseases. By Noah Webster* it has been shown from historical records that they have existed at many epidemic periods, ever since the darkness that attended the plague of Egypt in Pharaoh's time. During the progress of the Black Death in the 14th century, for example, a thick, stinking mist accom- panied the march of this plague. " A dense and awful fog," says one writer, " was seen in the heavens, rising in the east, and descending upon Italy." More recently, as in the years 1782 and 1783, a haze of a pale blue colour spread over the whole of Europe. At the same time, there occurred terrible earthquakes in Calabria and in Icelaad. And simultaneously there prevailed throughout Europe, an epidemic catarrh or influenza, affecting not only mankind but likewise other animals. " It will be found invariably true," says Webster, " in every period of the world, that the violence and extent of the plague have been nearly pro- portioned to the number and violence of the following phenomena— earthquakes, eruptions of volcanoes, meteors, tempests, and inundations." These dry fogs have also been ascribed, but with liitle show of reason, to the passage of the earth through the tail of comet. Subsection 4.—Malaria. Of the substances suspended and those dissolved[inthe atmosphere, the haze just described may be regarded as intermediate. Among the mat- ters occasionally diffused through the atmosphere, and which appear to be in a state of solution; reference may be made to Malaria. This noxious exhalation arises in localities partially covered with water and haying a luxuriant vegetation, such as fens and marshes. It is evolved in its greatest abundance and virulence in warm countries; but it also appears in cold and temperate climates, at seasons of the year when the sun is most pow;erful. Under the latter circumstances, it produces generally the ordinary fever and ague ; but on opproaching the tropics, and within those limits, it manifests itself under the form of the fatal re- mittent fever—the well-known scourge of hot climates. With respect to the nature of these exhalations our knowledge is very imperfect; but that the comparative unhealthiness of low, swampy situations, depends upon an admixture of terrestrial emanations with the common atmos- pheric elements, is obvious, notwithstanding these agents have thus far escaped the researches of the chemical analyst.f SECTION VIII.—Of the Means of Foretelltnc4 the Weather. If it is true that the inhabitants of a particular locality acquire, by their personal experience, the art of foreseeing the weather, the impor- tance of their availing themselves of all the observations that have been made on this subject, especially the precise knowledge obtained by in- struments, can be no longer a matter of doubt. The following remarks, then, in reference to those signs which are true indicators and prognos- tics of the different chaKges of the weather,'taken chiefly from the " Mai- son Rustique du XIX Silcle" will not be regarded as here out of place. Subsection 1.—Prognostics furnished by Instruments. As the barometer usually rises more or less in the morning till 9 or 10 o'clock and falls till 2 or 4 o'clock, to ascend afterwards, any movemsnts contrary to this course indicate a probable change of weather. If the mercury sinks low in warm weather, it is a sign of storm ; and if this oc- curs in good weather, and it continues to fall for two or three days, it presages great rain and probably high wind. _ In winter, a high rise of the barometer is a sign of cold; and if it falls in cold weather, a thaw is indicated. These'changes are generally announced at least a day in advance. The observations of the thermometer, and hygrometer are of the highest importance, inasmuch as by giving a measure of the varia- tions of temperature and of the degree of humidity, they often point in advance to rain or fog. By means of Daniell's hygrometer, we can as- certain the elastic force of the vapor of the atmosphere with the utmost precision. The weathercock, as an index of the course of the wind, is also a prognostic well worth consulting; for no one, after having lived some time in a particular locality ? can be ignorant of the changes of the weather indicated by different winds. Subsection 2.—Prognostics furnished by the Heavenly Bodies. Observations of the Sun.—The signs of wind are—He rises pale and remains red—his disc is very large—he continues pale, with one or more obscure circles or red rays—he seems concave or hollow. When the sun is accompanied by a parhelion, or seems divided, a great storm is indicated. The signs, oj rain are—The sun rises red or with black stripes mingled with his rayf, or becomes blackish—he is obscure, and bathed, as it were, in water—he is placed above a thick cloud, and rises surrounded with a red sky in the east. Sudden rains are never of long duration. It is only when the sky is changed by slow degrees, and the sun, moon, and stars, become gradually obscured, that we have a rain of six hours. The signs of fair weather axe—The sun rises clear after an unclouded night—the clouds which surround him at his rising, which are often in the form of a circle, take their course to the west- he sets amid red clouds. Hence the popular saying—" a red evening and a gray morning are sure signs of a fair day." 2. (hjscrvettions of the Moon.—The signs of wind are—The moon seems large and has a reddish color—her horns are pointed and black- ish—she is encircled by a distinct and reddish halo. If the circle is double or broke a, it indicates a tempest. When the moon becomes new, there is often a change of wind. The signs of rain are—Her disc is pale—the points of her crescent are blunted. The halo around the moon accompanied by a south wind, portends rain the next day; and when the wind is south and the moon is visible only the fourth night, it foretokens much rain for th<' month. The signs of fair weather are— The spots on the moo,i are very visible—when full, she is surrounded by a brilliant circle. If her horns, on the fourth day, are sharp, it will be fair till the full moon ; and if her disc is very brilliant three days before I the change or the full moon, fair weather >4>rvly denoted. A rain fol-: lowed by fair weather often supervenes Ufn>r. each new and full moon. 3. Observations of the Stars.—lite sisns of rain are—They seem large * History of Epidemic and lVi'jIenlial Diseases. 1 This subject lias be«n fully investigated by the author in his work on " The i Chmste of the UnUed States and its Emleui c Influences.' • summer, if the wind blows from the ^as:"* and the stars appear larger than ordinary, a sudden rain is strongly foreboded. The signs oj fair weather and cold are, when the stars appear in great numbers, and spar- kle with the brightest lustre. Subsection 3.—Prognostics furnished by the Atinoxphere. J 1. Observations of the clouds. The signs of rain.—The most fruitful 'source of meterological prognostics has always been the different ap- pearances and changes of aspect of the clouds; for, as these are the immediate cause of rain and snow, they have, at all times, been looked upon as affording the surest and most direct signs of the changes of the weather. But as this subject was noticed when treat!r.; of clouds, its introduction in detail again is deemed unnecessary. It the wind blows in cloudy weather, rain ought to follow. If it begins to rain an hour or two before sunrise, it is quite probable that it will be fair at noon; but if it commences an hour or two after sunrise, it will generally continue to rain during the whole day. A shower after a high wind is a sure in- dication that the storm is near its end, whence the vulgar saying—" A little rain lays a great mind.—Signs of fair weather: when at sunrise the clouds seem to vanish—when small clouds appear to descend, or to go against the wind—when they are white, or the sky has the aspect called curdled, the sun being above the horizon. 2. Observations of fogs.—Rain is indicated in a day or two, when the fogs appear attached towards the summits of the hills; but a sudden rain may be expected, if, in a dry time, the fogs ascend more than usual. Fair weather is prognosticated if the fogs appear to be dissipated or to descend a little after rain; and fair weather and heat are indicated for the ensuing day, if, after sunset or before sunrise, there arises a whitish fog from waters and meadows. A sign of fair weather for the day, is af- forded by the deposition of moisture upon the innerside of panes of glass. 3. Observations of winds.—The west or northwest winds, in almost all France, give rain or showers: the.south or southwest winds prepare the weather for it. If the clouds move in different directions, or in a course contrary to that indicated by the weathercock, it foreshows a storm. Subsection 4—Prognostics furnished by Vegetables. Among the signs of rain, are the bind-weed and the chick-weed of the fields, the rainy marigold, and many other plants, which shut their blossoms at the approach of rain. Hence the chick-weed has received the appellation of Poor Man's Barometer. Suesection 5.—Pro gnostics furnished by Animals. As the bodies of birds are almost wholly pervaded by air, the organs of respiration being continued into their bones, it is not surprising that they should be more sensible than other animals to atmospheric influences. Hence they are especially consulted by the hunter, the navigator, and all other persons who pass much of their lives in the open air. Signs of wind: The aquatic birds collect upon the shore and sport there, especially in the morning—ducks and coots are clamorous and uneasy—ravens sport upon the banks or shoot through the air. When the fishes of the sea and of the fresh water leap frequently above the surface, a storm is pre- saged. Signs of a calm : The play of dolphins upon the water during the storm—the return of the halcyon to the sea before the wind ceases— the coming forth of moles from their holes—the customary singing of the smallerbirds. Si gnu of rain: The water-fowl leave the sea forthe land, while the land birds, especially geese and ducks, resort to the water and there uwke great splashing and noise—the crows and ravens gather together and then suddenly disappear—the pies and jays assem- ble in flocks and make a great uproar—the crows caw in the morning more than usual and in an interrupted manner—the herons and buz- zards fly low—the swallows skim the surface of land and water, (for insects now keep near the earth,)—the small birds fly to their nests, neglecting their food—the pigeons keep their cotes—the fowls and par- tridges roll themselves in the dust and shake their wings—the lark and sparrow sing very early—the owls and peacocks, during the night, cry louder and oftener than usual, etc. The asses bray more than ordin- ary—the oxen distend their nostrils. look toward the south, and, lying down, lick themselves—the horses leap about and neigh violently—the sheep and goats gambol and butt each other—the hogs frisk about and fight, carrying straws or sticks in their mouths—the cats wash their fa- ces and ears—the dogs scratch the ground with eagerness, and a rumb- ling noise is heard in their bowels—rats and mice are more turbulent than usual, etc. The frogs and toads croak in the ditches—worms issue in great numbers from the ground—the spiders working little, retire into I their corners—the flies are less lively and exceedingly troublesome by their biting—the ants hasten to their hillocks, and the bees to their hives—the gnats sing more than ordinary, etc. Sivr affair weather : The kites and bitterns fly with cries—swallows no lunger skim the sur- face, but, as insects now keep in the upper regions, they fly high—tur- tles coo slowly—the red-breast rises into the air and sings—the wrens sing in the forenoon till nine or ten o'clock, and in the afternoon till four or five o'clock, etc. The gnats and flies, after sunset, play in the air—wasps and hornets appear in the morning, in great numbers—spi- ders appear in the air and upon plants, spin tranquilly, and extend their webs largely. If spiders alter their web between six and seven in the evening, a fine night is indicated ; e.nd if in the morning, a fine day may be expected. If they work during rain, there will soon be fine weather. The activity and industry of the spider would, indeed, seem to be a measure and indication of the fairness of the approaching weather; but should they, for instance in gardens, break off and destroy their webs, and secrete themselves, look out for a continued rain. "The leech alr-o," says a late English Meteorological Journal, " pos- sesses the peculiar property of indicating approaching changes of the weather in a most eminent degTee. In fair and frostv wtntluT it re- mains motionless and rolled up in a spiral form at the bottom of the vessel; previous, however, to rain or snow, it will creep to the ten, where, should the rain be heavy or of long continuance, it will re- main for a considerable time—if triflinsr, it will descend. Should the rain qrsnow be accompanied with wind, it will dart abon'. w;th great velocity, and seldom cease its evolutions until it blows hare. It a storm of thunder or lightning be approaching, it will be exceedingly agitated, and pale—their twinkling is imperceptible, or they are encircled. In ' The reader will bear in mind that the ticularly '.o the climate of France. Maiwi Rtntique" applies par- 22 THE NEW WORLD. Meteorology. and express its feelings in violent convulsive starts at the top of the glass. It is remarkable, that however fine and serene the weather may be, and to our senses mo indication of a coming change either from the Bky, the barometer, or any other cause, yet, if the leech shifts its posi- tion, or moves about sluggishly, the coincident result will undoubtedly occur, within twenty-four hours." Subsection 6.—Different Signs and Prognostics. The signs of rain derived from inanimate bodies, are without number; as, for example, the swelling of wood, the deposition of moisture upon iron alid stones, which seem to sweat, the snapping of the cords of musical instruments, the relaxing of the canvass or paper of pictures, the moisture of salt, the appearance of a remarkable circle around the lights, and pools or tanks becoming troubled or muddy. Signs of a storm: When the weather is sultry and the soil chaps, a storm at hand is presaged; and also when, in the summer, after the wind has blown from the south for two or three days, the thermometer is high, and the cumulous clouds form large white piles, like mountain heaped upon mountain, with black clouds underneath. If two clouds of this de- scription appear, each in an opposite quarter, it is a still surer prognostic. Signs oj' hail and snow: Clouds of a yellowish white, and which, not- withstanding the wind is high, move slowly. Great storms with hail may be expected, if the sky toward the east is pale before sunrise, and if the thick clouds present refracted rays. In summer white clouds are signs of hail; but in winter, of snow, especially when the atmosphere is mild. Signs of cold and frost: The premature appearance of wild geese and other migrating birds—the assembling of the small birds in flocks—the brilliancy of the moon's disc, and the pointed appearance of her horns after the change from full to new—the brightness of the stars—small low clouds flying toward the north—the fall of fine snow, the clouds being piled up like rocks. Signs of a thaw: The fall of snow in great flakes during a south wind—the loud cracking of ice—the sun appearing to be immersed in water, and the horns of the moon to be blunted—a changeable wind or its shifting to the south. In a climate so diverse and variable as ours, none but general obser- vations will of course apply, it being necessary to acquire, from actual experience, a knowledge of local peculiarities. CHAPTER II. climatology, or researches in elucidation of the laws of climate in general, and especially the climatic features peculiar to the region of the united states. SECTION I. History of the Climatology of the Vi ited States.—Connection of climate with celestial relation and geographical position.—Local causes which modify climate on the same parallels —Explanation of the isothermal, isocbeimal, and isotheral lines.—Definuion of the term climate.—Connection ot meteorology with medical science, political economy, the natural history of man, agriculture, and the king- doms of nature in general.—Influence of malaria on the human constitution.— General physieal features of the United States.—Influence of the geological struc- ture of the United States uppn its inhabitants.—Correct views of climatology taken by Cabanis, and eves by Hippocrates. Preliminary to the investigation of this subject, a concise account of the past and present state of meteorology in the United States, will not be without value. Climatology, although of the highest interest to man in every conceivable relation of his earthly existence, yet has been strange to say, wonderfully neglected so far as regards the climate of our own country. Indeed, so little effort has been made to keep pace with the progress of kindred branches of science, that the work of M. Volney on the climate of the United States, written more than forty years ago, when this French savant made a flying visit through our country, is still quoted by every writer on this topic. So barren of pre- cise daj a, in truth, is this work, that the author's only instrumental observations ca»isist of a few thermometrical results obtained from a lit- erary gentleman in New York, for which even he made no acknow- ledgement. The merit of being the first to establish, on an extensive scale, a sys- tem of meteorological observations, with a view to the elucidation of the laws of climate throughout the United States, is due to the late Sur- geon General of the United States' Army, Dr. Joseph Lovell, who, in 1819, issued instructions to the medical officers of the different posts to keep regular records of the weather, and to transmit them quarterly to the Medical Bureau at Washington.^ In 1820 and 1821, he published the general results of each year; and in 1826, the connected results of the observations for the preceding foar years. The first State that fol- lowed in this laudable measure was New York, whose academies and other schools established under legislative patronage, have been bound, for many years past, to keep meteorological registers, and make reports ot the results to the Regents. In 1836, a liberal appropriation for simi- lar purposes was made by the legislature of Pennsylvania, thus supply- ing each county in the State with a set of meteorological instruments; and the observations thus made have been reported monthly to a special committee of the Franklin Institute, where they are at all times open for consultation. As Ohio has come, within the last year, into a similar measure,, we have now a very extensive district of country dotted, as it were, with points of instrumental meteorological observation. When to these efforts of individual States and those of the medical depart- ment of our army, we add the observations made under the direction of the British authorities in their extensive possessions, as well as those of private individuals throughout the continent of North America, it is cheering to those engaged in solving the intricacies of meteorological phenomena to look upon the future. In this general view of the existing state of climatology in our coun- try, the claims of tke present head of the Medical Department of the United States' Army, Dr. Thomas Lawson, as one who has contributed more than any other toward relieving hs as a nation from the odium of lagging behind! in the present onward march of meteorological science, *It is due to the Hon. John C. Calhoun, who was Secretary of War at I the period of the establishment, of the Medical Bureau of the Army, to state that in his " Life," recently published, it is claimed that these meteor- ological observations.had their origin exclusively in his enlarged views. ' must not pass unnoticed. It was under his official direction that the author of this work, then an officer of the Medical Corps of our Army, undertook the investigation of this subject in the " Army Meteorologi- cal Register" and the " Statistical Repm't onthe Sickness and Mortality in the Army qftlie United States" embracing a period of twenty years, (1819 to 1839,) both of these volumes being published officially by th« War Department. Subsequently, the author having compressed these volumes into one-fourth their original compass, by divesting them of statistical details, and having added thereto such general deductions as more extended investigations enabled him to make, he published a work on his own responsibility, entitled " The Climate of the United States and its Endemic Influences." It is upon the researches contained in these several works, thit much of the present volume is based. Prior to the appearance or these works, we possessed no treatise founded on facts in regard to the climate of the region that we inhabit; but the materials employed in their composition are authentic—data which have required years to collect, and years to collate and digest. Unlike all other treatises' on the same subject, which are generally loosely written and made up of the most vague and general statements, the deductions of these volumes are based upon precise instrumental obser- vations. The author may be permitted to make the following quota- tion here from his preface to " The Climate of the United States and its Endemic Influences" :—" The design of this work is to exhibit a con- nected view of the leading phenomena of our climate, both physical and medical, comprising a condensation of all the author's observations on the subject. * * * The chief objects intended to be accomplished are to present, in Part First, a classification of the principal phenom- ena of our climate, physically considered; and to attempt, in Part Second, to trace out the medical relation of these laws, thus establish- ing in both a classification of climates having for its basis observation. * * * In relation to climate, nearly all our facts stand isolated ; and inasmuch as to render such data valuable, it is necessary that they be collated, thus determining their relations to one another and to general laws, the attempt has been made to present a systematic arrangement so far as the facts collected will warrant, leaving the further prosecution of the subject to a period when new data shall nave been accumulated." In the present work, however, the author's labors will be restricted to physical climate. Having before him a mass of authentic matter in relation to the climatology of our country, from the oldest settlements on the Atlantic shores to the farthest outposts of civilized occupation, even to the coasts of the Pacific, he will endeavor to determine the relations to one another of these isolated facts; and comparing these results with the general laws of climate, he will demonstrate their har- mony throughout the globe. The temperature of the atmosphere is derived from the heating of that portion of it in contact with the surface of the earth, which has received and absorbed the incident solar rays. But the superficial tem- perature of the earth is connected with two classes of causes, viz., those resulting from celestial relation, and those depending on geogra- phical position. The former, which may be called the primary con- stituents of climates, result from the globular figure of the earth, its diurnal motion upon its axis, and the obliquity ot its motion in an ellip- tical orbit in regard to the plane of the equator. The distribution of heat Along the banks of rivers, s adopted.—Method of making the therniomelrical ebservauons—Description of the general physical feature-, nnd tbe" natural productions of each Stale embraced in the Northern DiviMon—Modifying influence of the Atlantic and especiatly the Pacific oceans and i lie great lakes, a« evidenced in the difference between the mean tempera- ture of winter aad Mimmer, of winter and spring-, ol the warmest and coldest month,and in die mean annual range of tke thermometer.—Extreme rangeof the mercury in the Northern Division.—Thr-'-e law* confirmed by thorreportsof the Regpnts of the l*Hivei->ity of the Sta> of New York.—Extreme seasons from the earliest period of our colonial liiMrrv —The meteorological phenomena of Cana- da, Nova Scotia, New Brim-wick, and Newfoundland,in harmony with the laws of climate developed in the I nits J Stair--.—\\ inds.—Rain and atmospheric mois- ture.—Description of the Middle ami S jutliern Divisions,as regards meteorologi- cal detai;s and the general pbvsic;il features and natural productions of each Slate. With these preliminary remarks, we are prepared to enter into a de- tail of the numerical results furnished in the several systems of climate pertaining to the I'nited States. Did the phenomena of temperature, as already remarked, depend solely on the position of the sun, climates might he classified with mathematical precision ; but as the effects prO ducedhy solar heat are so much modified by local causes that the cha- racter of a climate can be determined only by observation, it becomes necessary*o adopt a classification of climates based on physical geogra- phy, without reference to latitude. The military posts furnishing the thermometrical data, will consequently be classified as under:— General Divisions of Systems of piimate. theUnited States. rjst Class — Posts on the coast of New England, extend- ) ingas far south as the harbor of New York. | 2d " Posts on the northern chain of lakes. [ 3d " Posts remote from the ocean and inland seas. Cist Class.—Atlantic coast from Delaware Bay to Sa- < vannah. (2d " Interior stations. o a„„,v orri 5 lst Class.—Posts on the Lower Mississippi. 6. southern. 12d „ Pos,g in the Peninsula of £a£t FJorida. These general divisions, intended as well to facilitate description as to express the operation of general laws, may be regarded, in a great measure, as arbitrary. The Northern embraces a region characterized by the predominance of a low temperature ; in the Southern, a high tem- perature prevails; while the Middle exhibits phenomena vibrating to both extremes. Each of these general divisions, as exhibited in the ta- ble above, is subdivided into well-marked classes or systems. As the plan of the present wcrk will not allow the admission of ex- tensive tables of figures, the author is obliged to confine himself to mere results, referring the reader who maybe more curious on this sub- ject, to the author's larger work—" The Climate of the United States and its Endemic Influences"—which contains a series of extensive tabu- lar abstracts of instrumental observations. These results are obtained from observations made at the various military posts between 24° 33' and 46° 39' of north latitude, embracing a space of 22° 6', and an ex- tent of longitude stretching from the Atlantic to the Pacific. The ther- mometrical observations were made thrice daily; and as the mean of each month is calculated from 90, and of each year from 1,095 observa- tions, the numerical ratios, if is believed, will give an approximation to the truth as near as can be realized by ordinary observation, and a mean sufficiently correct for every contemplated purpose. The results, at the majority of the posts, are based on from five to ten thousand observa- tions. 1. The Northern Division.—As this region presents the greatest di- versity of physical character, so it exhibits the most marked variety of climate. East of the chain ot great lakes, there are several mountain ranges, which, with the exception of a few summits, seldam attain a height of more than 2500 feet above the level of the sea; and of this ele- vation, perhaps one-half is formed by the table-lands upon which the ridges rest. Above the falls of Niagara, the region of the lakes is ele- vated 600-70d feet above the ocean, but there are scarcely any ridges that deserve the name of mountains. This immense tract is, with the exception of the Eastern States, nearly altogether in a state of nature, being still covered with its dense primeval forests. But the most strik- ing characteristic in the physical geography of this Division, is that pro- duced by its vast lakes or inland seas. We here behold a chain of lakes presenting a superficial area of 94,000 square miles, with a mean depth of 1000 feet in the principal lakes, the details of which have just been given. But as the physical aspect of a country, the nature of the soil, and its vegetable productions, are intimately connected with the cha- racter of climate, a more precise description becomes necessary. Let not the reader be surprised at the frequent reference made to physical geography, for these are the great causes which modify climate on the same parallels of latitude. The remark of Malte-Brun, given on a pre- ceding page, is so much to the point, that its repetition here will surely not be regarded as out of place :—" The best observations upon climate often lose half their value for the want of an exact description of the surface of the country." Miine.—In this State, there is no connected ridge of mountains, but the north-western part contains numerous detached elevations. A characteristic feature is its numerous lakes, it being estimated that one- sixth part of its surface is covered with water. A large portion of the State is yet clothed with the primitive forests, which furnish the most important articles of commerce. The larch, red and white pine, hem- lock, white oak, white cedar, spruce, sugar-maple, &c, are found abundantly. Although a great portion of the soil is fertile and well adapted to the culture of wheat, Indian corn, and other grain, yet little attention has been paid to the developing of the agricultural resources of the State. With the exception of the Acadian or French settlement on the St. John's, the whole population is concentrated on a compara- tively narrow strip in the southern portion. N:w Hampshire.—With the exception of the south-eastern angle of j the State, the surface is hilly or mountainous, the elevations rising in height as they recede from the sea, until they finally swell into the lofty grandeur of the White mountains. The great central knot consists ol ror-ky pinnacles shooting up to the altitude of from 5,000 to upward of j 6,0-M) feet. On these summits, the ascent to which discovers several! striding changes in vegetation, snow lies during ten months of the year. A large part of the State is yet covered with native forests, which are still haunted, in some places, by the larger kind ot wild animals. Of the population, nearly four-fifths live in the southern portion of the State much of the northern being too rugged and sterile to be susceptible of cultivation. In addition to the forest trees mentioned in the description of Maine, we find the sycamore, ash, oak, locust, hickory, chestnut, etc. The winters are long and rigorous, the prevailing winds being from the north-west. While in winter, the mercury sinks to 15° or 20°, and sometimes 30° and even 40° below zero, in summer it often rises to 96° of Fahrenheit. Toward the end of October, ice begins to form, and snow generally lies till late in April. Cattle are housed from about the first of November till the middle of May, when vegetation is generally sufficiently advanced for them to live abroad. Vermont.—The most striking natural feature is the range of the Green mountains, traversing the State from north to south. Lake Champlain, covering an area ol 5(») square miles, and elevated nearly 100 feet above tide-water, lies chiefly within its limits. Originally clothed with a dense forest, a large part of the Slate still continues in its primeval condition. The mountains produce hemlock, spruce, fir, kc, and[the lower ground, the trees found in similar Iocalties in New Hampshire. There is mueh good arable land, particularly between the mountains and Lake Champlain, but the country in general is bet- ter adapted for grazing. Massachusetts.—Although the face of the country is generally hilly, and in some places rugged, yet it nowhere attains a very great elevation. Of the western sections, some portions are too rough, and of the east- ern, some too sandy, for profitable cultivation; but there are both fertile and extensive tracts on the Housatonic, Connecticut, and Merrimack. The fine agricultural district in the central part of the State, contains many flourishing towns. Rhode Island lies on both sides of Narraganset bay, which covers about one-tenth of its surface. It contains no mountains, but the sur- face is hilly and rocky, the soil being but moderately productive. Connecticut.—Mostly hilly or undulating, but never mountainous, much of this State is too rough for cultivation. On all the rivers, how- ever, particularly the Connecticut and Housatonic, there are rich al- luvial tracts; and along the shore of Long Island sound, between the mouths of these two rivers, a narrow alluvial flat extends. Rye, maize, hemp, and tobacco, are cultivated. New York.—The surface of this State, for the most part, is consider- ably elevated, but it is rarely rugged. The greater part lies in fact on the great Alleghany table land. Most of the soil is of a useful quality, and much of it is highly fertile, particularly in the central part of the State, extending from the valley of the Mohawk westward to the great lakes. This is the district of wheat, which is the great agricultural staple. Michigan.—The Lower Peninsula is in general slightly undulating. The ridge dividing the waters flowing into Lakes Huron and Erie from those running into Lake Michigan, rises gradually until it reaches in the north about 300 feet above the surface of these lakes. There are some marshy tracts in the southern part, and some swamps near the margin of the Kiver Detroit and Lake St. Clair. A great portion of the surface is densely covered with oak of several varieties, walnut, hickory, poplar, sugar-maple, etc., intermixed, particularly in the northern part, with white and yellow pine. The forest is interspersed with " oak- openings," plains, and occasionally prairies, which last are not so ex- tensive as those in Illinois. This peninsula, in point of fertility, is not perhaps surpassed by any other tract of equal extent in the world. The alluvial lands in the southern part consist of a rich vegetable mould, from three to six feet in depth. Wheat and Indian corn are chiefly cultivated. The fpper Peninsula, which seems to have been very imperfectly examined, appears to be much more hilly and rugged than the Lower. It has some lofty ridges, which are said to rise to an eleva- tion of nearly 2000 feet above the level of Lake Superior. Its mineral resources, especially copper, are represented as inexhaustible. , Wiskonsan and Iowa.—This vast tract, exceeding in dimensions, by one-third, the whole kingdom of France, is a part of the great central table-land of North America. It has a general elevation of ?(!()—1200 feet above the level of the ocean, but it does not rise, even on the loftiest summits of its mountain ridges, perhaps more than 2000 feet above the general level. In the northern part, much of the soil is of an inferior quality; but in the southern section, the general features of the country resemble those of the adjoining States. Here are fertile prai- ries, which, forming wide expanses stretching as far as the eye can reach, are only here and there interrupted by a belt of woodland skirt- ing a river, or by a small grove or clump of trees resting like an island in the midst of the ocean. The whole unwooded tract of the north- western States, constitutes one vast prairie, partially intersected by strips of woodland, forming a striking contrast to the immense forest, which, extending from Hudson's Bay to the Gulf Mexico, and from the Atlan- tic to beyond the Mississippi, is even now but slightly encroached upon by the labors of man. As the military posts of the United States are scattered over every portion of this region, the Northern Division, we have here extensive data for determining the laws of temperature. In the first place, we have the results of the pests on the coast of New England, from the line of the British Possessions to the harbor of New York ; in the second, those of the posts on the great lakes; in the third, those of the posts intermediate to these points and of those beyond the lakes, both alike remote from the ocean and inland seas; and in the fourth place, the results of Fort Vancouver, in Oregon Territory, situated on the Colum- bia river, about seventy miles, in a direct line," from the Pacific ocean. In accordance with the diversity in the physical geography, we find that on the sea-coast of New England, the influence of the ocean modifies the range of the thermometer, thus equalizing the temperature of the seasons. Advancing into the interior, the extreme range of the temperature increases, and the seasons are violently contrasted. Hav- ing come within the influence of the great lakes, a' climate like that of the sea-board is found; and proceeding into the region beyond the modifying agency of these inland seas, an excessive climate is again exhibited. And if we continue oqr route as far as the Pacific Ocean, a climate even more mild and equable than similar parallels in Western Europe, as will be satisfactorily demonstrated, will be presented. The variations of the isothtral and ijocheimal curves—the lines of equal sum- mer and of equal winter temperature, as illustrated in the map here Meteorology. THE NEW WORLD. 27 H^-^"#V y~' *f-............. "< i'v^f*^! *? ( \ ! ^^r^-'tx.is- or lei*................... - r>^ ,-7^.-i'^'.' HlQ_ A/AP JLLMSTtM THE GENERAL, /.AWtf OF TEMPERATURE TJPVWGHOUT THEUMlTIDSTAm SEE fo^* Ci^°? so-o-i QULf or ^ £ 77* / —A—#!# )!7r'-^7s'^- Mz- k* h presented—thus afford a happy illustration of the equalizing tendency of large bodies of water. Hence the former division of the surface of the earth into five zones, as regards its temperature, has been superseded in scientific inquiries, by a more precise arrangement. Pla- ces having the same mean annual temperature are connected by isother- mal lines, and the spaces between them are called isothermal zones. It is thus seen that, notwithstanding the mean annual temperature pre- sents little variation on the same parallels, four striking inflections of the isotheral and isocheimal lines are exhibited in rapid succession, con- stituting two systems of climate, viz, that of the Atlantic ocean and the great lakes which pertains, comparatively speaking, to the class of mild or uniform, and that of the intervening tract and the region beyond the lakes, characterised as climates emphatically excessive or rigorous. The difference of climate, as the mean annual temperature is nearly the same, is, therefore, owing to the unequal distribution of heat among the seasons, as is well illustrated in the above map. At the posts on large bodies of water, the mean temperature of winter is higher and that of summer lower than in the opposite localities; but these re- salts are more satisfactorily evidenced by comparing the difference be- tween the mean temperature of winter and summer, and the warmest and coldest month in each system of climate. Thus Fort Brady, at the outlet of Lake Superior, shows a difference of only 42°. 11 between the mean temperature of winter and summer, while Hancock Barracks, half a degree farther south, in the state of Maine, distant only 150 miles from the sea-coast, exhibits a disparity of 46°. 19; and comparing the warmest and coldest month, the difference of the former is 47°.22, and that of the latter 54° .70. Again, Forts Sullivan and Snelling, in opposite systems of climate, are very nearly in the same latitude, the former at Eastport, on the coast of Maine, and the latter at the junction of the St. Peter's and Mississippi, Iowa. At Fort Sullivan, the difference of win- ter and summer is 39°. 15, and that of the warmest and coldest month, 43° .87; while at Fort Snelling, these ratios are respectively 56° .60 and 61° .86. Fort Howard is also in the same latitude, but as it is situated at the extreme point of one of the smaller lakes, (Green Bay, Wiskonsan,) the temperature is partially modified, these averages being 50° .05 and 54°.11. Next come four posts, all of which are nearly on the same par- allel, three being of the class of uniform climates, and one of that of ex- cessive. Of the former, two, Forts Preble and Constitution, are on the ocean, and the other, Fort Niagara, is on Lake Ontario. At these posts, in the order just named, the difference between the mean temperature of winter and summer is respectively 41°.03,36°.33, and 41°.73; while, on the other hand, at the excessive post, Fort Crawford, Wiskonsan—a point a few minutes farther south than the three former—the difference is 5. The results at Salem, Massachusetts, based on 33 years' ob- servations by Dr. Holyoke, though not directly under the influence of the ocean, confirms the same law, the difference between the mean temperature of winter and summer being only 41°.66. At all these point3, the contrast in the difference of the mean temperature of the warmest and the coldest month, is equally striking. The next points of comparison, as lying on the same parallel, are Forts Wolcott and Trum- bull on the Atlantic, and Council Bluffs, Fort Armstrong, and West Point, in the opposite localities. The difference between the mean tem- perature of summer and winterat Fort Wolcott, Newport, Rhode Island, is 36°.55, and at Fort Trumbull, New London. Connecticut, it is 32°. 56; while at Council Bluffs, near the junction of the Platte and Missouri, it i„ r,p.33— it Fort Armstrong, Illinois, 493.05—and at West Point, New York 4(P.75. Between the two pos's on the ocean and the two far in ili" interior the difference betwe n the mean temperature ©f summer and winter presents a disparity of from I" ° to 17° ; and as respects Fort Trumbull and West Point, which are precisely on the same latitude, the difference between these two opposite seasons, notwithstanding the lat- ter is not more than fiftv miles from the ocean, is S°.19 less at the for- mer post. As regards the difference between the mean temperature of the warmest and coldest months, these laws find confirmation in every instance. So remarkable is the influence of large bodies of water in modifying the range of the thermometer, that although Fort Brady, at the Sault St. Marie, Michigan, is nearly 7° north of Fort Mifflin, near Philadelphia, and notwithstanding the mean annual tcmperatnre is more than 14° less, yet the contrast, in the seasons of winter and summer, is not so great at the former as at the latter. Fort Colum^rr, in the har- bor of New York, offers, in some resyects, an exception to the laws just developed, the range of the thermometer being greater than at some points farther north. As these results,which are based on nine years' ob- servations, made on an island free from any agency which large towns may exercise, are, doubtless correct, some causes of a local nature must exist to produce this effect. It is more than probable that this locality, in consequence of the configuration of the coast, does not lie in the direction of the most prevalent ocean-winds, and that hence its temper- ature is but partially modified. The climate of Fort Snelling, which is the most excessive among all the military posts in the United States, resembles that of Moscow in Russia, as regards the extremes of the seasons, notwithstanding the latter is 11° farther north ; but at Moscow, the mean temperature both of winter and summer is lower—that of winter being as 10° .78 to 15°.95, and that of summer as 67°. 10 to 72°.75. At Edinburgh, Scotland, in the same latitude as Moscow, the difference between the mean temperature of winter and summer, is, on the other hand, not one-third as great, being only 17° .90 ; and even at North Cape, on the island of Maggeroe, in latitude 71,° which is the most northern point of Europe, this differ- ence between the two seasons, so great is the modifying influence of the ocean, is no more than 19°.62, while at Uleo, in the interior of Lap- land, the difference between the mean temperature ol summer and winter is 45°.90. In these comparisons of the Northern Division, no particular reference has yet been made to Fort Vancouver, in Oregon Territory. This re- gion bears the same climatic relation to our coast and to that of Eastern Asia, as the western coast of Europe does. The mean annual tempera- ture is about 10° higher than that of the posts on the same parallel on j our own coast. So mild and uniform are the seasons at Fort Vancou- ver, that the difference between the mean temperature of winter and summer is only 23°.67—a mean which is less than that of Italy or South- ern France, and only about two fifths of that of Fort Snelling, Iowa, notwithstanding the latter is nearly 1° fp.ither south. This contract is well exhibited in the map just' given ; for whilst the mean tem- perature of spring, summer, and autumn, at Fort Vancouver, is about the same as at Fort Wolcott, Rhode Island, the winter line comes nearly as far south as Fort Gibson, Arkansas. But even this compari- son, at first view, falls short of the reality ; for, as regards the difference between the mean temperature of winter and summer, the contrast is less at Fort Vancouver than at Cantonment Clinch near Pensacola, or Petite Coquelle near New Orleans. These results, however extraor- dinary they may appear, find, as will be seen, an explanation in physical causes. Ths next point demanding attention is the difference between the mean temperature of winter and spring, which is much the greater in the excessive or rigorous climates. Taking places in the same latitude and in opposite systems of climate, it is found at Fort Brady to be Is '.42, whilst at Hancock IBarracks it is 24°.4M; at Fort ^-u'livan it is 17°.16, 28 THE NEW WORLD. Meteorology. Difference between the mean Teatp. of Localities Latitnde Winter and Summer | Winter and Spring Sea-coast, 43° 1° 1 3S.° 61 | 16.° 84 Lake-, 46° 27' , 43. 00 19. 77 Region beyond the Lakes, 44° 53' 1 55. 84 28. 96 Hence it is obvious that the phenomena of terrestrial temperature ae depending on the position of the sun, are so much influenced by local causes, that a classification of climates, or a system of medical geo- graphy, having for their bases mere latitude, is wholly inadmissible. Although there may be little difference in the mean annual temperature on the same parallel, yet the distribution of heat among the seasons may be extraordinarily unequal. These laws of temperature are confirmed by the results given in the Reports of the Regents of the University of the State of New York, based on observations made at fifty-four different points and on an aver- age of ten years, (from 1826 to 1836 ) At Albany, for example, the mean temperature of January is 23°.38, and of August 69°.60; while at Lew- iston, between lakes Erie and Ontario, the former is 27°.70 and the latter 64°.46. Thus the difference between the mean temperature of these two months, is at Albany 46°.22, and at Lewiston only 36° 76. The mean annual temperature of the State of New York, on the aver- age above mentioned, is 46°.31. It is thus seen that the climatic features of the coast of New England and of the region of the great lakes, exhibit a striking resemblance, while those of the third class of the same division are very dissimilar. In the climate ®f the third class of posts, distinguished by great extremes of temperature, by seasons strongly contrasted, and a corresponding dryness of the atmosphere, (unlike the first two classes in which the air is moist and the changes of the seasons slow and uncertain,) a constant and rapid succession is observed among the seasons. Summer, for ex- ample, succeeds winter so rapidly that there is scarcely any spring, the influenc* of which is surprisingly manifested in the vegetable kingdom. As the summers of the third class are remarkable for extremes of tem- perature, the mercury often rising in June, July, and August, to 100° Fahr. in the shade, so the winters are equally characterized by extreme severity. From November to May, cold weather prevails, the ground being often covered with snow to the depth of three or four feet, and the general range of the thermometer being from the freezing point to 30° below zero. The lowest temperature, taking the mean of a month, occurred at Forts Howard and Snelling. At the former, the mean of the month of February, 1329, at 7 o'clock A. M. is —3°.17, and the mean of December, 1822 at Fort Snelling is —3°.61.* This, it is to be ob- served, is merely the average of the morning observations for the month Although the extreme severity of the winters at the posts re- mote from iarge bodies of water, has been already fully illustrated; yet the following remarks made by Surgeon Beaumont when stationed in 1S29 at Fort Crawford, Wiskonsan, which is in the latitude of Fort Wol- cott, R. I., may be added in further ejucidation: " The month of Janu- ary was remarkably mild and pleasant, the ground dry and free from snow, and the Mississippi unusually low and unfrozen. February was extremely cold, the weather clear and dry, and the thermometer ranging during the month from the freezing point to 23° below zero. From the 1st to the 16th, the mercury stood every morning, with the exception of three, (the 6th, 7th, and 8th,) between —4° and —23°, and did not rise above 20° above zero during these days. On the 2d, 3d, 4th, 5th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 13th, 14th, and 15th, the mercury at sun-rise stood respect- ively at 14°, 16°, 4°, 16°, 23°, 13°, 20°, 18°, 10°, 6°, and 4° below zero; and on the 9th and 14th. it continued under —8° during the 24 hours. During the month the prevailing winds were northerly and dry, and the proportion of fair and cloudy weather was—clear twenty-two days, cloudy three, variable one, and snowy two. The mean depth of snow was about six inches. The month of March has been unusually cold and dry, with one or two light falls of snow, which, with the pre- vious coat, has just been dissolved by the warmth of the solar rays without any rain. The ice on the Mississippi, which broke yesterday, [March 30th] is now moving eft'en masse." On looking back for the period of a century, it is found that in the winter of 1779-80, the temperature at the city of New York was so low that cavalry and artillery were transported over -the ice in the harbor to Staten Island. In the interior of the State, the cold was correspondency intense. All streams were so completely locked up that no grain could be ground in the grist-mills, and the inhabitants were obliged to bruise it in mortars; the snow was so deep that no efforts were made for weeks to reclaim the roads; in narrow ravines it became so drifted as to coyer the tops of the highest trees; even many habitations were so buried that their inmates were obliged to tunnel their way to the light of heaven; and lastly, for the period of forty days, no water droppea from the eaves of houses. So say not only the chronicles of the day, but wit- nesses are yet living to testify tp these facts. Asjwe are inlpossession of the precise knowledge derived from instrumental observations, given below, we know that it was, even on our coast, a truly Russian winter; and the imagination is left to figure to itself the condition of things at the present sites of Forts Snelling, Howard, and Crawford. In this winter, as well as 1741, Long Island Sound was frozen over. There were two other periods within the last hundred years when the Hudson was passable on the ice, for several days, between New York and Powles Hook, viz., the winters of 1764-5 and 1820-1. In the latter winter, the mercury on the 25th January sank to 7° below zero, t'which is 1° lower than it fell on the 15th February, 1817—a point to which, according to the journals of the day, it had not previously sunk since 1765. The mean du- ration of winter at the city of New York, on an average of ten years, (1830 to 1840,) calculated from the periods in each year when ice was first and last formed, is 164 days, or about 5^ months; and as the earliest formed ice, in the ten years, was on the 14th of October, and the latest on the 15th of May, the extreme continuance of frost is 213 days, or about se- ven months. In the more excessive climate of the interior of the State of New York, however, as for example, at Albany, no month of the year is exempt from frost. From a table of the dates when the Hudson river opened and closed at Albany, during a period of twenty-three years, (1817 to 1S40,) taken from the report of the Regents of the University, it appears that the average number of days that it was closed, is 91, the longest period being 125, (1835-*!.) and the shortest, 50 days, (1827-8.) The longest period on record thai the Hudson has remained closed, at the city of New York, was in the winter of 1735^6, when it was obstruct- * It may be well to remark that the sign — mean* below zero, and the sign -4- above it. whilst at Forts Snellin? anii;l loward, it is respectively 30°.83 and24°.10, the latter being partially nioiiirinl by Green Bay ; at Forts Preble, Ni- agara, and Constitution, and th<- city of Salem, the ratios are 18°.42, 16°.77, 16°.83, and 17°.^, and at Fort Crawford, on the other hand, it is 2-5°.S3; and lastly at Forts Wolcott and Trumbull, it is 14°.71 and 11°.67, whilst at Council Bluffs,. Fort Armstrong, and West Point, it is respect- ively 27°.47, 23°.99, and 18°82. Fort Columbus, as in the preceding comparisons, stands as an exception, its ratio, notwithstanding it is lower than any one in the opposite class, being the highest in its own, with the exception of two posts. This peculiarity in the increase of the temperature of spring, as manifested in the vegetable kingdom, consti- tutes a feature which strongly characterizes excessive climates; for, as Baron Humboldt remarks, " a summer of uniform heat excites less the force of vegetation, than a great heat preceded by a cold season." Ac- cordingly we fiud that in these excessive climates, (unlike the uniform ones on the ocean and lakes, in which the air is moist and the changes of the seasons slow aud uncertain,) summer succeeds winter so rapidly that there is scarcely any spring, and vernal vegetation is developed with remarkable suddenness. At Fort Vancouver, the difference be- tween the mean temperature of winter and spring is only 6° .67, whieh is about one-third of the difference observed at the posts in our modi- fied climates on the same parallel, and little more than one-fifth of the difference exhibited in the excessive climate of Fort Snelling. Another feature which characterizes these two systems of climate remains to be considered, viz., the mean annual range of the thermo- meter. Comparing the posts on ihe same parallel, the following rela- tions are found :—At Fort Brady, on the one hand, the range is 110°, and at Hancock Barracks, on the other, it is 118° ; at Fort Sullivan it is 104°, while at Forts Snelling and Howard, it is 119° and 123° ; at Forts Preble, Niagara, and Constitution, it is respectively [99°, 92° and 97°, while at Fort Crawford, on the same parallel, it is 120° ; and lastly at Forts Wolcott and Trumbull, it is 83° and 78°, while at Council Bluffs, Fort Armstrong, and West Point, it is 120°, 106°, and 91°. Fort Columbus, as before, presents an exception. In further elucidation of the law regulating the extremes of temperature, the four following posts, which are all nearly on the same parallel of 41°30', the first two being on the ocean, and the last two far in the interior, remote from large bodies ot water,—may be adduced as striking examples: Highest Lowest Mean Annual Range Fort Wolcott, Newport, R. I., . . 85 . . 2 . . 83 „ Trumbull, New London, Conn., 87 . . 9 . . 78 Council Bluffs, near the confluence > in^ 1C ,OA of Platte and Missouri. \ • _lb • • 120 Fort Armstrong, Rock Island, 111., . 96 . .—10 . . 106 These results, it may be necessary to add, exhibit the average range of a series of years. The extreme range, for example, at Fort Brady, During a period of eleven years, (from 1820 to 1830 inclusive,) is 130°, the mercury sinking in 1826 as low as—37°, and rising in 1830 to 93° Fahr. At Fort Snelling in 1821, the mercury sunk to—32°, and in 1827 rose to 96°, being a range of 128°. At Fort Howard, in 1823, it rose to 100° and sunk to—38°, being a range in the same year of 138°. At Fort Crawford we find the mercury in 1820 noted as high as 99°, and in 1821 as low as—36°, being a range of 135° ; at Fort Armstrong, in 1821, as low as—28°, and in 1830 as high as 98°, being a range of 126° ; and lastly at Council Bluffs as low, in 1820, as—22°, and in 1822 as high as 108°, being an extreme range of 130°. At the last named post, the thermometer rose every year above 100°. When the Southern Division of the United States comes under investigation, it will be seen that the mercury there seldom rises as high as in our northern regions. The laws here developed in relation to the systems of climate pecu- liar to our northern region, are still more fully established in the " Army Meteorological Register." These details are continued sepa- rately through five years, each of which confirms the law that the isothcral and isocheimal lines, on leaving the coast of New England, gradually diverge until they come within the influence of the great lakes, when they again converge ; and that, having passed beyond the controlling power of these inland seas, their inflections are once more in opposite directions. Hence it follows that latitude alone constitutes a very uncertain index of the character of climate ; for, as has been abundantly demonstrated, although two places may have the same mean annual temperature, and thus be on the same isothermal line, yet as the seasons of one may be nearly uniform and those of the other violently contrasted, the climates will be correspondent^ different. The aggregate results of these annual details in the " Army Meteoro- logical Register," merely confirm the laws already sufficiently demon- strated. Thus on comparing the sea-coast with the interior remote from the age.'.cy of inland seas, based on an average of five years and calculated from the data of two posts in each system of climate, the mean latitude of the posts on the ocean being 43° 18', and that of those in the opposite locality, 43° 10', the following results are obtained:— While the difference between the mean temperature of summer and winter on the sea-coast is only 38.° 61, it is in the opposite locality as high as 53.° 37; as regards the difference between the mean tempera- ture of winter and spring, the former is only 16.° 84, and the latter as high as 27.° 02; and as respects the difference in the extreme range of the thermometer, the former is 122°, and the latter 134°. A similar comparison between posts on the lakes and those of the same region situated beyond their influence, shows contrasts, making due allow- ance for difference of mean latitude, the former being 1° 46' north of the latter, even greater than in the comparison with the Atlantic coast. The difference between the mean temperature of summer and winter on the lakes is 43°, and in the opposite localities 55.° 84. Between the mean temperature of winter and spring, the difference on the lakes is only 19.° 77, while in the positions in the same region beyond their influence, it is 28.° 96. The results may be presented thus j a^abular form:— Meteorology. THE NEW WORLD. 29 ed by ice for 125 days—from the 30th of November to the 4th of April. In the " History of Epidemic and Pestilential Diseases," by Noah Webster, published at i Hartford, in 17!*>, there is an historical account of many important meteorological phenomena, from the earliest ages of the world; of which, those pertaining to the United States will be here presented. The winter of 1607-8 was the severest known for an age both in America and in England. In the winter of 1641--2, " the bay at Bos- ton was frozen so that teams and loads passed to the town from the neighboring islands. The snow was deep, and Chesapeake bay was nearly frozen over. At Boston, the ice extended to sea, as far as the eye could reach." Dr. Webster remarks that it is very common that Bevere cold is progressive from east to west, happening in Europe one year before it does in America. This occurred in the present instance. "It often happens, however," he says, " that the winter is severe at the same time, in both hemispheres, as in 1607-8, 1683-4, 1762-3, and 1779-80." In the winter of 1696-7, loaded sleds passed from Boston to Nantasket. In 1708-9, the winter was so severe, both in America and in Europe, as to kill vines and fruit-trees. In 1717, there were, says Mr. Winthrop, of New London, "prodigious storms of snow," by which one hundred of his sheep were buried on Fisher's Island; and upon be- ing dug out, twenty-eight days after, two of them were found alive, both of which lived and thrived. The snow was accumulated over them to tin height of sixteen feet. This snow-storm is distinguished as by far the greatest ever known in America. The winter of 1740-1 was the severest known since 1709, and'it was a year later than an equally remirkable one in Europe. The winters of 1754-5 and 1755-6, on the the other hand, were equally noted for mildness, sloops having sailed from New York to Albany in January and February. In the winter of 1762-3, snow fell on the 8th of November and continued till the 20th of March. The winter of 1766-7 was veiy severe both in Europe and America, it having commenced one year later in this country At Brandywine, Delaware, the mercury fell to 20° below zero. It may be here remarked that Webster, in this work, attempts to trace a relation between epidemics and the following phenomena—earthquakes, erup- tions of volcanoes, meteors, inundations, and extraordinary seasons, all of which he maintains travel from east to west But "cold and falls of snow," he says, " sometimes run in veins in both hemispheres." Tnusin the winter of'1774-5, the rivers of Germany were frozen early in December, and there was a deep snow in Bologna, in Italy, in October, while in England the winter wasnot severe. A remarkable instance of the same kind occurred in our country in the winter of 1798-9. " The weather," says Dr. W., " was very cold, with immense quantities of snow from the Atlantic to the mountains, but very mild in Canada and the western country, until the close of winter." The winter of 1778—9 was extraordinarily mild. In February, " many people along the river Connecticut ploughed their fields, and in Pennsylvania the peach blos- somed." But the winter of 1779-80 stands forth prominent even in the cata- logue of remarkable winters. "From November 25th to the middle of March, the cold was severe and almost uninterrupted." The following was the state of the mercury in January by Fahrenheit': ford, in Connecticut, lat. 41° 44'— At Sunrise. January 1 2° 13 8° 25 2 7° below 0 14 9° 26 3 14° 15 15° 27 4 16° 16 1H° 28 5 6° 17 17° 29 6 10° IS 12° 30 7 9° 19 13° below 0 31 8 1° below 0 20 5° 1 9 5° 21 6° below 0 2 10 19° 22 5° 3 11 26° 23 9° below 0 4 12 11° 24 6- 5 ;'s scale, at Hart- 16° below 0 6° do. 2° do. 8° do. 20° do. 15° 4° below 0 2° 3° 0° 15° 8° below 0 The mean temperature in January at sunrise is 4° being almost 20° lower than the temperature of the same month in ordinary seasons. " Not only all the rivers, but the harbors and bays in the United States, as far ssuth as Virginia, were fast bound with ice. Loaded sleds passed from Staten Island t? New York, [aye, even cavalry and artillery were transported over the ice ;] the sound between Long Island and the mainland was frozen into a solid highway, where it is several miles in breadth. Chesapeake bay, at Annapolis, where the breadth is five and a half miles, sustained also loaded carriages. The birds that winter in this climate, as robbins and quails, almost all perished; and in the succeeding spring, a few solitary warblers only were heard in our groves. The snow was nearly four feet deep in Atlantic America, for at least three months. The winter was severe in Europe also; and on the 14th of January, the mercurv at Glasgow fell to 46° below 0." This last was no doubt ajtypographical error. If it was 16° below zero, the cold was most extraordinary for that climate. Mercury itself con- geals at—39°. , „, T , , , The following summer was very hot. On the 8th July, the thermome- ter at Hartford', at Hi A. M., was at 102°, and at 2 P. M., 99£°. In the winter of 1783-4, " the weather was less uniformly cold than in 1730, but the frosts, in some parts of the winter, was most intense. The following was the state of Fahrenheit's thermometer at Hartford- February 10 19° below 0 14 20° below 0 11 12° do. 15 12° do. 12 13° do. 16 16° do. 13 19° do. 17 16° do. " The severe cold commenced early ; the Delaware at Philadelphia wa* closed at the beginning of December, and continued bound with ice till the middle of March, notwithstanding a relaxation of cold and a heavy rain in January .The gazettes state that such intense cold has not been known in that city, since 1750-51. The Mississippi was reported to be covered with ice, as far south as New Orleans. At the breaking un of winter, the thaw was sudden, and immense bodies of ice, floating down the rivers, which were greatly swelled, spread rum a on* the low- lands on their banks. Great damage was sustained on the banks ot the Schuylkill, Sasquehannah, Potomac, and James rivers. In 1784, the summer was extremely hot, the mercury at Hartford being- June 24th at 2 P. M. 97D 25th " " 96° 26th at sunrise S0° 10 A. M. 96° 2 P. M. 100° ' 3 do. 101° 4 do. 100° sunset, 91° 10 P. M. 80° 27th sunrise, 82° 7 P. M. 91° The winter of 1785-6 commenced with a degree of cold rarely known in this country. At Hartford, the mercury stood— 14 20 24 0° 3° above 0 17° below 0 below 0 do. do. January 17th at sunrise, 18th " 19th " at noon' 2 P. M. 20th sunrise, The frost of the whole winter was, however, far less severe than in 1784. In July, 1788, the thermometer rose to 103° in Columbia Col- lege, New York, but the general heat of the summerwasnot excessive. In the winter of 1788-9, the mercury sank to —28°, being 4° lower than it had ever before been observed at Hartford. The season, on the whole, was less severe, however, than in 1779-80 and 1783-4. These research- es of Dr. Webster's terminate with the period of the publication of his work, 1799. Since this period, however, we have had seasons of ex- treme severity. The winter of 1835-6 was perhaps the coldest on re- cord. At Hartford, the temperature during several weeks, it is said, was, a great proportion of the time, down to zero, and several times the mercury was as low as—27° and—2S°, and even ^-30°. At Dover, New Hampshire, it was reported to be as low as —28°, and at Concord —32°, on the 4th of January. Scarcely does a winter elapse that the Hudson River is not frozen over even in the vicinity of the city of New York ; whilst Philadelphia, and even Baltimore, lying on the same parallels which in Europe produce the olive and the orange, have their commerce often interrupted from the same cause. The Delaware, which is the latitude of Madrid and Naples, is generally frozen over five or six weeks each winter. Even the Potomac becomes so much obstructed by ice that all communica- tion with the District of Columbia by this means, is suspended for weeks. Further north, the mouth of the St. Lawrence is shut up by ice during five months of the year; and Hudson's Bay, notwithstanding itis in the same latitude as the Baltic Sea, and of thrice the extent, is so much obstructed by ice, even in the summer months, as to be compara- tively of little value as a navigable basin. We find, hov/ever, even on our northern coast, a climate compara- tively mild. As Nova Scotia is perfectly insular, with the exception of a neck of land eight miles wide, and is so much intersected by lakes *nd bays that nearly one-third of the surface is under water, the mercury seldom arises above 88° in summer, or sinks lower than 6° or 8° below zero in winter. In addition to this, some influence must be exercised by the gulf-stream, which strikes upon this part of the coast, " in tides of from 60 to 70 feet, overflows the country to the distance of several miles, and converts the mouths of streams, fordable at low water, into extensive arms of the sea, where whole fleets may ride at anchor." The meteorological phenomena of Canada, Nova Scotia, New Brun- swick, and Newfoundland, according to the data furnished in the Brit- ish Army statistics, are in perfect harmony with the laws of climate developed in the United States. The climate of Nova Scotia, from the causes just stated, exhibits a marked contrast to that of Lower Canada on the same parallels. In Newfoundland, the climate is similar to that of Nova Scotia; but the summers, in consequence of the melting of the ice-bergs on the coast, are less warm, of sharter duration, and subject to more sudden vicissitudes. In Canada, remote from the Lakes, the climate is of the most excessive character. At Quebec, when walking along the streets, the sleet and snow frequently freeze in ttriking against the face; and here too the alternations of temperature are so sudden, that the mercury has been known to fall 70° in the course of twelve hours. Cold weather sets in as early as November, from the end of which month till May the ground remains co-rered with snow, to the depth of three or four feet. When the winds blow with violence from the north- east, the cold becomes so excessively intense, that the mercury con- gealed in the thermometer serves no longer to indicate the reduction of temperature. Wine and even ardent spirits become congealed into a spongy mass of ice; and as the cold still augments, there follows con- gelation of the trees, which occasionally burst from this internal expan- sion, with tremendous noise. During winter, the general range is from the freezing point to 30° below zero. The seasons do not, as in more temperate regions, glide imperceptibly into each other. In June, July, and August, the heat, which often attains 95° of Fahrenheit, is fre- quently as oppressive as in the West Indies On our western coast, the extremely modified climate of the region of Oregon, on a parallel five degrees north of the city of New York, has been already illustrated. During a year's observations at Fort Van- couver, the lowest point is 17°, and the whole number of days below the freezing point, are only nine, all of which aft noted in January. We are told by Mr. Brll, of the State of New York, by whom these observations were made, that he commenced ploughing in January of the year 1833. "The vegetables of the preceding season," he says, " were still standing in gardens untouched by the frost. New grass had sprung up sufficiently for excellent pasture. * * * Though the latitude is nearly that of Montreal, mowing and curing hay are unneces- sary, for cattle graze on fresh-growing grass through the winter. * * * Winters on the Columbia River are remarkably mild, there being no snow, and the river being obstructed by ice but a few days during the first part of January. Grass remained in sufficient perfection to afford good feed ; and garden vegetables, such asturnips and carrots, were- not destroyed, but no trees blossomed till March, except willow, aiders, &c." Winds.—As our military posts have never been supplied, rath aa. 30 THE NEW WORLD. . Meteorology. instrument, (anemometer,) required for ascertaining correctly the direc- tion ol winds, it is not to be expected that these observations are char- acterized by much precision. As winds are currents of air occasioned by the unequal distribution of heat, it follows that each variety of cli- mate must have a system of winds correspondently modified. Along the course of the great lakes, a strong breeze blows during most of the summer, setting in about 10 A. M., and continuing till 4 P. M. During spring and autumn, the wind generally comes'from the same quatrer In winter, winds from the north, varying from east to west, mostly pre- vail. It has been observed that the number of days in a year during which the winds blow from a certain point of the compass, at a given place, preserves a pretty constant ratio—a result arising independent of the great atmospheric currents, from the fact that the force and direction of winds depend on causes peculiar to the locality, such as the declina tion of the sun, the configuration of the coast, the position of neighbor ing continents, the vicinity of great seas, and, in a word, all those phy eical causes which influence the laws of temperature. This fact is gen erally illustrated throughout the United States. By way of example, the results of five posts, selected at random, in different regions of our vast territory, may be presented. At Fort Brady, Michigan, the highest ratios of wind eachyear are the S. E. and the W., and the lowest ratios the N. and the N. E. At West Point, the highest average each year is given by the S. W. winds, and the lowest by those from the E. At Washington city, the prevailing winds each year are the N. W., and the opposite rutios are the N. and W. At Cantonment Clinch, near Pensacola. the S. W. winds give the highest ratios, and the E. the low- est. Lastly, the annual results at Fort Gibson, Arkansas, invariably show the ratio of the S. E. to be the highest, and the W. the lowest. In regard to the annual proportion of fair ana cloudy weather in each of these localities, the results are still more uniform. In the State of New York, according to the Report of the Regents of the University, the prevailing wind is N. W.—a result based on observa- tions made at fifty-four places, and on an average of ten years. This might have been inferred a priori from the general law of heat, by which a current ot air is established towards the point where the great- est rarefaction exists. As the regions on the same parallel,remote from large bodies of water, are relatively colder in winter and hotter in'sum- mer, the winds will be correspondently various; but as the region lying north-west of the State of New York is the coldest point of the com- pass, the prevailing winds will necessarily be from that quarter. Rain and Atmosplieric moisture.—It is to be regretted that we do not possess more exact and numerous results in reference to the rain guage ; and as few observations have been made upon the hygrometer, the ra- tios of fair and cloudy weather present the chief means of determining the comparative degree of atmospheric humidity. The results obtained by five years' observations, discover a remarkable contrast between localities on the lakes and those not within their influence. In the former, the prevailing weather is cloudy, the relative proportion of rainy and cloudy days, during the year, being 247, and in the latter,/«iV, the annual ratio being only 148. It is evident that the annual quantity of rain that falls upon any point of the earth's surface, depending, as it does, upon the amount of evaporation and the prevailing winds, is very intimately con- nected with the character of climate. The annual quantity of rain, on an average of three years, is, at Fort Brady, 31.89 inches, and at Fort Snelling, 30.32. Contrasted with the relative number of rainy and cloudy days, the difference in the annual amount of rain is small. But the annualquantity of rain is no index of the humidity cf any climate ; or if it is, the ratios are in an inverse proportion, as.the number of rainy days is generally least where the fall of rain is greatest. As rain in cold or temperate localities on large bodies of water, descends more frequent- ly, but in much slighter showers, than in warm or inland regions, a ready explanation is afforded of the f.ict that the ratio of wet and foggy days on the great lakes is so much higher than in the climates on the same parallels characterized as rigorous or excessive. Taking a general view of the results afforded by the twenty-five mili- tary posts at which observations on the pluviometer have been made, no corroboration of the general law, that' the quantity of rain increases in proportion as we approach the equator, is afforded, inasmuch as the av- erage of Key West is one of the lowest in the table. Among the north- ern posts, Forts Wood, Hamilton, and West Point, present the highest ratios. But the average of these three posts,(47.44 inches,) is consid- erably higher than the mean of the .State of New York, as given in the Report of the Regents^ of the University. The general average, from observations made at fifty-four different points, is 34.40 inches, while the highest annual mean is 43.81, and the lowest, taking a point at which the observations have extended to five years, is 27.31 inches. Forts Wood and Hamilton, however, have maritime positions in the harbor of New York ; and the high mean of West Point may be referred to the local circumstances of the place: for, among the various causes which influence the fall of rain, the difference betwf en plains and moun- tainous districts is so great, that at Paris the annual quantity is only twenty inches, while at the great St. Bernard, the highest meterological station in Europe, it is 63 inches. But this subject has been already pretty fully noticed. In regard to the hygrometer, it may be observed that its daily range in the United States is much greater than in Great Britain and the other Euro;*ean countries ; but the dew-point in our climate is, as a general rule, many degrees b?low the temperature of the atmosphere. A gen- eral idea of the mean state of the dew-point in the northern Division of the United States, in a locality remote from large bodies of water, is afforded bv the following abstract of a register kept by M. H. Webster, in 1836, at Albany, N. Y. : Jan., 13° 34 April, 31°.46 July, 64°.14 Oct., 35 5S Feb., 12 26 May, 46.49 Aug., 5667 Nov., 31.20 Mar., 17.23 June, 59.40 Sept, 54 82 Dec, 24 90 These results are the mean of two daily observations, the maximum and minimum. A comparison of these results with those obtained at Schenectady, N. Y., for the corresponding months of the same year, does not, in any instance,.reveal a difference exceeding two degrees—a remark that applies equally to the relative state of the dew-point in the city of New York. The mean annual dew-point in the city of Quebec, I in 1829, was 39°. 3, which differs but six-tenths of a degree from the re- j suit obtained in Albany, in 1836. The dew-point is England, as shown by the results of the observations of the Meteorological Society of Lon- don, corresponds during the spring aud summer months very closely with that obtained in New York, Canada, and New England; but during the winter months, the mean hygrometer is considerably higher. For example, the mean at.London and Albany respectively was— Jan. Feb. March. April. May. June. London 33°.5 a5°.0 oove tide- water, divides the rivers flowing into the Delaware and Chesapeake. Along the Delaware and Atlantic, the shore is flat and in some places marshy. The soil, which is generally light and sandy, is occasionally rendered productive by the river-deposits. The agricultural staples, are wheat and Indian corn. These river-deposites, consisting of a black mud, composed chiefly of vegetable fibre, sometimes attain a depth of fifty feet. As the lowlands are very flat with an argillaceous substratum im- pervious to water, the ponds which originate from rains and springs, as they become dammed up by fallen trees, leaves, and brushwood, natur- ally expand into broad basins, termed marshes. These are covered with a black vegetable mould from one to six feet in depth, in which the pro- portion of organic matter is so great that the soil, if accidentally ignited during a dry season, will continue to burn until extinguished by rain. These phenomena, observed in this State, are no doubt common to the entire Atlantic Plain, or rather augment with the decrease oflatitude. Maryland.—The eastern portion on both sides of the Chesapeake, belongs to the great Atlantic Plain. At the falls in the Susquehannah above Port Deposit, and in the Potomac above Georgetown, we meet the first well defined ridge, which, separating the low lands from the At- lantic slope, may be regarded as a step to a higher plain. Indian corn, wheat, and tobacco, are the agricultural staples. In the southern coun- tries, the culture of rice, cotton, and the palma Christi or castor-oil bean succeeds. Virginia. —As this state extends quite across the great Apalachiatt chains, four natural divisions are presented, viz: 1. The tide-water region below the falls of the rivers; 2. The middle region, between ihe falls and the Blue Ridge ; 3. The Great Valley, between the Blue Ridge and the Alleghany Mountains ; 4. The Trans-Alleghany regions, west of that chain. The western limit of the first would be marked by a line drawn from Georgetown through Fredericksburg, Richmond, and Petersburg—a low plain, exhibiting no considerable elevations, but deep ravines scooped out by the action of running waters, through which flow broad and slugglish streams. The primary ridgff over which the rivers descend into the low country, is about 150 feet high ; and here the sur- I face becomes hilly, and proceeding westward, gradually mountainous. The agricultural staples are Indian corn, wheat, rye, oats, and tobacco; but as there is considerable diversity of climate on the same parallel, the ! phenomena of vegetation are correspondently modified. On the Atlan- | tic Plain, tobacco is the principal staple; in the Great Valley, it is culti- vated only in the southern portion; and beyond the Alleghany, its ! culture is unknown. In the first only is cotton cultivated, and in the Prairie on the Wabash is 300 miles long and 100 broad. When broken j j southern part quite extensively. up by the plough, they soon become covered with trees, being converted! j North Carolina.—In this state, the Atlantic Plain, extending sixty or into oak-openings. These barrens paitake of the character of the forest'. seventy miles from the sea, forms, as it were, a chaos of land and water, and prairie, being covered with scattered oaks, interspersed with pine, | consisting of vast swamps traversed by sluggish streams, expanding ever hickory, and other forest-trees, springing from a rich vegetable mould.!' and anon into broad basins. These swamps, which form so striking a The soil is every where, even to the summits of the hills, productive, j: feature of this plain, are estimated to occupy 3,000,000 acres ; butagreat and in general exuberantly fertile. On alt the streams are belts of rich ! proportion is susceptible of being reclaimed by embankments, and fitted alluvial soil of exhaustless fertility. The productive industry is almost i for the culture of maize, rice, cotton, and tobacco. The middle region, exclusively agricultural, such as wheat, Indian corn, hemp, and tobacco, j corresponding to that described in Virginia, gradually merges into the Illinois.—About two-thirds of the State, the middle and the northern !; mountainous country farther west. Here the table-land has an eleva- part, consist of prairies, there being no elevation of more than 200 feet j i tion of 10JX) or 1,200 feet above the sea, upon which rise many crests, above the general level. The heavily wooded tracts are mostly con fined to the borders of streams. Indian corn and wheat are the staple one of which, Black Mountain, has an elevation of 6,426 feet—the high- est known summit on this side of the Rocky Mountains. Here, too. products, while the culture of oats, rye, buckwheat, wheat, hemp, flax,, j in Virginia, are found great diversity of climate and corresponding dif- cotton, and tobacco, also proves succesbful. _ !! ference in the vegetable kingdom. While the low lands yield cotton, Kentucky.—This State is traversed in its eastern portion by numerous \ rice, and indigo, the western high eouniry produces wheat, hemp, to- low mountain ridges. Proceeding westward, these bold features grad ually disappear, being finally merged into an almost complete level on the Cumberland, Tennessee, and Mississippi. In its primitive state bacco, and Indian corn. As illustrative of the comparative temperature of the Atlantic Plain and the adjacent mountain region, the following thermometrical results, nearly the whole surface was densely wooded with a forest of majestic '■ i noted during the summer of 1839 and 1840 at Flat Rock, Buncombe trees and a thick undergrowth of gigantic reeds, called cane-brakes ; but | County, North Carolina, being distant about 250 miles from the Atlantic in the southern partis an extensive tract thinly wooded, with high grass growing amid the scattered and stunted oaks. In point of fertility of soil, much of this State is unsurpassed. Indian corn, wheat, hemp, and tobacco, are the great staples, cotton being but little cultivated. Tennessee —The eastern part is mountainous, some ridges rising 3000 feet above their bases, which are elevated about 2000 feet above the sea. In Middle Tennessee, the surface is moderately hilly; and the west beyond the River Tennessee, presents a level or slightly undulating plain. Of this State, a large proportion is fertile and much is eminently produc- j live. Cotton and Indian corn are the staples, but hemp, wheat, and tobacco, are considerably cultivated. Although cotton thrives well in the southern and western portions, yet the climate is not £o well adapted to its cultivation as that of the States south of the 35th parallel. \ Missouri.—North of the River Missouri, the surface is generally mode- rately undulating; and, with the exception of the margins of streams, nine-tenths of ft i3 destitute of trees. The alluvial patches along the course of streams are of remarkable fertility, and the soil of the upland is eorrespondently rich. South of the Missouri and west of the Osage, the country is of the same character; but the region south-east of the latter river is very rugged, being traversed by numerous ridges of the Ozark Mountains. Cottpn is raised in the southern part of the State, but tobacco, hemp, wheat, Indian corn, and other cereals, are cultivated with more success. Arkansas.—The eastern border of the State to the distance of from 30 to 50 miles from the Mississippi, consists of low grounds, interspersed with numerous lakes and swamps, and annually overflowed, with little exception, by the inundations of the Mississippi, Arkansas, and other streams. The sarface of this swamp presents in ordinary times a suc- cession of lakes, bayous, cypress-lands, and marshy ground. The ponds, whose depth does not ordinarily exceed three or four feet, are mostly filled with very large cypress trees growing in tha water. The marshy ground is covered with trees of immense size, principally gum and syca- more in the lower places, and in the higher and more dry, white oak and hickory, and occasionally dense cane-brakes rising to the height of thirty feef. The valleys are often inundated to the depth of from fifteen to twenty-five feet. Delaware.—With the exception of the northern part, which, pertaining to the primary formations, is somewhat hilly and rugged, this State lies wholly on the Atlantic Plain. A3 the States belted bv this Plain possess many features in common, they have been reserved for the last in des- cription. In this State there are numerous swamps on the sandy ridge and having an elevation of perhaps presented: 2,500 feet above the ocean, a e Places of Observation. Lai. Mean Temperature. July | August | September | October Fort Monroe, Coast of Va., Flat Rock,Buncombe,N.C. Charleston, S. Carolina, 37° 00' 35° 30' 32° 45' so° 1 70° 69° 70° 81° j 81° 72° C23 77° 64° 61° 71° The observations made at Charleston embrace the same years as these at Flat Rock, but the results at Fort Monroe comprise the years 1^28, '29, and '30. It is thus seen that the difference of mean temperature at Flat Rock and the other two points, taking an average of the latter, is in July 11°, August 10°, September 13°, and October6°. AsregardSthe monthly range of the thermometer, little difference is presented. As we here discover a difference of temperature equivalent to six or eight de- grees of latitude, k is easy to explain the change of climate with its con- sequent modifications of animal and vegetable life. South Carolina is also divided into three strongly marked regions—the Low, the Middle, and the Upper country. The first two lie on the great Atlantic Plain. The Low country, which extends about eighty miles from the sea, rising imperceptibly to the height of nearly two hundred feet, is covered with an almost unbroken forest of pines, known under the name of " pine-barrens." These barrens are occasionally intersected by fertile veins of land upon a clayey or marly foundation, bearing oak of different varieties, hickory, walnut, maple, etc.- Butthisplain is also dotted with numerous swamps and savannahs. The Middle country, which is from thirty to forty miles wide, consists chiefly of sand-hills, in- terspersed with swamps and valleys producing shrubs and trees indicative of a more generous soil. Beyond the limit of the Atlantic Plain at the lower falls of the rivers, at Hamburg, Columbia, and Camden, the sur- face is diversified with hill and dale, irrigated by clear, rapid, and plea- sant streams, and clothed in forests of oak, ash, beech, walnut, chesnut, hickory, etc., until, in the extreme west, the mountain-crestsrise up from an elevated table-land to the altitude of nearly 5,000 feet. The staples are cotton and rice. The Upper country yields the finest wheat, Indian corn, tobacco, etc., whilst the cultivation of rice is confined to the lew- lands. Georgia.—Like the Carolinas, this St Ate is divided into three well-de- fined belts, extending across the State from east to west. The Atlantic Plain, the northern boundary of wliich passes near Augusta, Milledge- 32 THE NEW WORLD. Meteorology. ville. Macon and Columbus, exhibits the usual features; whilst a zone j latitude 25;>, it consists chiefly of a vast morass, called the Everglades. of >i*nd-hills'forms a higher terrace, reaching to the base of the moun- ; North of this point to the Georgia line, the surface is mostly a dead tains and constituting the Atlantic Slope. Extending thence to the | level, with scarcely an undulation. The ridge dividing the waters east sources of the rivers is the hillv region, which, blessed with a mild cli- and we^t, is not more than about 150 feet high, and disappears at Lake mite and productive soil, contrasts stronglv wiih the hot, sultry, and ma- Tohopkalika. This northern portion is an extensive pine forest, inter- la-'al region below. Cotton and rice are the great agricultural staples. ,spersed with ponds, swamps, low savannahs, and hummocks,* which Some tohacco is cultivated in the middle and northern, and some sugar j last are rich bottoms overgrown with trees and a redundant underwood. in the southern parts. The soil consists mostly of sand; but the hummocks, which are nume- Alabama.—In this State, the Atlantic Plain, which continues in a |rous, have a fertile soil composed of clay and sand. The savannahs north-west direction, the northern limit passing near Wetumpka and ; which are covered with a tall grass, are inundated during the wet sea- Tuscaloosa, is little elevated above the Gulf of Mexico, being furrowed son. The river-swamps are wooded with a variety of heavy trees, with deep ravines, in which the sluggish streams wind their devious while the pine-barren swamps are mostly overgrown with cypress and course. Much of the soil is sandy and unproductive; but the margins cypress knees. The nature of the rock formation—a kind ot stratified of rivers are amazingly fertile, covered in some places, in a stale of na- | rotten limestone—explains the phenomenon of the frequent bursting ture, with a dense and impenetrable growth of gigantic canes, which i forth of full-grown rivers from the surfaee. But this subject has already often attain a height of more than thirty feet, a»d in other places clad in been brought under notice in a preceding chapter. forests of oak, hickory, dog-wood, magnolia, etc. North of this great i Louisiana belongs nearly altogether to the low-landp, the surface pre- plain the surfaee, as in Georgia, becomes hilly and finally mountainous. Isenting numerous depressions with some hilly ranges in the north- Cotton absorbs nearly all the attention of the agriculturist. Some sugar I; western part. Below latitude 31°, the greater portion of the surface, is cultivated in the southern, and some tobacco in the northern part, 'with Ihe exception of the tract lying between the Pearl and the Missis- Indian corn is the principal grain-crop; but the culture «f indigo, for- ; sippi and north of the lakes, is not elevated ten feet above the level of nv-rly much attended to, is now abandoned. ; the Gulph of Mexico, and is mostly inundated by the annual floods of Mississippi.— The geographical description of Alabama is applicable to } the Mississippi or the spring-tides of the Gulf. The Delta of the Mis- this State, only the mountainous region, owing to the north-west direc- sissippi—a name to which its configuration gives it no pretensions—is an tion of the continuation of the Atlantic Plain, is less extensive. Much \ alluvial plain covering an area of 12,000 square miles, having an extreme of the State presents an undulating surface, arising more from depres-; lengths of 230 miles and an extreme breadth of 140 miles. North of ■sions below than elevations above the general level. The western bor- latitude 31°, and nearly separated from the Delta by the approach of der skirting the Mississippi, consists mostly of swamps, marshes, and la- ithe Uplands, is another alluvial plain, with a breadth of about thirty goons; and between Memphis and Vicksburg, the broad and extensive |miles and a length within Louisiana of 120 miles. The sea-marsh low grounds are subject to frequent inundations, to the distance of ten, extends westward to the Sabine, varying in breadth from fifteen to twenty, and even thirty miles from the Mississippi. This extensive tract, ■ forty miles, being nearly on a level with the waters of the Gulf. In the called the Mississippi or Yazoo Swamps, as umes, during the prevalence prairies or unwooded plains, which lie between the Teche and the of high floods, the character of a marine forest more than that of a wood- Sabine, the water-courses are skirted with trees, and here and there knd bottom. The soil of the State presents three woll- defined varieties : ■ appear clumps of trees, called, from their isolated appearance in these First, the bluffs adjacent to the Mississippi overflow; second, the allu- grassy expanses, islands. The agricultural staples are cotton and sugar. vial margins of the rivers ; and third, the pine-forest lands. The first, Rice, maize, tobacco, and indigo, also thrive well. The climate, the bluff-zone of Mississippi, which commences as low down as Tber- according to Darby, is favorable to the peach and fig-tree, but the apple ville, Louisiana, and stretches into Tennessee, varying in breadth from ! does not succeed well, and the cherry is wholly unproductive. ten to forty miles, affords a tract not exceeded in intrinsic value in any \ The climate of Pensacola and of New Orleans, the former repre- other portion of the United States. Tobacco and indigo were the earlier' sented by Cantonment Clinch and the latter by Petite Coquille, the two staples, but cotton is now the main object of agriculture. The sugar- i pests being respectively in the vicinity of these cities, is nearly as much cane is cultivated to some extent, and for home consumption, some; modified, (in consequence of the agency of the Gulf of Mexico, and in wheat and Indian corn. regard to New Oileans the additional influence of large lakes,) as simi- The hot and sultry atmosphere of these low-lands, comprising the lar parallels in East Florida. The laws of temperature relative to East whole extent of the Atlantic Plain, in which malarial diseases in every Florida have been perhaps more satisfactorily determined than in any form are dominant, contrasts strongly with the mild and salubrious cli- ; other region of the United States. We have here the data of four posts mate of the mountain regions. In the cooler and less humid atmo- fortunately situated, viz., Fort Marion at St. Augustine, on the eastern sphere of the latter, muscular frames and plethoric habits of body pre- coast,—Fort Brooke at the head of Tampa Bay,* about thirty miles dominate,—phenomena which plainly point for an explanation, (when jfrom the Gulf of Mexico,—Fort King, intermediate to these two points, we consider that an atmosphere with a high dew-point rapidly carries j—and Key West, belonging to the Archipelago, about sixty miles off the positive electrify of the earth to the clouds,) to an accumulation south-west of Cape Sable. As Fort King is situated in the interior, and of this vital stimulus in the human organization. the other three posts are on the coast, we have an additional illustration, 3. The Southern Division, which is characterized by the predomi- 'even in a climate characterized by very little distinction of the seasons, nance of high teimerature remains to be considered. On approaching of the modifying agency of large bodies of water ; for the mean tem- our southern coast, climate undergoes a most remarkable modification, perature of winter at Fort King is lower, and that of summer higher, The seasons glide imperceptibly into each other, exhibiting no great than at the other three posts. Although Key West, which is 4° 39' extremes. This is strikingly illustrated on comparing the difference south of Fort King, has a mean annual temperature 3° 43 higher, yet between the mean temperature of summer and winter at Fort Snelling, the mean summer temperature is 2.° SI lower—a law which is strikingly Iowa, and at Key West, at the southern point of Florida, the former illustrated on the map of the United States, which shows that the iso- heing 56°.60, and the latter only 11°.34. Compared with the other theral line of Key West cuts Savannah. Augusta, and Fort Gibson. regions of the United States, the Peninsula of Florida has a climate t This equalizing influence of the ocean is still further exhibited in the an- w'aolly peculiar. The lime, the orange, and the fig, find there a genial nual range of the thermometer, the mean of the monthly ranges, and temperature ; the course ef vegetable life is unceasing ; culinary vege- the average difference ef the successive months.f During the summer tebles are cultivated, and wild flowers spring up and flourish in the months, the morning and evening observations at Fort King and Key month of January; and so little is the temperature of the lakes and West are nearly the same, the disparity being caused by the exalted rivers diminished during the winter months, that one may alrnost at | temperature of the former at mid-day. As is usual in southern lati- any time bathe in their waters. The climate is so exceedingly mild and -tudes, there is little variation presented at Key West in the mean tem- uniform, that besides the vegetable productions of the southern States i perature of the same month in different years. Within the period of six generally, many of a tropical character are produced. The palmetto or j'years, (from 1830 to 1835 inclusive,) the mercury at Key West was cabbage palm, the live-oak, the deciduals cypress, and some varieties , never known to rise higher than 90° or sink lower than 44°. of rh? pine, are common farther north ; but the hgnumvitae, mahogany, j There is little difference between the thevmometrical phenomena pre- logwood, mangrove, cocoa-nut, etc., are found only in the southern sented at Key West and the Havana. In the West India Islands, the portion of the peninsala. Here also, in common with our southern , mean annual temperature near the sea is on'y about 80°. At Barba- borders, the fig, date, orange, lemon, citron, pomegranate, banana, :does, the mean temperature of the seasons is as follows:—Winter 76°, olive, tamarind, papaw, guava, as well as cotton, rice, sugar-cane, j spring 79°, summer 81°, and autumn 80°. The temperature is remark- indigo, tobocco, maize, etc., find a genial climate. In contemplating | ably uniform ; for the mean annual range of the thermometer, even in the scenery of East Florida in the month of January, the northern man j tue most excessive of the islands, is, according to the British army sta- is a^t to forget that it is a winter landscape. To him all nature ls.jtistics, only 13°, and in some not more than 4°. Contrast this with changed; even the birds of the air—the peltcan and flamingo—indicate j Hancock barracks, Maine, which gives an average annual range of to him a climate entirely new. The author being attacned in January,' ns°, Fort Snelling, Iowa, 119°, and Fort Howard, Wiskonsin, 123' 1838, to a boat expedition, the double object of which was to operate j Tke peculiar character of the climate of East Florida, as distinguished against the Seminoles and to expiore the sources of the St. Johns, :from that of our more northern latitudes, consists less in the mean an- fojad, in the midst of winter, the high cane-grass, which covers its |nual temperature than in the manner of its distribution among the baa'.cs, intertwined with a variety ot blooming■morning-glory, (convul-j (seasons. At Fort Snelling, for example, the mean temperature of vulus.) The thermometer at mid-duy in the shade, stood at 84° b ahr.,. | winter is 15° .95, and of summer 72° .75, whilst at Fort Brooke Tampa and in the sun rose to 100° ; and at night we pitched no tents, but lay , [Bay, the former is 64°.76, and the latter 81°.25 and at Key We«t 70° beneath the canopy of Heaven, with a screen perhaps over the face as ai |o5, and 8P.39. Thus, though the winter at Foit Snelling is 54° 10 protection against the heavy dews. Notwithstanding the day attains, j colder tkan at Key West, yet the mean temperature of sv.mmer at the such a high temperature, the mercury just before day-light often sinks I j latter is only 8° .64 higher. In like manner, although the mean an to 45°, causing a very uncomfortable sensation of cold. Along the south-eastern coast, at Key Biscay no, for example, frost is never known, nor is ever so cold as to require the use of fire. In this system of cli- mate, the rigors of winter are unknown, and smiling verdure never ceases to reign. In following out the three divisions of Nortnern, Middle, and South- ern, the lower half of Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi, would natu- rally fall within the limits of the last named; and hence the Southern Division was unavoidably encroached upon, in the description of the physical characters of the Middle Division. Florida —Belonging entirely to the Atlantic Plain, no part of the surf a ce rises more than 200 feet above the level of the ocean. South of * The orthography of this word, according to Webster, is hommoc. He supposes it to be an..Indian wori. la Florida/.it is now generally pro-] nouHced hammock.\\ nual temperature of Petite Coquille, Louisiana, is 2° lower—that of Augusta Arsenal, Georgia, nearly 8°—and that of Fort Gibson, Arkansas, upward of 10° lower,—than that of Fort Brooke ; yet at all, the mean summer temperature is higher. Between Fort Snelling, on the one hand, and Fort Brooke and Key West en the other, the relative distri- bution of temperature stands thus: Difference between the mean tem- perature of summer and winter at the former 56° .60, and at the two latter 16°.49 and 11°.34; difference between the mean temperature of the warmest and coldest month, 61° .86 compared with 18° 66 and 14°. 66; difference between the mean temperature of winter and spring, 30°. The old Spanish appellation was Espiritu Santo, or bay of the Holy Ghost, the name Tampa being then restricted to an arm. t All these various results are presented in a tabular form in tne author's work on " The Climate of the United State3 and its Endemic Influences," Meteorology. THE NEW WORLD. 3» MAP, EXHIBITING THE DIFFERENT LaWS OF TEMPERATURE AT Key WEST AND FoRT SNELLING. 83 to 8°.35 and 5°.99 ; and the mean difference of successive months, 10°.29 to 3°.09 and 2°.44. The diverse climatic peculiarities of Fort Snelling and Key West are delineated in the accompanying engraving. The contrast in the course of the mean annual temperature of these two posts, as traced through each month, is, indeed, striking, while the variation of temperature on each of these monthly lines, is still more marked. Although the average minimum temperature of Fort Snelling in Jannary is as low as 22° be- low zero, while that of Key West is 57° above; yet, strange to say, we find the mean maximum temperature of July at the former 5° higher than at the latter. The course of the seasons are equally marked in their contrasts; for while those of Key West are confined within a few degrees, those of Fort Snelling are so opposite that spring and autumn traverse each other at right angles, and summer and winter are so re- mote that the one is truly hyperborean, and the other tropical This remarkable equality in the distribution of temperature among the seasons in' Florida, compared with the other regions of the United States, constitutes its chief climatic peculiarity; and the comparison, if extended to the most favored situations on the continent of Europe, and the various islands of the Mediterranean and Atlantic held in highest estimation for mildness and equability of climate is no way disparaging. A comparison of the mean temperature, that of the warmest and coldest month, and that of successive months and seasons, results generally in favor of peninsular Florida. The mean difference of successive months stands thus: Pisa 5°.75 Naples 5°.08, Nice 4°.74, Rome 4°. 39, Fort King, interior of Florida, 4°.28, Fort Marion, at St. Augustine, 3°.68, Fort Brooke, on the western side of Florida, 3°.09 Penzance, England, 3°.05, Key West, near the southern point of Florida, 2°.44, and Madeira 2°.41. The mean annual range thus: Fort King 78°, Naples 64°, Rome 62°, Nice 60°, Montpelier 59°, Fort Brooke 57°, St. Augustine 53° Penzance 49°, Key West 37°, and Madeira 23°. The want of instrumental observations to indicate with precision the I actual or comparative humidity of the atmosphere in Florida, is to be regretted. That the air is much more humul than in our more northern regions is sufficiently cognizable to the senses. The deposition of dew, even in the winter, is generally very great. To guard against the oxi- dation of metals, as for instance surgical instruments, is a matter of ex- treme difficulty. During the summer, books become covered with mould, and keys rust in one's pocket. Fungi flourish luxuriantly. The author has known a substance of this kind to spring up in one night, and so incorporate itself with the tissue of a woollen garment as to render separation impracticable. As the rains, however, generally fall at a particular season, the atmosphere in winter is comparatively dry and serene. The following abstract of the monthly fall of rain at Key West, is the mean of five years' observations: Jan. Feb. Mar. Ap'l May June July Aug. Sept. Oct. Nov. Dec. Annual average. 1.82 1.34 1.98 1.09 6.34 2.39 2.84 3.30 4.35 3.33 1.49 1.13 31.40 During six months, from November to May, it will be observed that the proportion of rain is but 8.8 J inches, being little above one-fourth of the annual quantity. Now as in tropical climates, a portion of the year is known as the rainy season, and as the same quantity of rain descends in a considerably shorter space of time than in the temperate zone, it follows that the proportion of fair days and dear skies is infinitely in favor of the former. This is strikingly evidenced in a comparison of Fort King, in the interior of East Florida, and of our northern lakes already adverted td, the annual number of fair days at the former being 309, and at the latter only 117. On the coast of Florida, however, the average is not more than 250 days. _ In this climate, ether meteoncal phenomena are similarly modified, but upon these points no precise observations have been made. Thus* in countries and seasons in which solar action is most intense, electri- cal phenomena are most frequent and erergetic; and whilst atmospheric moisture favors the passage of electricity from the earth to the clouds, the opposite condition causes its accumulation in object- on its surface. Consequently, in the excessive climates of the Northern Division, thun- der and lightning are of rare occurrence, and terrestrial objects are charged with an unusual portion of electricity; whereas in the waim and moist atmosphere of the alluvial zone which skirts our southern coast, opposite phenomena are witnessed. In warm countries, likewise,, the influence of the solar beams, and consequently of light, is very influ- ential in modifiying directly the animal and vegetable creation, as well as many of the physical phenomena which make up the character of climate. Thus it is de monstrated that invalids requiring a mild winter residence, have.gone to foreign lands in search of what might have been found at home, viz., an ever greenland in which wild flowers never ceas: to unfeild their petals. But to treat of the advantages of peninsular Florida as a winter residence for pulmonic and other invalids from more northern latitudes, would require a space not here admissible. SECTION III. The same isothermal line presents on the east side of both continents, eonca»e, and on the west side, convex summits.—Difference between the mean temperature of the west of Europe and eastern coast of America on the same parallels.—Compa- rative difference of the seasons from the equator to the polar ciicle, between- Europe and America —The rationale of all these laws explained by reference to the polar and equatorial currents, in connection with certain local causes.—The climate of Eastern North America, so far from being an exception to the general rule, demonstrates the harmony of the laws of climate throughout the globe.— The western coasts of Europe and America resemble each other in climate only to a certain point.—The question, whether the old continent is warmer than the new, shown to involve an absurdity.—The general law that the contrast in the seasons from Florida to Canada increases in proportion as the mean annual tem- perature decreases, is subject to modi fication on every parallel in accordancs with difference in physical geography.— The9e laws compared with those determined in Europe by Humboldt —The law that the same causes which produce ihe greatest convexity of the isothermal line, also equalize the temperature ot the» seasons, notconfirraed in the Northern Division of the United Slates.—Ex Sana- tion of the fact why the elevation of our north-western country, 800-1000 feet above the level of the ecean, causes no perceptible diminution of temperature.— Laws in reference to the geographical distribution of plants and animals.—The influence of the unequal distribution of heal upon vegetable geography on the same parallels in the United States, demonstrated, and a comparison made with the laws determined in Europe —The extremes of heat and cold do not occur at our most northern and southern posts.—Influence of an atmosphere with a high dew point upon the mental and corporeal functions.—The law that the highest temperature in northern latitudes occurs in June, and as we approach ihe equator in July and August, explained by the laws which regulate the earth's motion.— The same law does not obtain at sea.—The freezing of water and the melting of ice form a beautiful provision ot Xature for mitigating the exce-sive. inequality of temperature.—The mooted ooint whether April or October expresses a nearer equivalent to the mean annual temperature, satisfactorily settled.—Thermome- trical observations made by the author at the depth of thirty inches beneath the surface o( the earth.—Climate as influenced by clouds, by snow lying on the earth, by the nature of foil, by curren s in the ocean and in the atmosp' ere, and by gen- eral and local aspects.—Description of the influence of elevation on vegetable life.—Meridians and poles of greatest cold. Having completed the details in reference to < ,ich division of the United States, the consideration of questions of a more general charac- ter will now engage attention. In ths first place, it will be well to take a glance at the general laws of climate, as illustrative j>f their harmony throughout the globe. It is an important general law in reference to both continents that a strik- ing analogy exists, on the one hand, in the climatic features of the wes- tern coasts, and, on the other hand, in those of the eastern shores. 34 THE NEW WORLD. Meteorology. Thus in tracing the same isothermal line around the northern hemis- phere beyond the tropic, it presents on the east side of both continents, concave, and on the west side, convex summits. Following the mean annual temperature of 55° .40 Fahr. around the whole globe, we find it passes on the— E. coast of Old World, in N. Lat39°54',E. Long. 116°27',nearPekin, E. coast of New World, " " 39°56',W. " 76° 16', Philadelphia, "W. coast of Old World, " " 45°46', " '• 0°37',nearBordeax W. coast of New World " " 44°40' " " 104°0', Cape Foul- weather, south of the mouth of Columbia. On comparing the two systems, the concave and convex summits of the same isothermal line, " we find," says Humboldt, " at New York the summer ot Rome and the winter of Copenhagen ; and at Qubec, the summer of Paris and the winter of Petersburg. In China, at Pe- kin, for example, where the mean temperature of the year is that of the coast of Brittany, the scorching heats of summsaler are greater than at Cairo, and the winters are as rigorous as at Upsal." The difference of climate between Europe and Eastern America, as determined by Humboldt in a paper on Isothermal Lines and the Distri- bution of Heal over the Globe, is as follows:— The isothermal line of 32° passes in— Europe, between Uleo and Enontakies, Lapland, , ^ .. ._ . . Lat, 66° to 68°, E. Long. 19° 22' W. 58° America, through Table Bay, Labador, " 54° The isothermal line of 41° passes in— Europe, near Stockholm, . . Lat. 60° America, the Bay of St. George, New- foundland, .... " 48° The isothermal line of 50° passes in— Europe, through Belgium, . . Lat. 51° America, near Boston, . . "42 The isothermal iine of 59° passes in— Europe, between Rome and Florence, Lat. 43° America, near Raleigh, North Carolina, " 36° Between the western part of Europe and the eastern coast of North America, the following differences generally obtain :— 30' E. Long.18° W. "59° E. Long. 2° W. " 70° 59' E. Long. 11° 40' W. " 11° 30' Lat. 30° 40° 50° 60° Mean Temperature of Mean Temperature ot East-try ff West of Europe em coast of North America. uinerence- 70° 03° 50° 40° 52 14 90 60 66c 54° 37° 23c 92 50 94 72 12° 16° 60 64 96 92 It is thus seen that the difference increases in proportion as high lati- tudes are attained On the opposite coasts of the two hemispheres, the mean annual temperature decreases in the following ratio :— Lat. From 0° to 20° ] 20 — 30 I 30 — 40 ! 40 — 50 f 50 — 60 ] 0 — 60 J Temp. West of the old world. 3.° "60 7. 20 7. 20 12. 60 9. 90- , 40. 50 j The comparative difference of the seasons from the equator to the polar circle, is exhibited in the folowing table:— East ef the new world. Temp. 3.° 60 10. 80 12. 60 16. 20 13. 30 56. 50 Isothermal Lines. Europe, Long. 1° W.to 17° E.jAmerica, 58° to 72° W, Long. Mean Lemperature. Mean Temperature, Winter 59° 50° 41° 32° 59° — 44. 60 35. 60 24. 80 14. — ■ummer Difference.IWinter. SummerlDifference 80.° 60 73. 40 68. — 60. 80 52. 60 2l.°60 28. 80 32. 40 36. — 93. 60 53.° 60 39. 20 30. 29 14. — 1. 40 80° 60 78. 80 71. 60 66. 20 55. 40 27.° — 39. 60 41. 40 52. 20 54. — These various relations d%termined by Humboldt, are as correct as his data would warrant. The isothermal line of 41°, which, according to this philosopher, passes through the Bay of St. George in Newfound- land, in the latitude 48°, if correctly ascertained, sinks as it penetrates toward the interior of the continent; for at Hancock Barracks, Maine in latitude 46° 10', at a distance of 150 miles from the Atlantic, the mean annual temperature is 41.° 21, and at Fort Brady, at the outlet of Lake Superior, in latitude 46° 39', it is 41°. 39 ; and proceeding to the western coast of America, we find that at Fort Vancouver, Oregon territory, in latitude 45° 37', the mean temperature, like similar paral- lels in western Europe, is as high as 51.° 75. As those who first observed the climatic difference between western Europe and eastern North America, were natives of the former, they of course regarded the climate of their own country as constituting the rule, and that of America as the exception; but when men of science came to generalize these facts, it was discovered that the eastern coasts of both continents have a lower annual temperature than the western in corresponding latitudes. These results find a satisfactory explanation in physical causes, thus demonstrating the harmony of the laws of climate throughout the globe. The rationale of tkese laws finds an explanation in a grand natural phenomenon, which may be designated the great Atmospheric circula- tion.. The cause of these general atmospheric currents, which tend, in a remarkable degree to equalize the distribution of temperature over the surface of the globe, has been already pretty fully investigated. It was shown that there exist two grand currents, a polar and an equatorial, and that while the former produces easterly or trade-winds within the tropics, the latter is the cause ot the prevalent westerly winds between the parallels of 30° and 50°. With so much uniformity in both hemispheres do these westerly winds blow that they are scarcely less deserving than the easterly inter-tropical winds of the name of trade- winda. We thu3 perceive at once the principal causes of the rise of the isothermal line on the western coast of continents, in extra-tropical lati- tuaes ; for tnere is tnus swept irom tine ocean, wmen never sinus Deiow the freeziHg point, a humid atmosphere, which, in its passage over the land, has a constant tendency to establish an equilibrium of temperature, and as its vapor is gradually condensed, it also evolves its latent heat. As large bodies of water never become so cold in winter or so warm in sum- mer as the earth, the winds that sweep from them have a constant ten- dency to maintain an equilibrium of temperature. Land winds, on the contrary, must necessarily bear with them the greater or less degree of cold induced by congelation, whilst in summer, they will convey the accumulated heat absorbed by the earth; and thus is produced, in a great measure, those extremes of the seasons which characterize extra- tropical latitudes on the eastern coasts of continents. It is thus seen that the relative proportion of land and water exercises an all-controling in- fluence in modifying climate—a fact strongly illustrated by the circum- stance that the decrease of heat, as we recede from the equator, follows different laws in the two hemispheres. In the austral division of the globe, the annual temperature is lower, which arises from the circum- stance that it contains less land—a cause which also produces a dispa- rity in the duration of the seasons in the two hemispheres. The northern summer is eight days longer, and the winter is eight days shorter, than the southern. In the former, the heat of summer is, therefore, aug- mented, whilst the cold of winter is diminished. This difference of temperature on the eastern and western coast of continents is still further increased by local causes. Europe is separated from the polar, circle by an ocean, while eastern America stretches northward at least to the 82° of latitude. The former, intersected by seas, which temper the climate, moderating alike the excess of heat and cold, may be considered a mere prolongation of the old world; while the northern lands of the latter elevated from 3,000 to 5,000 feet, became a great reservoir of ice and snow, which diminish the tempera- ture of adjoining regions. "America," says Mr. Philips, "with little north tropical and wide north polar land, gives us a case of extreme refrigeration from the pole to- wards the equator; Africa and the West of Europe compose a surface of wide and hot north tropical land, with free channels to a polar sea." Thus Lapland, under the 72°, experiences a less rigorous climate than Greenland under the 60th parallel. On the other hand, between the 40th parallel and the equator, the influance of land, if not very ele- vated, produces effects diametrically opposite; for, the surface of the earth absorbs a large quantity of caloric, which is diffused by a radia- tion into the atmosphere. Thus Africa, as Malte-Brun observes, " like an immense furnace, distributes its heat to Arabia, to Turkey in Asia, and to Europe." On the contrary, the north-eastern extremity of Asia, which extends between the 60th and 70th parallel and is bounded on the south by water, experiences extreme cold in corresponding latitudes. Another cause cf the high temperature of Europe is, the Gulf-stream, which stretches across the Atlantic between Cape Hatterasand the Azores forming, nearly in the middle of the northern Atlantic, a lake of warm water, which, according to Major Rennell, is not inferior to the Medit- erranean in extent. While a cold polar stream sweeping immense mas- ses of ice into lower latitudes, is directed upon the coast of North Ame- rica, the warm air of this ocean lake is wafted over the whole of the coasts of Western Europe, from Cape Finistere to North Cape; and these winds, it is said, even penetrate through the wide gate between the Hartz mountains and the Scandinavian ranges, into the recess of the Baltic. As the Gulf-stream approaches much nearer to the coast of North America than to Europe, and as the temperature ef its waters is also higher near the former, it may be objected that the effect here described, applies rather to the New than to the Old World. But this ocean-cur- rent along the coast of America is of comparatively inconsiderable ■width, being opposite Chaileston only about sixty miles wide. At Cape Hatteras it turns to the east, and opposite the great bank of Newfound- land, after a course of 1,300 miles, its waters have lost only 5°, the temperature being 8°--10° above that of the adjacent seas. I{ is in these colder regions that the most marked influence of the Gulf-stream upon the temperature is manifested ; and when we consider that here wester- ly winds prevail, it follows that by far the greater portion of the warm air arising from this source, must be wafted to countries lying to the leeward of these winds. The western coasts of the two worlds, it appears, resemble each other only to a certain point. The coast of New California and the embou- chure of the Columbia, according to Humboldt, are like that of Europe as far as 50° or 52° of latitude. From the same writer as well as An- glo—American travellers, we learn that at Nootka, in the island of Quadra and Vancouver, and almost in the latitude of Labrador, the smallest rivers do not freeze before the month of January. Near the mouth of the Columbia, Captain Lewis saw the first frosts on the7th of January, and the rest of the winter he represents as mild and rainy. The climate of this region, however, has been already investigated in the preceding pages—an investigation based chiefly oa thermometrical observations made by J Ball Esq. of Troy, N. Y., at Fort Vancouver, on the Columbia River.* These observations, it is true, embrace but a single year; but as the results confirm those of Humboldt and others, and as constant climes exhibit comparatively little annual variation in the phe- nomena of temperature, they are entitled to every consideration. Mor- eover, the region of Oregon having grown in public estimation, within a few years, into a very important part of our national domain, the in- quiries consequently instituted by Congress in regard to its climate and productions, all coincide in the same results. The following comparative view shows the difference between the mean temperature of winter and summer on the eastern and western coasts of the two continents: Points of Comparison. Isothermal Line. America, Eastern coast, I 53°.60 Asia, Eastern coast, | 53° .60 Europe, Western coast, | 53°.60 America, Western coast, I 51°.75 Difference between the mean temp, of winter and summer. 43° 60 55°.80 28°.30 23°.70 The first tkree results on the same isothermal line are furnished by Humboldt. Unable to obtain the same annual temr>*rat,ir'; on our * See Siiliman's Journal, Vol. xxv. and xxviii. Meteorology. THE NEW WORLD 35- Pacific coast, it becomes necessary to take a lower isothermal line, (that of Fort Vancouver,) which of course gives a contrast in the sea- sons correspondently greater. The table, however, shows conclusively that the climate of the New World, viewed in its general features, is, contrary to general opinion, less austere than that of the Old. Compar- ing our eastern coast with that of Asia, the difference between the mean temperature of winter and summer is found to be 12° .20 less; and com- paring our western eoast, (notwithstanding the isothermal lineis lower,) with that of Europe, a difference of 4°.60 less is exhibited. It may be well to add that, with the exception of the last, the author is not aware of the local position of these points of comparison—a consideration of some importance, inasmuch as the Northern Division of the United States presents, on the same isothermal line, a difference between the mean temperature of winter and summer, varying from 38° to 54°. Independent of the westerly winds, which transport the tempered at- mosphere of the Pacific oyer the land, and conversely, in traversing the continent, bear upon their wings the accumulating cold towards our eastern shores, we observe, in attempting to account tor the extraor- dinary dissimilitude in the climate of our two coasts, on the eastern side an unascertained prolongation of the continent towards the pole and an oceanic current sweeping immense masses of ice southwardly, whilst on the western side, the great range of Rocky Mountains shelters Or- egon from the polar winds, and the projecting mass of Russia America protects it from the polar ice. Connected with this subject is the question frequently agitated, whether the Old Continent is warmer than the New. Volney and others have attempted its solution by a comparison of the mean annual temperatures of different places on both sides of the Atlantic; but to this mode of determining it, the objection at once presents itself, that the points of comparison represent opposite extremes in the climate of each continent. Indeed, the question in itself involves an absurdity; for, as the laws of nature are unvarying in their operation, and as sim- ilar physical conditions obtain in corresponding parallels of both conti- nents, the same meteorological phenomena will be induced. It shows in lively colors the truth of the remark, that every physical science bears the impress of the place at which it received earliest cultivation. In geology, for example, all volcanic phenomena were long referred to those of Italy; and in meteorology, the climate of Europe has been assumed as the type by which to estimate that of all corresponding lati- tudes. In making a comparison of the two continents, it is, therefore, necessary that both points have the same relative position. Fort Sulli- van, Maine, notwithstanding it is more than 11° south of Edinburg, Scotland, exhibits a mean annual temperature 5£° lower; Bordeaux, which is parallel with Fort Sullivan, has an annual temperature 15° higher ; and the mean ot Stockholm, in lat. 59°20', is about the same as that of Fort Sullivan, in lat. 44°44'. These are not, however, legiti- mate points of comparison. Pekin and Philadelphia, each on the eas- tern coast of its respective continent, are fair examples, having the same latitude and a similar relative position, and consequently the same mean annual temperature. A comparison between Western Europe and the United States would be equally improper with a comparison between it and China. "Thus at Pekin, in lat. 40° N., long U6°20' East," says Dr. Traill,* " the mean temperature of summer is 78°8, and of winter 23°—a difference of not less than 55° 8, which gives rise to a frost of several months' duration in that part of China; yet Pekin is under the same parallel as the southern extremity of Naples, where frost is unknown, and of the central provinces of Spain, in which, though at an elevation of 2000 feet above the sea, ice is an extremely rare occurrence." In the table, as arranged by Humboldt, of the comparative difference of the seasons in Western Europe ana Eastern America, from the equator to the polar circle, given on a preceding page, the results, owing of course to the paucity of his data, are not characterized by much precision. As the region of the United States exhibits very diverse systems of climate even on the same parallells, such comparative tables can present only the most general laws. For instance, it shows that on the isothermal line of 41°, the mean temperature of winter is 14°, and that of summer 66° .20—a result obtained from observations made in lat. 48° on the Bay of St. George, Newfoundland. Now, according to the " Army Meteorological Register," this isothermal line is again found in the comparatively equalized climate of Fort Brady, at the outlet of Lake Superior, in lat 46° 39', where the mean temperature of winter is as high as 21°.07, while that of summer is only 63°. 18. Again, the table shows that on the isothermal line of 50°, the mean temperature of win- ter is 30°.20, and that of summer 71°.50 ; but this too gives only a par- tial view, as at Fort Wolcott, Rhode Island, the former is 32°.51 and the latter 69° .06, and at Council Bluffs, near the junction of the Platte and Missouri, 24°.47 and 75°.82, thus showing that the disparity in the mean temperature of winter and summer, on the same parallel of lati- tude and on the same isothermal line, (that of Fort Wolcott being 50°.61 and that of Council Bluffs 51°.02,) is 14°.80 greater in an excessive than in a uniform climate. It is only within the temperate zone, from 30° to 60° of N. latitude, that the year exhibits the grateful vicissitudes of the four seasons—the varied charms of spring and autumn, the tempered fires of summer, and the healthful rigors of winter. Wisdom desires not that" eternal spring," the want of which poets affect to deplore. At the equator, there is no difference between the mean temperature of summer aad winter, but it increases, as a general rule, with the latitude. From Florida to Canada. the contrast in the seasons increases in proportion as the mean annual temperature decreases—a general law subject to modification on every parallel in accordance with the varieties in physical geography. The greatest and the least contrasts of winter and summer are exhibited at Fort Snelling and Key West; but as this point has been already suffi- ciently elucidated, it may be well to bring at once under notice a few of the laws determined by Humboldt. "The winters of the isothermal curve of 68°," he says, "are not found upon that of 51°, and the winters of 51° are not met with on the curve of 42°. In considering separately what may be regarded as the same systems of climate, for example, the European region, the Trans- atlantic Region, or that of Eastern Asia, the limits of variation become __* Encyclopaedia Britannica. still more narrow. Wherever in Europe, in 40° of long., the mean temperature rises— To 59°.—~) f 44° .60 to 46° .40") f 73°.—to 75°.— ,. &;» ^thewinters I Jfo.-g-.g,;*, I'^^H &:«'«»':» " 45°.50 | are from 1 23°.40 " 36°.10 f mers from "41°.--J l.20°.30"26°80J In the United States, if the comparison is confined to the same system of climates, as for example the posts on the ocean or lakes, or those re- mote from the agency of large bodies of water, the limits of variation, as in Europe, are also narrow; but if the whole extent of our domain is embraced, the results are strikingly diverse. Thus— I 57°.20"bS°.— 1.55°.40" «v — | MEAN TEMPERATURE. 'Annual Winier. Summer. Fort Vancouver, Oregon Terrrtory, . . . oi°.7o 41°.33 65°.— CouncilBIuffs, junction of Platte and Missoun,J5io Q2 24°.47 75°.82 Difference, 0° .731+16° .86 —10°82 Here then, although there is not a degree of difference in the mean annual temperature of Fort Vancouver and Council Bluffs, yet the mean winter temperature of the latter is nearly seventeen degrees lower, while the mean summer temperature is nearly eleven degrees higher. But this contrast is exhibited in a still more marked degree, by comparing the difference between the mean temperature of winter and snmmer, the former being 23°.67, while the latter is51°.35. " In tracing five isothermal lines between the parallels of Rome and St. Petersburg," continues Humboldt, " the coldest winter presented by one of these lines is not found again on the preceding line. In this part of the globe, those places whose annual temperature is 54° .50, have not a winter below 32°, which is already felt upon the isothermal line of 50°." In the European climate, two points having the same winter tempera- ture may differ as much as 11° in latitude. Thus in Scotland, in lati- tude 57°, and isothermal line 45° .50, the winters are more mild than at Milan, in latitude 45° 28', and isothermal line 55°.80. Consequently the lines of equal winter cut isothermal lines which differ 10°. At the isle of Maggcroe, at the northern extremity of Europe, under the parallel of 71°, the winters are 7° milder than at St. Petersburg, latitude 59° 56'. In the United States, embracing the whole region between the Atlantic and the Pacific, as great a contrast no doubt exists. The mean winter temperature of Fort Vancouver, Oregon Territory, latitude 45° 37', is found about 9° farther south at a point intermediate to Fort Gibsonjand Jefferson Barracks ; hut if the observations, like those in Scotland just referred to, were made on the coast, (Fort Vancouver being 70 miles distant from the Pacific,) the winter temperature would necessarily be still higher. As the mean annual temperature of Fort Vancouver is 51° .75, and that of the assumed point between Fort Gibson and Jeffer- son Barraeks is about 61° it follows that the lines of equal winter cut isothermal lines which differ more than 9° of Fahrenheit. [See map of the United States ] In Europe a greater deviation from the terrestrial parallels is caused by the inflections of the isocheimal than by the isothermal lines; far while two points having the same winter temperature may differ as much as 11° in latitude, a difference of not more than 5° is found between any two places having an equal annual temperature—disparities which in- crease as the eastern coast of Asia is approached. In the United States, the same law obtains ; for between the isothermal line of Fort Vancou- ver and the same in the Atlantic region, the difference is only 4° of lat- itude. [See map of the United States.] The isotheral curves or lines of equal summer follow a direction oppo- site to that of the isocheimal lines. The region about Moscow and that about the mouth of the Loire, in France, notwithstanding differing 11° in latitude, present the same summer temperature. Although this result as regards difference of latitude, is not discovered in the United States, yet the most extraordinary results in this respect have been demonstrated on the same parallel running from the Atlantic through the great lakes. In the United States, the heats of summer are everywhere intense. At Fort Snelling, notwithstanding the isocheimal line is 54° lower than at Key West, the isotheral is only S° lower. (See plate.) At Fort Van- couver, the mean summer temperature is 2° or 3° higher than on the same parallel in the region of the Atlantic and the great lakes, and about 7° lower than in the excessive climates of the same region. In tracing an isothermal line around the globe, we find that the same causes which, on the Atlantic coast of North America and in the north of China, depress the curves of equal annual heat, tend to elevate the iso- theral curves or lines of equal summer. The general and partial inflections of isothermal, isocheimal, and iso- theral lines, might be advantageously represented on charts, as shown in the two diagrams connected with this chapter. These graphical representations would throw light upon phenomena having a close rela- tion to agriculture and the physical and political condition of mankind. Instead of tracing all these curves on the same chart, it would be advisable merely to add the indications of the mean temperature of summer and winter to the isothermal lines at their summits and depres- sions. Thus, in following the Une of 51°, we find it marked in England ■LX°;»», in Hungary i^" ;■§■£, in -China fi°:-^p m Western America, at Fort Vancouver ^°-3^, and in Eastern America, at Council Bluffs- f |0;4i, and at Fort Wolcott, Rhode Island, ff °;||. It has just been remarked that the variations in the seasons on the same isothermal line should be marked at its " summits and depres- sions," thus implying, as is generally believed, that the causes, which produce inflections in the line of equal annual temperature, have a simi- lar effect on the isotheral and ist cheimal lirtes. This deduction is based on the law that the same causes which produce Uie greatest con- vexity of the isothermal line, also equalize the temperature cf the sea- sons, as is proved by its convex summits on the western coasts 11 the Old and the New World, compared with the concave inflections on the eastern coasts. Thus the annual mean temperature being equal to the fourth part of the total of the winter, spring, eummer, and autumnal THE NEW WORLD Meteorology-. temperatures, the same isothermal line of 53.°60, as given by Humboldt, allows— Winter. Spring. Summer. Autumn. At the concave summit in} 53.060=32.°—(-52.°30+75 °G0+.r>4.°f>0 America, 74° 40' westf------------------------------ longitude, At the convex summit in i r)3#o60=40.oiQ+51.O80+68.O40+54 .©lO Europe, 2° 20 west Ion- *- longitude, At the concave summit in Asia, 116° 20' east Ion gitude, ^ At the convex summit in*] America, at Fort Van- |? 53. n?5 53.060=24.080+54 o70+80.O60+54.o30 51.075=41.033+48.000+65.000+52 oq-. couver, in lat. 453 37 and long. 122° 37', ac- cording to the "Army Meteorological Regis- ter," It is thus seen that on Ae western coasts, where the isothermal curve rises, or is convex, the seasons are much equalized, the difference between the mean temperature of winter and summer being only about one-half as great as on the eastern coasts, where the line sinks, or is holly to himself, inasmuch as they had been, doubtless, never brought to the notice of the scientific world, before they were made known by him in his work on " The Climate of the United States and its Endemic Influences." These results, in the comparisons just made, appear the more extra- ordinary, as some reduction of temperature, by reason of the elevation of these interior posts, would be a priori inferred; for, according to Humboldt, "elevations of 400 metres, (1,312 feet,) appear to have a very sensible influence on the mean temperature, even when greatpentionsof countries rise progressively." That high table-iands have a more exalted temperature than isolated mountains of the same height, is well known ; for the elevated plains on which the towns of Bogota, Popayan, Quito. and Mexico are built, have a much warmer climate than they would have, if elevation above the sea were the only element that determines the temperature when the latitude is given. That our western table- lands rising gradnally to the height of 800 feet, cause no diminution of temperature, has been already abundantly established. Although at Fort Mackinac, situated on the island of the same name, the temperature of the seasons is as much equalized as on the Atlantic, yet the annual temperature, notwithstanding it is only 1° farther north than Fon Snell- ing, is 5.°27 lower. Moreover, as Fort Mackinac is elevated about 150 feet above the surface of the lake, its height above the sea is probably the same as that of Fort Snelling. Although the causes upon which the diminished temperature in the higher regions depends, have been already satisfactorily explained when speaking of the limits of perpetual snow, yet the preciseness of the following explanation by M. Arago in reference to the same point, will serve as an apology for its introduction : " L'atmosphere est tres peu echauflee par le passage des rayons solaires: elje doit done etre plus froide que la surface de la terre; et par la raerae raison, les hautes moritagnes et les terres les plus exposees a. Paction de l'almosphere, doivent toujours etre plus froides que les lieux situes a peu pres au niveau de la mer. L'atmosphere doit aussi, cemme l'experience l'a prouve, etre d'autant plus froide qu'on s'y eleye davantage : en effet, tous les corps renferment une certaine quantite de calorique rendu latent et insensible: la grande chaleur emise par la vapeur d'eau quise condense, en est une preuve evidente: or l'air contient d'autant plus de ca- lorique latent qu'il est plus rarefie ; ce que demontre aussi le briquet a air en rendant libre, lorsqu'on le comprime, assez de chaleur pour enflammer un morceau d'amadou: l'air absorbant peu de chaleur par rayonnement, et, au contraire, beaucouppar le contact, il en resulte qu'il doit s'etablir un courant ascendant d'air qui se dilate, lorsqu'il est parvenu a une certaine hauteur, et produit du froid, en absorbant une quantite de calorique necessaire pour maintenir cette dilatation. II devra done, si des corps plus chauds se recontrent dans ces regions elevees, les refroidir beaucoup en leur enlevant le calorique qui lui man- que."—ITraiti de Mitiorologie, ow Physique du Globe, par Gamier. Now it is apparent that these causes cannot be in operation when a large region of country rises very slowly and progressively to a height less than 1000 feet. It is only when lands are considerably and suddenly elevated, and exposed to the action ef the atmosphere laterally, that this rapid conduction of heat and rarefaction of the atmosphere can take place. When large tracts of country rise gradually, the decline of 1° of temperature for every 300 feet of elevation, as determined either by a balloon ascension or scaling the sides of isolated and precipitous moun- tains, does not by any means take place. Our north-western region, in those districts which are remote from the great lakes, for example, so far from causing a diminution of annual temperature, produces, in con- sequence no doubt of the great accumulation of summer heat by the soil, an augmentation. A most striking illustration of an analogous fact is afforded by the ridges and valleys of the great Himmaleh Mountains of Southern Asia, where immense tracts, which theory would consign to the dreariness of perpetual congelation, are found richly clothed in vege- tation and abounding in animals. At the village of Zonching, 14,700 feet above the level of the sea, in lat. 31°36' N., Mr. Colebrook found flocks of sheep browsing on verdant hills: and at the village of Pui, at about the same elevation, there are produced, according to Capt. Gerard, the most luxuriant crops of barley, wheat, and turnips, while a little lower the ground is covered with vineyards, groves of apricots, and many aromatic plants. As the geographical distribution of plants and animals appears to be chiefly regulated by the temperature of the atmosphere, there are many other relations developed in the tabular abstracts appended to the author's work on the climate of the United States, useful to him dis- posed to classify facts of this kind. July, taking the mean of a series of years, is, throughout the United States, the hottest month in the year, with scarcely an exception; and January, generally speaking, is the coldest month, but sometimes December or February gives a lower temperature. The least difference between the mean temperature of any two successive months, is that of July and August, and the next lowest is that between January and February. Between October and November, the difference is greatest at the southern posts; but at the northern, en the ocean and on the lakes, the difference between March and April, and between April and May, is about the same as that between October and November, whilst in the localities remote from large bodies of water, in these northern regions, the difference between October and November, is generally less than lhat of either of the two former. This last result arises from the circumstance lhat in excessive climes the increase of vernal temperature is very great. The influence of temperature on the geography of plants, is ably pointed out by M. de Candolle. In considering its relation with the organic life of plants, it is necessary to keep in view three objects:— 1. The mean temperature of the year; 2. The extreme of temperature both in regard to heat and cold; 3. The distribution of temperature among the different months of the year. The last is the most import- ant ; but in the investigation of vegetable geography, it is requisite to estimate the simultaneous influence of all physical causes,—soil, heat, light, and the state of the atmosphere as regards its humidity, serenity, and variable pressure. Each plant has generally a particular climate in Meteorology. THE NEW WORLD. 37 which it thrives best, and beyond certain limits it ceases to exist. Hence having seen the great variations of summer and winter tempera- ture on the same isothermal line, the absurdity of limiting a vegetable production to a certain latitude or mean annual temperature, is apparent. To say that the vine, the olive, and the coffee-tree require, in order to be productive, annual temperatures of 53°.60, 60°.80, and 64° 40, is true only ef the same system of climate. As the annual quantity of heat which any point of the globe receives, varies very little during a long series of years,* the variable product of our harvests depends less on changes in the mean annual temperature, than in its distribution through- out the year. Thus climates in regard to vegetable productions, are strongly characterized by the variations which the temperature of months and seasons experience. As this subject is too extensive for present con- sideration, reference will here be made only to some peculiarities in the climafe of the United States. The cotton-plant finds its most favorite cli- mate between the equator and latitude 34°; but it succeeds with a mean summer temperature of 75° or 73°, if that of winter does not descend below 36° or 38°. In the United States, it is cultivated in latitude 37°, I and in Europe in latitude 40°. Whilst the sugar cane is cultivated in Europe as far north as latitude 36°, in a mean annual temperature of! about 67°, its cultivation in the United States, on account of the low winter temperature, is prevented beyond latitude 31°; but it succeeds on the great table-plain of Mexico and Guatimala, where an altitude of 6000 feet converts a tropical into a temperate climate. In Europe, the olive ranges between latitude 36° and 44°, that is, in a mean annual temperature from 66° down to 58°, provided the mean temperature of summer is not below 71°', nor that of the coldest month below 42°, which last excludes all the United States beyond latitude 35°. For the same reason, the date, palm, and sweet orange, grow in Louisiana only to latitude 30°. In Europe, the favorite climate of the vine is between latitude 36° and 48°, that is between the isothermal lines of 62° and 47.°50, provided the winter line is not below 33°, nor the summer under €6° or 68°. Snch is the case in Europe to latitude 40°; but on the Pacific coast of our territory, the requisite temperature is found at Fort Vancouver, which is in the latitude of Montreal. Here vegetation grows luxuriantly in mid-winter. That vegetables common to the warm climates, as the orange, lemon, citron, fig, olive, and pomegranate, can be successfully cultivated here, is no longer a doubtful question ; and the cotton-plant also, is said to flourish well. The British Fur Company at Fort Vancouver, besides cultivating all these plants, have likewise a fine grapery, which yields fruit equal to those in France. The influence ot the unequal distribution of heat upon vegetable geographyis beautifully illustrated in the four systems of climate demon- strated on the same parallels in the Northern Division of the United States; and if we extend the comparison to the Pacific coast, a fifth system may be enumerated on the same latitude. Taking the coast of New England, the region ot the great lakes, and the Pacific coast, the difference between the mean temperature ot winter and spring varies from 6.° 67 to 18.°42; while in the excessive climate of the region west of the lakes, and that intermediate to the lakes and the Atlantic, this difference ranges from 18.° 82 to 30.° 83; and accordingly we find, as already explained, that spring and summer, in the latter, are con- founded with each other, and that the sudden excess of heat renders the progress of vegetation almost perceptible. It is necessary, however, to add that the low ratio of 6.° 67 occurs on the Pacific eoast, the lowest average in the Northern Division of the United States being 11.° 67. In the Middle and Southern Divisions, this vernal increase of temperature gradually diminishes, until finally at Key West it is only 5.° 99. But there is another important feature to be observed. Not only is the ver- nal increase greater in excessive climes; but as it supervenes upon a lower winter temperature, the effect produced on the development of vegetation is in an inverse ratio. The vernal increase of 30.° 83, for example, at Fort Snelling, comes upon a mean winter temperature of 15.° 95, while at Fort Sullivan, on the same parallel, the increase of only 17.°16 follows a winter temperature as high as 22.°95. Between north accordance with the same law, we find that the mean summer tempera- ture is greater at Augusta, Georgia, than along the coast of Florida. While at Key West, during a period of six years, the thermometer nev- er rose above 90°, it attained at Council Bluffs, a point 17° 12' farther north, a height every year varying from 102° to 108 ° The highest tem- perature in the shade noted ;.t our various posts, was at Fort Gibson, on the 15th of August, 1834, being 116°.* In Africa, the mercury is some- times seen at 125°, and in British India it is said to have been as high as 130.° It has been remarked that on the coast of Senegal the human body supports a heat which causes spirits of wine to boil, and that in the northeast of Asia, it resists a cold which renders mercury solid and malleable. Although the mean annual temperature, in proceeding from the equator towards the poles, gradually diminishes, yet the thermome- terscarcely mounts higher at the equinoctial line than under the polar circle. Hence it follows that the climate of the tropics is character- ized much more by the duration of heat than its intensity. Although the thermometer may be 15° or 20° higher here than in England, during the heats of Summer, yet we suffer but little more from its effects ; for, as the air of the latter country is more loaded with hu- midity, causing a diminution of the cutaneous and pulmonary transpira- tion—the evaporation of which constitutes a cooling process—a langour and a listlessness with an indisposition to mental and corporeal exertion, are induced. In the transition of the air from a state of dryness to hu- midity, the indication of the barometer is distinctly at variance with our ordinary feelings. In damp weather, individuals of a delicate and en- feebled constitution, are wont to complain of the heaviness and inelas- ticity of the atmosphere ; but moisture, so far from loading the air by its weight, causes, like heat, increased expansion and elasticity. It has been calculated by Mr. Epsy that when the dew-point is 30°, we evapo- rate from the lungs one pound of vapor for every thirty-five pounds of air that we breathe ; and that, when the dew-point is 75°, we evaporate from the lungs one pound for every sixty-nine pounds. Hence in Sum- mer, when the dew-point is very high, the quantity of vapor evaporated from the lungs, is not more than half as great, as in Winter, when the dew-point is very low. Moreover, as an atmosphere charged with vapor acquires highly conducting properties, positive electricity, which is doubtless a vital stimulus, is rapidly carried off from the anmial system. The depressing Sirocco is nothing more than an atmospheric current hav- ing a high dew-point, and being perhaps, at the same time, in a relatively low electric condition, or being in a negative state, thus attracting the positive electricity of the human frame. ~ The experiments of John Davy Esq., however, no not, as is shown in Chap. I, show any difference of electrical condition. It is a generally received opinion, that in latitudes above 60°, the month that has the highest temperature is June, that in the more tem- perate regions it is July, and as we approximate the equator, August. Although July, with the exception of Jefferson Barracks and Fort Gib- son, is the hottest month of the year at all the military posts of the United States, yet the law receives corroboration in the fact that the excess diminishes with the decrease of latitude. This result finds an explana- tion in the laws which regulate the earth's motion; for in latitudes beyond 60°, the sun's power is greatest at the Summer solstice ; while below, this point, the parallels continue to receive additional heat for sometime during his decline in the ecliptic, which tends to augment the temperature of the atmosphere. This subject is ingeniously explained by Gamier. To comprehend the influence of the sun, it is necessary to observe that its action is not manifested instantaneously, but that the heat produced is the effect of this action prolonged. The h^atofday does not attain its maximum until sometime after the sun has passed the meridian; and in regard to the year, the same law obtains, for the great- est solstitial height is in June. The solar rays, at this period, continue ously strike the earth almost perpendicularly during sixteen hours ; and the heat thus accumulated during the day, cannot dissipate itself by radiation during the eight hours of the night. As this accumulation continues until the length of the night counterbalances that of the day. em and southern latitudes, this contrast is still more marked; for, while £T™ vim Z „fhL?i« Ii„X tT ^ a / a .v,♦ Yl at Fort Snelling there is a difference of 13.° 46 between the months of ™*T™" t U ♦ *&Uame? "? July,an^ AugusJ- As lu* t0md February and March, and at Key West only l.°56, the temperature of!' ff^JX h y 1 ZfTA Ve"lcd ""ft the.^mPerature 1S ther* con" rv at the former is 18 ° 66 and at the latter 72 ° 15 I ll,n,uous\ly ms'V In liie frlgld zones> as the so^ ™YS are received very ' obliquely, and as the days and nights are alternately of long duration, the cold is excessive ; while the temperate zones, which receive the sun under a mediate inclination, and are not exposed to long alternations of day and night, preserve a mean temperature. The same law does not of course obtain at sea. The surfaee of the sea, in the middle of the ocean, and far from the influence of land, experi- ences a much smaller diurnal change of temperature than the surface of land. While in the equatorial regions the difference between the maxi- mum and minimum diurnal range of the thermometer on land often amounts to 9° or 10°, the difference at sea is said to he seldom more than 3° or 4°. In temperate regions, the extreme diurnal range at sea is only 4° or 6°, while upon the continents the range often amounts to 30° or even 40°. It is thus easy to understand why small insular situations have more equable climates than eontinents. From a series of hourly observations made during a whole year at Frankford Arsenal near Phila- delphia, the mean daily extreme range would seem to be about 30" for that locality. The following extract from Capt. Mordecai's report, by whom these observations were conducted, will serve to show the differ- ence in this respect between our climate and that of England :—"Thus it will be seen that there is in some parts of almostevery month, a varia- tion as great as 12° in the mean temperature of two consecutive days; February This subject, too, has been set in a clear light by that oracle of na- ture, Humboldt. In regard to the climate of Europe, he determined— 1, That whenever the division of the heat among the seasons is very unequal, the increase in the vernal temperature is very great, (from 14.°40 to 16.°20 in the space of a month,) and equally prolonged; 2. That in the temperate portion of Europe, the vernal increase is great, (from 9° to 10.° 80,) but little prolonged; 3. That in an insu- lar climate, the increase of the vernal temperature is small, (scarcely 7.°20,) and equally prolonged; and 4. That the vernal increase, in every system of climate, is smaller and less equally prolonged in low than in high latitudes. In regard to the extremes of heat and cold in the United States, it would be natural to expect that the severest cold would be registered at the most northern, and the greatest heat at the most southern posts. It is now, however, proved by exact instrumental observations that this is not the case, as these are situated on large bodies of water; but that the western stations, Forts Snelling, Gibson, and Council Bluffs, remote from inland seas, are remarkable for extremes of temperature. It is here that the mercury rises the highest and sinks the lowest, while Forts Brady and Mackinac, the most northern stations, as well as those on the southern coast, exhibit a lesser range of the thermometer; and in'' and that, in the winter and spring, this variation often extends to 15° or „,,_,------------:--------------~--------------------------------j 18°. In Mr. Harris' register of observations during two years at Plv- rhe mean annual temperature of London," says the Rev. William Whe- ; mouth, England, there is only one instance ef a difference exceeding bJ well.in his Astronomy and General Physics, "is 50degrees 4-10ths. The frost j in the mean temperature of two consecutive days, and but two other ot the year 1 )le. Our dip * as b7° 30' south, and ihe com- passes on the ice very sluggish . this was in 147° 30' east and 67° 4' south. Our variation as accurate ly as it could be observed on the ice, we made 12° 30' east. It was difficult to get a good observation, on account of the sluggishness of our compasses. About 100 mjles to the westward we crossed the magnetic meridian. The pole, without giv- ing you accurate deductions, I think my observations will place in about 70° south latitude and 140° east longitude." SECTION IV. The following subjects yet remain to be considered: 1. Does the climate of a locality in a series of years, undergo any permanent chan- ges 1 2. Does the climate of our North-western frontier resemble that of the Eastern States on their first settlement 1 3. Is the climate west of the Alleghanies milder by 3° of latitude than that eastl Subsection 1. Does the Climate of a Locality, in a Series of Years. Undergo any Permanent Changes .'—Astronomical observations prove that the temperature of the earth has not, during the last 2,000 years, iuereased or decreased a single degree.—1b reference to the question, whether the climate of Europe was more austere 2,000 years ago than now, thv Writings of Diodorus Sicuius, Juvenal. Virgil, Ovid, aud Gibbon quoted in the affirmative.—On the negative side, a multiplicity of facts adduced, showing lhat, since the davs of Julius Ctesar, the melioration of climate is slight indeed, being limited, perhaps, to the l«ss frequent occurrence of severe seasons. The question has been much debated, whether the temperature of the crust of the earth or of the incumbent atmosphere, has undergone any perceptible changes since the earliest records, either from the efforts of man in clearing away forests, draining marshes, and cultivating the ground, or from other causes. As the earth is continually receiving heat from the sun, it follows that, if no caloric is thrown off into sur- rounding space, its mean temperature must be continually augmenting. It has accordingly been inferred that the increase of temperature is at the rate of 1° in eighty years ; and thus the changes of climate alleged to have gradually supervened during successive ages in many countries, and particularly in the west of Europe, are attempted to be explained. But many geologists, on the other hand, maintain the doctrine, (on the supposition that the surface of the earth had a higher temperature at the period of the formation of the older rocks,) of a decreasing superficial temperature as the result of radiation. It has been satisfactorily demon- strated by La Place, however, lhat since the days of Hipparchus, an astronomer of the Alexandrian school, who flourished about 2000 years ago, the temperature of the earth cannot have increased or decreased a single degree, as otherwise the siderial day must have become either lengthened or shortened, which is not the case. The precise results of astronomical observations prove that, as any change in the temperature of our globe would be attended by a corres- ponding mutation of volume, an alteration in the momentum of the revolving mass would follow. Were the earth, for instance, to gain, from the accession of heat, only a millionth part of linear expansion, it would require, to maintain the same rotation, an increase of five times proportionally more momentum. The diurnal revolution would, there- fore, on this supposition, be retarded at the rate of three seconds in a week. But as the length of the day has certainly not varied one second in a year since the age of Hipparchus, it follows that, in the lapse of 2000 years, the mass of our globe has not acquired the increased expan- sion due to the smallest fraction of a degree of heat. On the other hand, were there a progressive accumulation of ice on the surface of our Polar seas, a prolongation of the length of the day would be occasioned. A question asked by the learned M. Arago, in his instructions to the officers of the exploring ship, La Bonitc, is—Has the earlh, in regard to its temperature, arrived at a permanent state 1 The solution of this question, he says, seems to require only a direct comparison between the mean temperatures of the same place, taken at two remote periods. But in reflecting upon the effect of local circumstances—in seeing to what a degree the vicinity of a lake, a forest, a mountain naked or wooded, a plain sandy or covered with grass, will modify temperature, it is apparent that thermometrical data alone will not suffice, unless we can be assured that between the two periods, this tract of land, and even the surrounding country, have not, either in their aspect or mode of culture, undergone any material change. This, as is seen, compli- cates the question very much; for, with positive data, susceptible of exact appreciation, there become mixed up collateral circumstances be- fore which the philosophic mind rests in suspense. M. Arago, there- fore, suggests another mode, which is free from complication. This consists in observing the temperature in the open sea, remote from con- tinents. Were such meteorological data bequeathed from age to age, the question would admit of solution. In regard to the former and present temperature of the earth, M. Arago arrives at the conclusion that in Europe in general, and in France in particular, the winters were, in former ages, at least as cold as at pres- ent—an opinion founded upon the alleged fact of the congelation of rivers and seas at a very ancient period. He thinks that the conquests of agriculture, such as the opening of forests and the draining of marsh- es, as well as the confinement of water courses to their channels, have caused a sensible elevation of the mean annual temperature. But, after all, M Arago looks to America for the data necessary to settle this point definitely. "Ancient France," he remarks, " contrasted with what Fiance now is, presented an incomparably greater extent of forests; mountains al- most entirely covered with wood, lakes, ponds, and morasses, without number; rivers without any artificial embankment to prevent their overflow, and immense districts which the hands of the husband- tonishins rapidity ; and they ought, in some degree, suddenly to pro- duce the meteorological alterations which many ages have scarcely rendered apparent in our old continent. This country is North America. Let us see, then, how clearing the country affects the climate there. The results may evidently be applied to the ancient condition of our own countries, and we shall find that we may thus dispense with a prim i considerations, which, in a subject so complicated, would probably have misled us." The winters of the south of Europe, in the time of the first Roman Emperors, were, according to the concurring testimony of many authors, much more severe than now That the rivers of Gaul and Germany were always frozen during winter, is mentioned by Diodorus Sicuius. Juvenal, in recording the ceremony of a superstitious rite performed by a female, refers to the necessity of breaking the ice of the Tiber: Hybernum fracta glacie descendet in amnem Ter matutino Tiberi mergetur.—Sat. vi., line 521. Virgil recommends great attention to young sheep, lest the cold, should. destroy them: ------Glacies ne frigida lasdat Molle pecus.—Geo., lib. iij., I. 298. Again, Ovid, in lamenting, in pathetic strains, his banishment, takes notice of the freezing of the Euxine, and of the congelation ot wine in its vicinity: Ipse vides certe glacie concrescere Pentum ; Ipse vides rigido stantia vina gelu.—Ec Ponto, lib. iv., Epist. 7. The instance cited from Ovid may as well be disposed of at once. i Lying, as Constantinople does, nearly in the same latitude as Naples, and situated on the shore of the sea of Marmora and the banks of the Bosphorus, close to the Black Sea and at no considerable distance from the Mediterranean, it might be expected, at first view, that its climate would not differ much from that of Southern Italy. When we con- sider, however, that Europe is separated from the polar circle by an ocean, and is intersected by seas which temper the climate, moderating alike the excess of heat and cold, while Africa, like an immense fur- nace, distributes its heat toward the same region, its climate must surely be more mild and uniform than that of Constantinople, which has on us east and north an immensa continent, both elevated and extending to- ward the poles—causes which produce the extremes of atmospheric tem- perature. " The circumstances most peculiar in the character of its climate," [Constantinople] says Dr. John Davy, "are irregularity- variability, the sudden changes of temperature, with changes of wind and weather to which it is liable, and the wide range of the thermome- ter. * * * A fall of snow is not considered remarkable in Aprils a shower of snow has suddenly masked the bright verdure of the early May; even in summer, the most equable season, tht range of the thermometer is considerable, and the fluctuations of temperature are often great. In July last [1S41] it was often so low as 70° before sunrise, and as high as 90°, or above that, in the afternoon in the shade.' While the variation of temperature of the Mediterranean, through the greater part of the year, very seldom exhibits a greater range than from 55° to 82°, at Constantinople, during two years' observations, the range extended from 24° to 91°. Upon this subject, Gibbon, in his "Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire," makes the following remarks: " Some ingenious writers* have suspe«ted that Europe was much colder formerly than at present; and the most ancient descriptions of the elimate of Germany tend exceedingly to confirm this theory. The general complaints of intense frost and eternal winter, are perhaps little to be regarded, since we have no method of reducing to the accurate standard of the thermometer, the feelings, or the expressions, of an orator born in the happier regions of Greece or Asia. But I shall select two remarkable circumstances of a less equivocal nature. 1. The great rivers which cover the Roman Provinces, the Rhine and the Danube, were frequently frozen over, and capable of supporting the most enor- mous weights. The barbarians, who often chose that severe season for their inroads, transported, without apprehension or danger, their nume- rous armies, their cavalry, and their heavy wagons, over a vast and solid bridge of ice.f Modern ages have not presented an instance of a like phenomenon. The rein-deer, that useful animal, from vhich the savage of the north derives the best comforts of his dreary life, is of a constitution that supports, and even requires, the most intense cold. He is found on the rock of Spitzberg, within ten degrees of the pole ; he seems to delight in the snows of Lapland and Siberia ; but at present he cannot subsist, much less multiply, in any country to the south of the Baltic.:}; In the time of Caesar, the rein deer, as well as the elk and the wild-bull, was a native of the Hercynian forest, which then overshad- owed a great part of Germany and Poland.|| The modern improve- ments sufficiently explain the causes of the diminution of the cold. These immense woods have been gradually cleared, which intercepted from the earth the rays of the sun.§ The morasses have been drained, and, in proportion as the soil has been cultivated, the air has become more temperate. Canada, at this day, is an exact picture of ancient Germany. Although situated in the "same parallel with the finest pro- vinces of France and England, that country experiences the most rigor- eus cold. The rein-deer are very numerous, the ground is covered with deep and lasting snow, and the great river of St. Lawrence is regularly * In particular, Mr. Hume, the Abbe du Bos, and M. Pellontier.—Hist. des Celtes, torn. i. t Diodorus Sicuius, I. v., p. 340. Edit. Wesstl. Herodian, I, vi., p. 221. lornandes, c. 55. On the banks of the Danube, the wine, when brought to table, was frequently frozen into great lumps, frustra vini. r>.,;j c\«.„# ._ r>„„<„ i :„ rr n m tt:_ -i r.___• 1 •■• «» ana immense aisincts wmen me litmus 01 mc u™™- Q .,- F■ ponto l iv 7 Q in vi^u r^-oi^ 1 ;.; <«k man had never touched -A^^ forests, and he opening of extens ve glades^r^h°fH ^f 'f.f*\n' th^-ienced the intense cold of Thrace. See Xenopon, Anabasis, I, vij", p. nearly complete removal of all stagnant waters, and the cultivation ot.,560 Edit. Hutchinson. ' extensive plains, which thus are made to resemble the steppes ot Asia t Ruffon, Histoire Naturelle, torn, xij, p. 79, 116. and America-theae are among the principal modifications to which the 11 „ C(Bsar de BM Ga[[ic yi ^ e(c The mogt . .gitive of the Germans fair face of France has been subjected, in an interval ot some hundred? were ignorant of its ulmost iimit aitn0ugh some of them had travelled it of years. But there is another counfry which is undergoing these same more than gix(y dayg> :ourney_ modifications at the present day. They are there progressing underthe || $ ciuverius, (Germama Antiqua, 1. hi., r. 47,) investigates the small and observatioa of an enlightened population; they ere advancing with as- scattered remains of the Hercynian wood. Mbtkorologt. THE NEW WORLD. 41 frozen, in a season when the waters of the Seine and the Thames arei usually free from ice." . | This quotation is made, not because it quadrates with the author's i views, but as expressive of the general sentiment on the subject. In the first place, it may be remarked that Gibbon was ignorant of the great laws of climate, or he would not have ;aid that " Canada, at this day, is an exact picture of ancient Germany;" but this is the less surprising when it is known that Maite-Brun, many years after, made the same comparison. But more of this anon. Gibbon, indeed, is excusable, inasmuch as he lived before the epoch of Baron Humboldt. Gibbon's reputation is that of a historian ; but it will be easy to show that he falls short even in this character, as regards the assertion, when speak- ing of transporting heavy waggons over the frozen rivers of ancient Ger- many, that "modern ages have not presented an instance of a like pheno- menon." As much importance has been attached to classic records by many, with the view to establish the opinion that the climate of Europe, two thousand years ago, was much more rigorous than now, the author has been at some pains to collect historical facts enough to show tins con- clusion to be unwarranted—aconclusion, moreover, which is adverse to the deductions authorized by the laws of climate established by these researches. As we have no exact instrumental observations of tempe- rature that go back much farther than a century, our information in re- gard to more remote periods being derived from loose notices scattered through the old chronicles, relative to the state of the harvest, the qua- lity of the vintage, or the endurance of frost and snow in the winter, great allowance must be made for the spirit of exaggeration which tinges all rude historical monuments. The facts stated by the Roman poets, if not exaggerated, doubtless, in many instances, stand isolated, not unlike the fact recorded in relation to the Baltic, which, in 1688, was so firmly frozen that Charles XI. of Sweden crossed it with his ar- my, or the similar circumstance that in the winter of 1779-80, horse and artillery were transported over the ice in the harbor of New York. It appears, indeed, from historical evidence, that the most remarkable extremes of heat and cold have been frequently recurring ever since the time of the Romans referred to above, the opinion of Gibbon to the contrary notwithstanding. A few striking examples will be here ad- duced, though ten times the number might be as readily presented* :— In A. D. 401, the Black Sea was entirely frozen over. In763, the same occurred both in regard to the Black Sea and the Straitsof Dardanelles. In some places the snow rose fifty feet in height, and the ice was so heaped up in the cities as to push down the walls. In 1133, the Po was frozen from Cremona to the sea In many parts of Italy, the roads were rendered impassable by the heaps of snow ; and by the action of the frost Jwine-casks burst in the cellars, and even trees split with immense noise. In 1234, the Po was again so firmly frozen, that loaded wagons crossed the Adriatic to Venice; and at Ravenna, a pine forest was killed by the frost. In 1403, not only was the Danube frozen over, but also the sea between Gothland and Zeland, and between Norway and Denmark ; and in France, the vineyards and orchards were destroyed. In both 1468 and 1544, the winter in Flanders was so severe, that the wine distributed to the soldiers was cut into pieces with a hatchet. In 1571, all the rivers in France were covered with solid ice, and the fruit- trees, even in Languedoc, perished. In 1621-2, the rivers of Europe were mostly frozen, and even the Zuyder Zee. The Hellespont was covered with a sheet of ice, and the Venetian fleet became blocked up in the lagoons of the Adriatic. The winters of 1658, '59 and '60, were intensely cold throughout Europe. In Italy, the rivers bore heavy car- riages, and so much snow had not fallen at Rome for several centuries. It was in 1658 that Charles X. of Sweden crossed the Little Belt over the ice, from Holstein to Denmark, with his whole army, horse and foot, with a train of baggage and artillery. In 1670, the cold was most intense in England and Denmark; both the Little and Great Belt were frozen. Again in 1684, in England, many forest trees, and even oaks, were split oy the intensity of the frosts. In 1709 occurred what has been called by distinction," the cold winter." In Europe, all the rivers and lakes, and even the seas to the distance of several miles from the shore, were frozen. It is said that the ground was penetrated by the frost to the depth of three yards. The more tender vegetation in Eng- land was killed, and wheat rose in price from two to four pounds a quar- ter. In the south of France, the olive plantations were almost all de- stroyed. The Adriatic was quite frozen over, and even the coasts of the Mediterranean about Genoa; and in the mildest parts of Italy, the cit- ron and orange trees suffered severely. In 1740, the cold was scarcely less intense than in 1709. In Spain and Portugal, the snow lay eight or ten feet deep. The Zuyder Zee was frozen over, and many thousand persons walked or skated on it. At Leyden, the thermometer fell 10° below the zero of Fahrenheit's scale. All the lakes in England were covered with ice ; a whole ox was roasted on the Thames; many trees were killed by the frost, and postillions were benumbed on their sad- dles. In both the years 1709 and 1740, the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, on account of the dearth which then prevailed, or- dained a national fast to be held. These examples might be multiplied tenfold and continued up to the present day, were it necessary in order to disprove the gratuitous asser- tion of Gibbon, that " modern ages have not presented an instance of a like phenomenon." At the same time, it will not be without advan- tage to bring under notice a similar series of facts extracted from the work of Noah Webster, which has already furnished many interesting facts illustrative of the climate of the United States during our earlier history. Dr. Webster, in every instance, quotes his authority, which is here deemed unnecessary. He often refers to winters as being extra- ordinarily cold, severe, rigorous; but, in no case, has the author made a quotation, unless the precise effects of the weather were stated. In the year of our Lord 400, there occurred one of the most severe winters on record, the Euxine sea being covered with ice for twenty days. In 717, the Saracens marching, in an immense army, to besiege Constantinople, perished with cold, hunger, and pestilence. In 823, snow lay on the ground for twenty-nine weeks, occasioning the death * These facts are taken from a volume published in London, in 1830, by Taylor, who says that he extracted them from the work of Offeflbr of Ger- many, entitled " The History of Climates and Changes,1' compiled from an old work published by Pilgram at Vienna, in 1788, combined With the obser- vations made by Professor Plaff cf_K«il. I of many men and brutes. In 858, the Adriatic sea was covered with I ice, and people walked on it to Venice. In 929, the Thames was a solid 1 bridge of ice for thirteen weeks. In 1063, there were deep snow and extreme cold, proving fatal to vines, trees, birds, and catlle. In 1076, it was excessively cold from November to March, the roots of vines being killed. In 1124, trees and vines were destroyed. In 1263 and 1269 the Thames became a highway for men and horses. In 1402, the Baltic was passable for horses and carriages for six weeks. In 1609, the Thames again a common higW-rvay. In the winter of 1654-5, the rivers 'and harbors of Holland were all locked up by congelation. In the win- ter of 1664-5, the Thames became once more a bridge of ice. The win- ter of 1708-9 was very severe both in Europe and America, destroying vines and fruit-tress. In 1716, a fair was held on the Thames. In January 1729, the rivers and canals in Holland were covered with ice of the thickness of 12-20 inches. The winter of 17:19-40 was thestverest known in Europe since that ot 170S-9. It preceded by one year, as pre- viously remarked, a very cold winter in America—a circumstance which, from its frequent recurrence, seems to be more than a mere co- incidence. In the winter of 1756-7, in Syria, fruit-trees were destroyed, and also olive-trees which had withstood the climate for fifty years, and thousands of poor people perished with cold. In the winter of 1762-3, the Thames was again a highway for carriages, and the poor perished ■ in the streets of London. In the winter of 1765-6, at Ratisbon, the mercury was 2° lower than in the noted year of 1709, and birds perished with cold. At Naples, the. snow lay in the streets to the depth of eighteen inches. At Lisbon, the thermometer was 34° below the freez- ing point; and at Madrid, people skated on the ice. In the winter of 1766-7, " the Rhine at Cologne became a bridge of ice, and supported laboring artificers, as in 1670. In Italy, the poor crowded to the cities for aid, and perished with cold. In Russia, both rich and poor per- ished. The wolves became ravenous, entered towns and destroyed ; people. In England, the larks took refuge in hay-carts and the market; ! the snow fell to the depth of many feet and buried thousands of sheep." In America, similar phenomena, as already described, were witnessed. I In the winter of 1767-8, the cold in France was more severe than in 11740, and within a degree of the low temperature of 1709. In Constanti- I nople, snow fell as late as the 16th of March. The winter of 1779-80, so I remarkable in the United States, was as severe comparatively in Europe. The winter of 1783—1 was also an extraordinarily rigorous one in the United States, as described before. "In Europe," says Dr. Webster, " it was no less severe—an instance in which a severely cold winter in Europe coincided in time, with the same in America. It may be remarked also that this winter was just one century after the coincid- ence of like events ; the wi-ater of 1683-4 being equally severe in both hemispheres. In 1783-4, the river Liffey, in Ireland, the Thames in England, and all the rivers in the interior of Holland, were covered with solid ice. In Holland, the ice gave way about the first of March, and the rivers being greatly swelled, the adjacent country was inun- dated, with immense loss of lives and properly. The river Woal, near Nimeguen, broke through its dikes, and overwhelmed thirty-four vil- lages. The Rhine from Cologne and Manheim, exhibited similar scenes of devastation." The winter of 1788-9, in Europe, appears to have been unusually severe. The frost penetrated to the southern parts of Spain and Portugal; and the rivers in Estremadura end Alantejo were covered with ice. The winter of 1794-5 was likewise very cold. In January, the French troops marched into Amsterdam, over the rivers and canals, on the ice. This series of interesting facts, as pieviously observed, is brought down no farther than the year 1799. In regard to high summer heats, during the same period, a similar series of facts might be presented. In one year, the springs dried up ; in another, the reapers dropped dead in the field ; in a tnird eggs were roasted in the sand: again, the heat and drought were so great, that not only were the springs dried up, but the Rhine and Danube exposed their dry beds. By those that maintain that climates have become more uniform, it is stated, on the contrary, that Pliny, the younger, had a country-seat in Tuscany, where he could not raise olives, myrtles, and similar plants, which now attain the greatest perfection. Caesar, when he invaded Britain, found the climate milder than that of Gaul. He mentions that corn did not come to maturity in ihe northern provinces of the latter, and that the inhabitants of the former went abost unclothed. As an evidence of the views entertained of the climate of Britain, it may be stated that the Emperor Probus promulgated special instructions in regard to the planting of vines and the making of wine. The Highest hills of Scotland, it is said, were formerly covered with trees, which, it is supposed by some, have disappeared in consequence of the diminished temperature of the climate. The culture of the vine, in the twelfth cen- tury, had attained such perfection in England, especially in the Vale of Gloster, that wine was made in abundance, and of an quality little infe- rior to that of France. The statistical records of Scotland show that wheat was formerly paid to religious institutions from lands on which the raising of that grain is now impracticable ; and it appears that there was carried on, even during the sixteenth century, a considerable export trade in corn. That the vine was cultivated as a common plant in Scotland, is evident from the provident regulations passed in the reign of the earlier Jameses."* It is thus seen that historical testimony in part neutralizes itself. One alleges that the climate of Europe has become more rigorous, asserting, by way of evidenee, that grain and fruit will no longer come to perfec- tion in regions in which they formerly flourished and were perhaps indigenous; while another maintains the contrary, affirming that plants are now cultivated in the north of Italy, which formerly could not be preserved during the winter. Cultivation of the soil, so far from meli- orating the climate of England and Scotland, has exerted, as may be inferred from the facts stated, an opposite tendency. In viewing the contradictory statements made in reference to these early periods, it must be borne in mind that the thermometer is a comparatively modern instrument, invented by the celebrated Sanctoiio in 1590 ; but still left so imperfect, that it was not till the year 1721 that Fahrenheit suc- ceeded in improving it sufficiently to warrant a comparison of observa- tions. The want of exact instrumental observations prior to the com- * These historical facts are taken chiefly from a curious book ty Foster on " Atmospheric Phenomena." 42 THE NEW WORLD. Meteorology, mencement of agricultural improvements, therefore, renders it imprac ticable to determine with any degree of precision, what changes may have been effected through these causes, in the mean annual tempera- ture or in that of particular seasons. Tt is not surprising that one should hear continual complaints of the altered condition of the season^ cap^cially from elderly persons, in whom the bodily frame has become more susceptible to the impressions of cold ; but similar lamentations, like the prevalent notion that men in general were taller in the earlier ages of the world, have been repeated by the j>oets and the vulgar from time immemorial". That the vine will no longer thrive in many parts of England in which it formerly flourished, may be readily explained upon the ground of the influence of situation upon agricidture, as pointed out already. It is probable that the mere removal of extensive forests, which act as natural shelters to vegetation, may cause such a degree of exposure as to render the locality no longer suited to the culture of plants, to which it was pre- viously well adapted. Besides, this same cause will have an influence upon the fall of the fertilizing rains. Moreover, it is not improbable that the vines grown in ancient times were coarser and more hardy plants than those now cultivated; for it is a well known fact that the charac- ter of the vegetable tribes is softened and rendered more delicate, by a succession of diligent cultures, while the flavor of the fruit is, at the same time, heightened. As wine was the accustomed beverage of the Roman soldiers stationed in Britain, it woula naturally be supposed that they would prefer it, however poor and harsh, to the unpalatable ale brewed by the rude arts of the natives. All observations then, thus far, confirm the belief in the general sta- bility of climates. As regards the seasons, it will be shown, however, that in countries covered with dense forests, the winters are longer and more uniform than in dry, cultivated, regions, and that in summer, the mean temperature of the latter is higher. Hence, in regard to the opi- nion generally entertained, that the climate of Europe has been very much meliorated since the days of Julius Caesar, it is clearly apparent, from the foregoing facts, that it is far from being sustained by evidence sufficient to enforce conviction. But, at the same time, while it is obvious lhat no material change has taken place, for the last 2000 years, in the climate of Europe, the conjecture that it has gradually acquired rather a milder character, or at least that its excessive severity seems on the whole to occur less frequently, appears to be warranted. Although the mean temperatures, as has been ascertained by instru- mental observations, vary from one another irregularly, either a few degrees above or below the absolute mean temperature of the place ; yet it has not been found that the temperature of a locality undergoes changes in any ratio of progression. At the same time, this series of atmospheric changes, however complicated and perplexing, there is good reason to believe, is as determinate in its nature as the revolutions of the celestial bodies. When, however, the science of meteorology shall become more advanced, we shall doubtless discover that these apparent perturbations of annual temperatures are real oscillations- vast cycles, which will enable us to predict, no doubt with sonrw de- gree of certainty, the condition of future seasons. The period of these cycles are to us yet wholly unknown. Various conjectures on the subject have, however, been made. " The interme- diate period of nine years, or the semi-revolution nearly of the lunar nodes and apogee, proposed by Toaldo, seems not to be altogether desti- tute of foundation. Thus, of the yeare remarkably cold, 1622 was suc- ceeded, after the interval of four periods or 36 years, by 165% whose se- verity lasted through the following years. The same interval brings us to 1695, and five periods more extend to 1740,—a very famous cold year: three periods now come down to 1767, nine years more to 1776, and eighteen years more to 1794, the cold continuing through 1795. Of the hot years it may be observed, that four periods of nine years extend from 1616 to 1652, and three such again to 1679. From 1701 to 1718 there was an interval of seventeen years, or very nearly two periods, while three periods reach to 1745, another period to 1754, and one more falls on 1763; and from 1779 to 1788, there are just nine years. The year 1818 would therefore correspond to 1701,1719, and 1746, and con- sequently very nearly to 1718. Again, the years 1784, 1793,1802, and 1811, at the intervals of successive periods, were all of them remarkably j^warm. A cycle of 54 years, including therefore six of these subordinate periods, has lately been proposed with much confidence, but apparently on slender grounds."—Nairativc of Discovery and Adventure in the Polar Seas and Regions. By Professor Leslie, Professor Jameson, and Hugh Murray, Esq. F. R. S. E. Subsection 3—Does the climate of our Northwestern frontier resemble that of the Eastern States on their first settlement?—The affirmalivs maintained by Jefferson, Volney, Rush, and Williams__Cultivation causes no change in the mean annual temperature, but the distribution of heat among the seasons may be so modified as greatly to influence vegetation.—Comparison of of thermometrical results, in our own country, at considerable intervals of lime.— The supposition of Malle-Brun, that the climate of England, France, and Ger- many, twenty centuries ago, resembled the present condition of Canada and Chinese Tartary, unreasonable.—The region of Oregon in a state of nature even milder lhaD highly cultivated Europe, while China, which has been under culti- vation from time immemorial, is even more rigorous than the United States. Changes of climate in the New World also are alleged to have super- vened. This opinion is maintained by Jefferson, Volney, Rush, and Williams, the historian of Vermont. Mr. Jefferson, in his Notes on Virginia, makes the following observation:—" A change in our climate, however, is taking place very sensibly. Both heats and colds are be- coming much more moderate within the memory of even the middle- aged. Snows are less frequent and less deep; they do not lie below the mountains more than one. two, or three days, and very rarely a week. They are remembered to have been formerly frequent, deep, and of long continuance. The elderly inform me that the earth used to be covered with snow about three months in every year. The rivers which seldom failed to freeze over in the course of the winter, scarcely ever do so now. This change has produced an unfortunate fluctuation between heat aRd cold in the spring of the year, which is very fatal to fruits." Upon this subject, Dr. Rush remarks—" From the accounts which have been handed down to us by our ancestors, there is reason to be- lieve that the climate of Pennsylvania h»6 undergone a material change. * * * The springs are much colder, and the autumns more temper- ate, insomuch that cattle are not housed so soon by one month, as they [ were in former years * * * Rivers freeze later, and do not remain , so long covered with ice." j By Williams, the historian of Vermont, the following observations are I made:—" When our ancestors came to New England, the seasons and i the weather were uniform and regular; the winter set in about the end | of November, and continued till the middle of February. During this [ period, a cold, dry. and clear atmosphere prevailed, with little varia- tion. Winter ended with the month of February: and when spring eame, it came at once, without our sudden and repeated variations from cold to h«at, and from heat to cold. The summer was suffocatingly hot; but it was confined. to the space of six weeks. Autumn began with September, and the whole of the harvest was got in by the end of that month. The state of things is now very different in (he part of New England inhabited since that time : the seasons are totally altered; the weather is infinitely more changeable ; the winter isgrown shorter, and interrupted by great and sudden thaws. Spring bow offers us a per- petual fluctuation from cold to hot and from hot to cold, extremely in- jurious to vegetation: the heat of summer is less intense, but of longer continuance: autumn begins and ends later, and the harvest is not finished before the first week in November; in fine, winter does not display its severity before the end of December" These opinions were quoted, more than forty years ago, by the cele- brated Volney, in his " View of the Climate and Soil of the United States of America," to show»that this climate, like that of Europe, grows more mild in proportion to the extent of cultivation. Now, ad- mitting that such a change has occurred in the European climate, it were no easy matter to determine this question in respect to our own country by reference to these quotations. Instead of confirming, they may be just as aptly cited to disprove his position ; for, it is remarked by Jefferson that the change " is very fatal to fruits," and by Williams, that his "extremely injurious to all vegetation." It has been further asserted, after the loese manner of the foregoing quotations, that on comparing the results of recent observations on our frontier with the best authenticated accounts we have of the climate of the Eastern states in their early settlement, a close similitude is found. The winters, it is said, have grown less cold and the summers less warm—consequences, which are ascribed to the clearng of the forest and the cultivation of the soil. That the climate of the great lakes resembles that of the sea-coast is very apparent: but that the region intermediate or the one beyond, ever maintained such a relation, is an assumption contrary to the laws of nature. Dense forests and all growing vegetables, doubtless tendflbnsiderably to diminish the temperature of summer, by affording evaporation from the surface of their leaves, and preventing the calorific rays from reach- ing the ground. It is a fact equally well known that snow lies longer in forests than on plains, because, in the former locality, it is less exposed to the action of the sun; and hence, the winters, in former years, may have been longer and more uniform. As the clearing away of the forest, causes the waters to evaporate and the soil to become dry, some increase in the mean summer temperature, diametrically contrary to the opinion of Jefferson and others, necessarily follows. It is remarked by Umfreville that, at Hudson's Bay, the ground in open places thaws to the depth of four feet, and in the woods to the depth only of two. Moreover, it has been determined by thermometrical experiments that the temperature of the forest, at the distance of twelve inches below the surface of the earth, is, compared with an adjacent open field, at least 10° lower, during the summer months; while no difference is observable during the season of winter. " The mere effect of cultivation," as Dr. Traill very correctly ob- serves, "can never be very considerable in changing a climate ; " but, although cultivation of the soil may not be productive of a f ensible change in the mean annual temperature, yet such a modification in the distribution of heat among the seasons may be produced, as will greatly influence vegetation. Although upon all subjects connected with natural phenomena, there is no higher authority than Charles Lyell, Esq , yet his unqualified deci- sion of this question, as exhibited in the following quotation fr»m his j Principles of Geology," is unsustained by any well observed facts:— " In the United States of North America, it is unquestionable that the rapid clearing of the country has rendered the winters less severe, and the summers less hot; in other words, the extreme temperatures of Jan- uary and July have been observed from year to year, to approach nearer to each other. Whether in this case, or in France, the mean temperature has been raised, seems by no means as yet decided : but there is no doubt that the climate has become, as Buffbn would have said, ' less excessive.'" As heat and cold applied to our senses are only relative terms, it fol- lows that nothing short of thermometrical data will serve to deter- mine the question of change of climate. In elucidation of this point, the following table, which gives a comparative view of the temperature at Philadelphia and at Salem, Massachusetts, at intervals of many years, is presented:— Philadelphia. Mean'Extreme raDgr Lat. 39° 57'. Lon. 75° H'-.Temp. Thermometer. Mean Temperature of the Spngons. 1771, 1772, and 1775, 1798, 1799, and 1800, 1822, 1823, and 1824, 1758, '9,1767, to 1777, 1829, to 1838, ,52.°72 '53. 92 54. 90 52 36 |51. 39 Saleji, Mass. | Lat. 42° 34'. Loh. 70° 54' 7 years from 1786 to 1793;47.°92 1793 to 1800 49. 49 — 7:103 32. 1800 to 1807 1807 to 1814 1814 to 1819 Mfan of 33 vears. |48 ril 49. 79 48. 22 47. 65 87 134 O06t50.°cfc 91 33. 0252. 44 — 3 ll 94tj34 93 31. 2352. 07J49. 4349. 71°te 75. 03 1176. 16 89|72. 23 60|70 83 54°32 55. 21 59. 10 54. 17 53. 70 0969 3071 96 99 99 100 101 101 |—11J112 128. 09|4S. fl7>T» 77 —111107 ;29. 21146 —HillO |28. 0047 — 3 102 129. 7346. 71 — 7(107 27. 68i45. 11 42 57 70. 69 70 1-111112 25. 85:44. 64:68 45 51 31 The first ihree results at Philadelph a, which give ihe temperature at Meteorology. THE NEW WORLD 43 intervals of about a quarter of a century, slnw. contrary to the opinion of Jefferson, that " both heats and colds have become moderate," that the winters have become colder an*' the summers hotter, while the mean annual temperature and the lange of the thermometer, exhi- bit a successive increase. Having recently gained access to more extensive data in the Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, vol. vi., new series, the comparison has been extended. The results of the thirteen years commencing with 1758, compared with the ten years beginning with 1829, confirm the previous inference as regards diminution of winter temperature; but instead of a successive increase in the means of spring, summer, autumn, and the whole year, as by the former comparison, there is here a decrease in all. All towns are observed to grow warmer, in proportion as they extend their limits; as, for instance, London compared with its environs, gives an annual tem- perature of 1°58 greater,—a law observed in all the seasons. Henee the successive increase at Philadelphia, in the first three comparisons. in the mean annual temperature and in that of spring, summer, and autumn, might be referred to its rapid growth ; but when we find an undeviating decline in the mean temperature ot winter, in every com- parison, notwithstanding the extension of the city limits, the inference that it is due to a general diminution in the winter temperature throughout the country, seems to be warranted. The observations made at Salem, Massachusetts,—a point free from any agency which a large town may exercise, show a most remarka- ble uniformity in the seasons during a period of thirty-three years. These observations, which were noted by the venerable Dr. Holyoke, have been transcribed from the original manuscript. The first four series give each a mean of seven years, and the last an average of five years. These observations, notwithstanding the rapid agricultural im- provement of this region, show no permanent change of climate and very little variation in the same season. In regard to this table, it mav be added that the results confirm all the laws established in the prece- ding pages in reference to the difference between the mean temperature of winter and summer, between winter and spring, and between the warmest and coldest month, as well as the mean annual range of the thermometer. Compared with similar latitudes remote from the agency of large bodies of water, the contrasts are very marked. It is thus apparent that the opinion that the climate of the States bor- dering the Atlantic on their first settlement, resembled that now exhib- ited by Fort Snelling and Council Bluffs, is wholly gratuitous and un- sustained by facts. No accurate thermometrical observations yet made in any part of the world, as already remarked, warrant the conclusion that the temperature of a locality undergoes changes in any ratio of progression ; but conversely, as all facts tend to establish the position that climates are stable, we are led to believe that the changes or per- turbations of temperature to which a locality is subject, are produced by some regular oscillations, the periods of which are to us unknown. That climates are susceptible of melioration by the extensive changes produced on the surface of the earth by the labors of man, has been pointed out already; but these effects are extremely subordinate, com- pared with the modification induced by the striking features of physical geography—the ocean, lakes, mountains, the opposite coasts of conti- nents, and their prolongation and enlargement toward the poles. But even Malte-Brun has ventured the assertion, that " France, Ger- many, and England, not more than twenty centuries ago, resembled Canada and Chinese Tartary—countries situated, as well as our Europe, at a mean distance between the equator and the pole." This illustra- tion is certainly very unhappy ; for, rejecting the pretended antiquity of the Chinese—the fables in relation to'Fohi and Hoang-Ti, the former of whom, we are told, founded the empire of China about five thoasand years ago, we must, with Malte-Brun. date its origin at least eight or nine centuries before Christ. China should, therefore, possess a milder climate than Europe, inasmuch as agriculture is represented to have been always in the most flourishing condition. As the practice of fal- j lowing is unknown, almost the whole arable land is constantly tilled, I and even the steepest mountains, cut into terraces, are brought under cultivation. Now, as this country still presents a climate as austere as that of Canada in the same latitudes, the conclusion is irresistible, that in proportion as the leading physical characters of a region are immu- table in their nature, does error pervade the remark of Malte-Brun— " That vanquished nature yields its empire to man, who thus creates a country for himself." A partial view of this question, indeed, not unfrequently lea'ds to the most unwarranted conclusions. Any changes in the climate of the United States as yet perceived, are very far from justifying the sanguine calculations indulged in, a few years ago, by a writer* whose observa- tions upon many other points are very valuable. "But there will doubtless be," he says, " an amelioration in'this par- ticular, when Canada and the U. S. shall become thickly peopled and generally cultivated. In this latitude, then, like the same parallels in Europe at present, snow and ice will become rare phenomena, and the orange, the olive, and other vegetables of the same class, now strangers to the soil, will become objects of the labor and solicitude of the agriculturist." The fallacy of the opinion which ascribes the mild climate of Europe to the influence of agricultural improvement, becomes at once apparent, when it is considered that the region of Oregon, lying west of the Rocky Mountains, which continues in a state of primitive nature, has a climate even milder than that of highly cultivated Europe in similar latitudes; and again, China, situated like the United Stateson the eastern coast ol a continent, though subjected to cultivation for several thousand years, possesses a climate as rigorous, and some assert even more so, than that of the United States proper on similar paiallels. Subsection 3. Is the Climate west or the Alleghanies milder by 3° of latitude than that east .'—The affirmative maintained by Volney and Jeffer- son, but this opinion proved to be a premature deduction, arisiiig from the cir- cumstance that different systems of climate are presented on the same parallel. In regard to the region west of the Alleghanies, the opinion wasearly entertained that the climate is milder than that of the district east. Mr. Jefferson estimated the difference equivalent to 3° of latitude, as simi- lar vegetable productions are fouad so many degrees farther north. These phenomena, M. Volney ascribed to the influence of the south- west winds, which carry the warm air of the Gulf of Mexico up the val- ley of the Mississippi. As North America has two mountain chains. extending from northwest to southeast, nearly parallel to the coasts, and forming almost equal angles with the meridian, Humboldt endeavored to explain the migration of vegetables toward the north, by the form and direction of this great valley which opens from the north to the south ; while the Atlantic coast presents valleys of a transverse direction, which opposes great obstacles to the passage of plants from one valley to another. The tropical current or trade-wind, it is said, deflected by the Mexican elevations, enters the great basin of the Mississippi and sweeps over the extensive country lying east of the Rocky Mountains; and that when this current continues for some days, such extraordinary heat pre- vails even through the basin of the St. Lawrence, that the thermometer at Montreal sometimes rises to 98° of Fahr. In winter, on the contrary, when the locality of this great circuit is changed to more southern lati- tudes, succeeded by the cold winds which sweep across the continent from the Rocky Mountains or descend from high latitudes, this region becomes subject to all the rigors of a Siberian winter. Upon the fallacy of these views it is deemed unnecessary to dilate. It is proved by thermometrical data that the climate west of the Alle- ghany is more excessive than that on the Atlantic side—a condition that would seem unfriendly to the migration of plants. Thus Jefferson Bar- racks, on the Mississippi, exhibits a.greater contrast in the seasons than Washington city; and the same is true in regard to Fort Gibson and Fort Monroe, notwithstanding the former is 1° 32' farther south. That the climate of the peninsula of Michigan encompassed by ocean-lakes, should prove genial to plants that will not flourish in the same latitudes in the interior of New York, is, indeed, consonant with the laws of na- ture ; and hence the facts set forth in the following extract from a letter to Sir Humphrey Davy by Chancellor De Witt of New York, are, so far from being extraordinary, merely in conformity to the laws of climate developed in the preceding pages:—"There is evidently a considerable difference between the climates of the eastern and western parts of our stale. The Cayuga and Seneca lakes are situated about 150 miles in a direct line west ef Hudson's river, and each is nearly 40 miles long and from one to three and a half miles wide, both having their centres very nearly in the latitude of Albany, and yet they have hardly ever been known to be frozen over, excepting at their extreme ends, while Hud- son's river never fails being frozen, commonly for two or three months in the year, for many miles to the south of Albany, not unfrequently to the distance of 100 miles, so as to bear the travelling of horses and car- riages on it. While peaches and nectarines are raised here with some difficulty, they flourish nowhere better than in the western part of our State." As the author has found the opinions of M. Volney, as well as those of Rush and Jefferson, quoted as oracular in every work professing to treat of our climate, it may not be amL-s to examine this subject a little more in detail. Thi3 French philosopher had the singularly bad fortune of adopting th- errors of Dr. Rush and Mr. Jefferson. For ex- ample, according to the former, as we recede from the ocean into the interior of Pennsylvania, " the heat in summer is less intense,"—a phe- nomenon contrary to every law of nature, unless reference was had to the Alleghany elevations; and, in accordance with the latter, the climate be- comes colder as we proceed westward on the same parallel until the sum- mit of the Alleghany is attained, when this law is reversed until we reach the Mississippi, where it is even warmer than the same latitude on the sea- board. This theory, by the way, is based upon the testimony of travel- lers ; and 'their testimony," says Jefferson, "is strengthened by the vegetables and animals which subsist and multiply there naturally, and do not on our sea-board." " As a traveller," adds Volney, " I can con- firm and enlarge upon the assertion of Mr. Jefferson;" and in regard to the temperature of the regions lying east and west of the Alleghanies he concurs in the opinion, " that there is a general and uniform difference equivalent to 3° degrees of latitude in favor of the basin of the Ohio and the Mississippi." This conclusion, which is not deduced from ther- mometrical data, rests, it will be observed, upon the phenomena of tem- perature and of vegetation exhibited in the region of the great lakes ,u ,In as,h,15h up as Nia§ara," he continues, "it is still so temperate hat the cold doesnot continue with any severity more than two months though this is the most elevated point of the great platform—a circum- stance totally inconsistent with the law of elevations." He proceeds to say that this climate does not correspond with similar parallels in Ver- mont and New Hampshire," but rather with the climate of Philadel- phia, 3° farther south * * * At Albany, no month of the year is exempt from frost, and neither peaches nor cherries will ripen " The influence of the great lakes in modifying temperature has been already so abundantly demonstrated, that further illustration is deemed supere- rogatory. The phenomena observed by Volney are truly facts; but the eauses being unknown, the theory in regard to the difference of tem- perature east and west of the Alleghanies, was naturally suggested In- steado. dedueipggreneiMllaws from universal facts, this theory of Volney and Jefferson, as will be most conclusively demonstrated, was how- ever, a premature deduction—the result of hasty and partial generaliza- tion. Th-e difference of climate, according to Volney, is not discovered *Rernarks on the Climate and Vegetation of the fortieth degree of North latitude. By Richard Sexton, M. D., in vol, 5, American Journal of the Medical Sciences. ing degree. This remark expresses only a partial truth; for this modi- tied temperature is found along the whole course of the great lakes whereas proceed in any other direction, north or south, cast or west' and you discover the seasons more strongly contrasted. " It is evident r ?' *n c?ntinues. "^at beyond a certain latitude the climate west of the Alleghanies is not less cold than its parallels on the east; and this atitude, the mean term of which appears to be about 44° or 45°, taking for its limits the great lakes, and more particularly the chain of the Cana- dian or Algonquin mountains, from this very circumstance, confines the hot climate of the western country to a space of 9° or 10°, wliich is sur- rounded on three sides by mountains." M. Volney next enters upon an extended investigation of the system of winds in the United States; and the ignorance of this celebrated tra- veller in thus attempting to explain the meteorological phenomena pecu- liar to the region of the great lakes, shows how little was known forty 44 THE NEW WORLD. Meteorology. years ago of the Uws of meteorology. In reference to the Trans-Alle- mer, will perish in the latter; for while the mean temperature of the ghany region, he thus remark?:—"I think I have clearly demonstrated coldest month at Fort Trumbull is only 34° 50, at Council Blufls it is that the south-west wind of the United States is nothing but the trade- 22° 61. This is also demonstrated t>\ the average annual minimum tem- wind of the tropics turned out of its direction and modified, and that perature, that of the former being 9t. and that of the latler—16° ; and consequently the airof the Western Countryisthe same asthat of the Gulf i equally ?o by the minimum temperature of the winter months, that of ef Mexico, and previously of the West Indies, conveyed to Kentucky. December, January, and February being at Fort Trumbull respectively From this datum flows a natural and simple solution of the problem, 20°, 10°, and 16°, and at Council'Bluffs—4°,—13°, and —11°. On the which at first must have appeared perplexing, why the temperature of the other hand, it will be found that the vegetables which can endure the Western Country ishotter by 3° of latitude than that of the Atlantic coast, rigorous climate of Council Bluffs, will flourish more vigorously thanin though only sep irated from it by the Alleghany mountains. The reasons the region of Connecticut; for at the former, the vernal increase is of this are so palpable that it would only be wearying the reader to give i 27°.47, and at the latter only 11°.07. Moreover, the latter increase is them Another consequence of this datum is, that the south-west winds| added to a winter temperature of ;59c 33; while the former, added to being the cause of a higher temperature, it will extend the sphere of this! 24°.47, more than doubles itself, the influence of which upon the sudden temperature so much the farther, thejrreater the facility with which it ^development of vegetation has been already pointed out. These rela- tions, as developed in the tabular abstracts appended to the author's work on "The Climate of the United States, and its Endemic Influences," might be traced out much further. At Council Bluffs, the extreme of temperature in summer is also much greater than at Fort Trumbull, the mean maximum of the former being 104°, and of the latter 87°, and con- sequently the average annual range stands respectively as 120° to 78°. In addition to these facts, it may be observed that so far as elevation is concerned, that of the Lakes being 600 feet and that of Albany only 130 feet above the sea, the advantage of the comparison is, at first view, on plex theory of the winds. All thermometrical results confirm the law; i the side of the latter; but this gradual elevation, it has been shown, ex- that in proportion as we recede from the ocean or inland seas, the cli-| ierts no perceptible iufluence. mate grows more excessive ; and that the meteorological phenomena of 11 The following extract from Murray's Encyclopaedia of Geography is the region of the great lakes do not arise from the agency of tropical: peculiarly in point:— winds, is apparent from the single fact, that the winters are several i « Powerful summer heats are capable of causing trees and shrubs to degrses warmer, and the summers at least ten degrees cooler, as regards;! endure the most trying effects of cold in the ensuing winter, as we find the mean temperature of these seasons, than positions one hundred j ,m innumerable instances ; and vice versa. Hence, in Great Britain, so miles distant, notwithstanding on the same parallel or even directly'many vegetables, fruit-trees in particular.for want of a sufficiently pow. can pervade the country ; and this affords a very favorable presage for the parts that lie in its way, and are exposed to its influence, namely those in the vicinity of Lakes Erie and Ontario, and even all the basin of the river .St. Lawrence, into which the south-west wind penetrates " Now these are the opinions still maintained at the present day, to account for the supposed fact of the higher temperature of our tramon- tane region. It is a good rule in philosophy to ascertain the truth of a fact before attempting its explanation,—a truism, the observance of which would have saved M. Volney the labor of constructing his com south, and consequently equally exposed to the current from the Gulf of Mexico. Volney's theory, in truth, bears a contradiction upon its own face ; for, while he ascribes the modified climate of the lakes to the agency of tropical winds, he admits that the intermediate country tra- versed by these winds has a much more rigorous climate. The influence of predominant winds is manifest, however, throughout the United States; for, one prevailing wind, the southwest, blows from a warm sea,—another, the northeast, from a frigid ocean,—and a third, the northwest, from frozen deserts. The modification in the climate of the valley of the Mississippi, whatever may be its degree, arises from the combined agency of the Gulf of Mexico and the great lakes: for if land were substituted for erful sun in summer, are affected by our comparatively moderate frosts in winter; while upon continents in the same degree of latitude, the same trees arrive at the highest degree of perfection." This examination into the opinions of Volney and Jefferson would not have been deemed necessary, did those who so freely quote their wri- tings state the collateral fact, that much of the evidence upon which theirtheory is based, consists of the casual observations of travellers. CONCLUSION. In concluding the subject of Climatology, it is scarcejy necessary to « . »■ ,u„ i .. . ,(w™ i wu . ,jl*iea Ior I advert to the topic of the ancient climates of the earth prior to the pres- tlwawa of the latter, (93,000 square miles,) that region would become ; ent epoch> as ^ subject wi„ be found ably treated ^ the follo£inc so far as the social state of man is concerned, scarcely habitable. This is well illustrated in Lyell's Geology, in which are given maps of the world, showing that change in the position of land and sea might pro- duce the extremes of heat and cold in the climates of the globe, though chapter by the author's friend, Charles A. Lee, M. D. As any chanje in the present relation of the earth's surface would in- duce a corresponding alteration of climate, followed by modifications side again into the sea, from which they have been raised, and that an among geologists that the earth's surface has experienced great varia- tions of climate since the deposition of the older sedimentary strata; but as a few thousand years are insufficient, except by a violent con- the greater part of Europe would be somewhat lowered, so as to resem ments upon that which has for ages been his patrimony. Of the superficies of the earth, seven-tenths are covered with water. ble more nearly that of corresponding latitudes of North America: or, The rf" T'rl n thn^r^Zw nl ,„ in other wordsf it might be necessary to travel about 10° farther south ™e d7 land in the northern hemisphere compared with. that of the in order to meet with the same climate that we now enjoy. No com- i*"ft™. *cc° dm* o Humboldt stands ini th te ratio of three to one, pensation would be derived from the disappearance of land in the Med-, 5j£ J? J?°J ™thout \he ,troPJcs af th]*Vecn }°,one* *j9 .evid£nt 'hat terranean countries; but the contrary, s nee the moan heat of the soil! *" "'?"°" Jf^en. land and water has not always existed The pre- in those latitudes is probably far abovT'that which would belong to the 1^£°^5 ««P^^ upon the surface of the globe were at some period beneath the surface of 'the sea. As our present continents with their most elevated mountains were formed at the bottom of the ocean, the science of geology con- duces us through a vast series of submarine deposits, five or six miles in depth, abounding with the remains of plants and animals, representing not only the types of successive generation s^'ut of successively crea- ted races each group of strata having its peculiar group of organic re- mains. Hence the earth's strata corresponding to the different periods of its history, may be regarded as a cnronological table—a volume of history in which the strata constitute the leaves, upon which ts written the climatic character of each period, as determined by the character- istics of the plants and animals which then lived and flourished. Thus we have an indication in the calcareous formations of our own country, as for example in New Jersey, that formerly the climate was much warmer than now; for these rocks are composed in great part of corals and shells, consisting both of extinct species and ef genera now living in . the tropical seas. As these stone-buildings zoophytes are, at the present direct rays of the sun, or receives the diffuse light of a foggy atmos-Mday, mostly confined within 20° north and south of the equator (the phere. On these causes depend in a great degree, those contrasts of ; Bermuda Islands, at the distance of 30°, which arc warmed by the vegetable life observed in islands, in the interior of continents, in Gulf-stream, being only an apparent exeception,) the opinion that north- plains, and on the summits of mountains. As the region of the great , ern latitudes had at some remote epoch a much warmer climate than lakes does not exhibit a greater contrast in the opposite seasons than 'now, is justly warranted. that of Philadelphia, it follows that plants which, from not being adapted | During the formation of the older strata, a tropical, if not an ultra- :. The vegeta- example, show y different from the present, existed. Many of the fossils found are different from any plants will not flourish on the same parallels in the interior of New York, 'plants now known, being mostly of the cryptogamous class, including ir...MA«« nn/4 Man* UI r» rv*r*£»Hird tho fhpnru in rflornM t/-» tit a H iff«ronno !__1________./_ r • .• J ■ *i ^ * r- .'. . ° sea, by which we imagne it to be replaced. The opinion that the climate west of the Alleghany range is milder by 3° of latitude than that east,—an opinion quoted generally by wri- ters as an established fact,—arose from the circumstance that the United States present on the same parallel different systems of climate—causes upon which the geographical distribution of plants mainly depend. In reference to the organic life of plants, it is well known that to some entirely different constitutions of the atmosphere are adapted. Inrespect \ to the culture of vegetables, it is necessary to keep in view three objects, j — the mean temperature of the summer, that of the warmest month, and that ot the coldest month; for some plants indifferent to high sum- mer temperature, can lot endure the rigors of winter; others, slightly j sensible to low temperature, re mire very warm but not long summers;! while to others, a continuous rather than a very warm summer seems I best adapted. The development of vegetation in the same mean tern-] perature, is also retarded or accelerated, according as it is struck by the Vermont, and New Hampshire, the theory in regard to the difference of temperature, east and we3t of the Alleghanies, was naturally sug- gested If, however, these philosophers had chanced to observe the vegetation, by way of comparison, along the coast of Rhode Island or Connecticut, and on the same parallel in Illinois or farther westward, j instead of comparing the region of the lakes and Albany, the world I would, of course, have been edified with the opposite theory, viz., thatj the climate east ot the Alleghanies is milder by 3° of latitude than that west. While at Fort Trumbull. Connecticut, the mean winter temper- ature is 39°.33, at Council Bluff* it is as low as 24°.47. Hence plants feasible to a low temperature, which flourish in the climate ol the for-' arborescent ferns of gigantic growth, all peculiar to tropical, or rather ultra-tropical, regions. Vegetables pertaining to families which are now mere herbs, attained at this epoch the dimensions of the largest trees. At Wilkesbarre. Pennsylvania, fem leaves more than four feet across have been found. And "in the basins of London and Paris, the fossil flora consists of palms, spice-bearing laurels, and other plants, from which the existence in those now temperate latitudes, of a tropical cli- mate, is obviously manifested. Then, all England, save her mountain- chains, wliich formed a cluster of spice islands, haunted by the croco- * The recent discovery of an Antarctic Continent modifies this relation. Meteorology. THE NEW WORLD 45- dile, was yet beneath the waves; and then, on the spots where now ex- ist he/ sea-ports, crowded with the flag of every nation, no sail was spread to the breeze, save that of the Nautilus of the tropics ! In regard to the coal-mines of Bohemia,, the following eloquent lan- guage is used by Dr. Buckland:—" The most elaborate imitations of living foliage on the painted ceilings of Italian palaces, bear no com- parison with the beautiful profusion of extinct vegetable forms with which the galleries of these instructive coal mines are overhung. The roof is covered as with a canopy of gorgeous tapestry enriched with festoons of most graceful foliage, flung in wild, irregular profusion over every portion of its surface. The effect is heightened by the contrast of the coal-black color of these vegetables, with the light ground work of the rock to vt hich they are attached. The spectator feels trans- ported as if by enchantment, into the forests of another world; he be- holds trees of form and character, now unknown upon the surface of the earth, presented to his senses almost in the beauty and vigor of their primeval life ; their scaly stems and bending brances, with their deli- cate apparatus of foliage, are all spread before him, little impaired by the lapse of indefinite ages, and bearing faithful records of distinct sys- tems of vegetation, which began and terminated in times of which these relics are the mfallible'historians. Such are the grand natural her- baria wherein these most ancient remains of the vegetable kingdom are preserved in a state of integrity little short of their living perfection, under conditions of oar planet v/hich exist no more." In reference to the hot climates of our northern latitudes producing the aborescent ferns, it is maintained by Lyell that mere change in the position of the land and sea of our globe, without altering their present shape and dimensions, would cause the extremes of heat and cold in climates now habitable. Hence he regards the circumstance of a pre- ponderance of land in the equatorial regions, and ot ocean toward the poles, as amply sufficient to explain the existence in northern latitudes of fossil remains, consisting mostly of genera now confined to warmer regions. In the production of these effects, other geologists, however, regard mere difference in the distribution of land and water as inade- quate. These various opinions will be fully noticed in the following chapter. Hence, in surveying the physical revolutions by which our mountains have been upheaved, thus unfolding page after page of this great book, containing the wondrous records of the changes which our globe has undergone, during a series of periods of long but unknown duration, before it was inhabited by man, the conclusion is obvious that there exists an inseparable relation between these successive groups of animal and vegetable fossil remains, each unlike all the others, found embedded at different depths, and the corresponding period of the earth's condition. As with every change in the state of the earth, we discover 'a corre- sponding change of organized bodies, we behold, as remarked in the In- troduction, proofs of Supreme Intelligence not only adapting mechanism to an end, but adjusting the mechanism to the altered conditions under which it was to exist. Thus, though all things visible are subject to change, yet they are the work of one invisible and eternal Being, " the same yesterday, to-day, and forever." Aye, even man, compared with the globe upon which he dwells, is but a creature of yesterday ; for hs- man remains have not been found in or below- the diluvial deposits in any part of Europe, nor have they yet been met with in the tertiary stra- ta of any other part of the world. How many of these groups have been successively created, or how long a period elapsed between the era of the creation of our globe and that of the formation of man, we know not,—opinions which do not necessarily conflict with the Mosaic account of our race, nor with the devotional homage due to the Creator— ----" Nor think though men were none. That Heaven would want spectators, G»d want praise ," but we cannot resist the solemn conviction that we tread upon the wrecks of anterior worlds—the monuments upon which ths hand of Time has engraven the history of this terraqueous globe ! CHAPTER III. On ANCIENT CLIMATES AS VIEWED IN THE LIGHT OF FOS- SIL GEOLOGY. BY CHARLES A. LEE, M.D. Chance, the order of nature.—Our northern zones, during early geological psriods, had a tropical climate, as proved by animal and vegetable fossil remains. —Successive changes ot organic life attended with coincident changes of pb»- Bical conditions.—Our northern latitudes, at one period, had a climate like that now existing within the tropics.—Theories relative to the causes of this ereat climalorial change. Every: object, either within or upon the surface of the earth we inhabit, bears the evidence of change. It would seem that there is nothing which meets our view, that is stable and stationary; all—all ar? either undergoing the process of renovation or decay; waxing or waning like the beautiful orb of night, the impressive emblem of human destiny. If we dig but a short distance beneath the surface of our soil, we find ourselves ranging in the empire of a dead kingdom, where subjects bear but slight analogy to the existing orders of living nature. Anomalous and extraordinary forms, once endowed with as strange and paradoxical functions, are disclosed to our wondering vision on every side; here, an animal somewhat resembling a sloth, with enormous arms and claws for suspending itself to gigantic trees, but of the size of the elephant; there, quadrupeds, bearing wings on their toss, or crocodiles furnished with fins, but no feet; and lizards of whale- like dimensions*—all quietly reposing in their dark cemeteries, uncon- scious of the new creation which flourishes above them. If we penetrate still farther, we find in every stage of our progress new proof of a diff-rent order of things, of a world, unlike our own, whose fashion has long since passed away. That the northern zones of the earth, during early geological periods, enjoyed a climate similar to that which prevails, at the present time. The remains of a Saurian or fossil lizard, dug from the eanh about six feet beneath the surface in Alabama, are now in this city. JThis extinct njonstcr measures 70 feet in length J between the tropics, no one can doubt who has made himself at all acquainted with the facts disclosed by fossil geology. From Melville's Island in north latitude 97°, down to the borders of Mexico, abun- dant remains of tropical vegetables, are found in all the coal-bear- ing strata, and evidently reposing in, or near their native place of growth. On the northwestern coast of Baffin's Bay, and within the Arctic circle, there are immense deposites of bituminous coal, asso- ciated with shale, bearing the distinct impressions of endogenous plants, of a larger growth than any now known to exist in tropical latitudes. In all these carboniferous or coal bearing strata, we find the most deli- cate forms of vegetable organic structure, relics of a former age, and a warmer clime, sealed up, and retaining in wonderful perfection their pristine elegance and beauty. These remains furnish us an abundance of proof that the flora of that era, consisted almost exclusively of large vascular cryptogamic plants. It is not unHsual, for example, to find among these relics, specimens of Equisetae or Horse-tail, ten feet high, and six inches in diameter; of tree-ferns, from 40 to 50 feet in heighth; and arborescent Lycopodiaceae from 60 to 70 feet high. " Of the above classes of vegetables," says Lyell, " the species are all small at present in cold climates; while in tropical regions there occur, together with small species, many of a much greater size ; but their developement: even in the hottest parts of the globe, is now inferior to that indicated by the petrified forms of the coal formation. An elevated and a uniform temperature, and great humidity in the air, are the causes most favor- able to their numencalpreponderance and the great size within the torrid zone at present." After a very full investigation of the geographical extent of the ancient vegetation, Mr. Brongniart has arrived at the conclusion, that it was not confined to a small space, as to Europe, for example, or even America, for the same species are met with at great distances and in different localities. Thus the carboniferous strata of North America, furnish the same genera, as those of New Holland, Asia and Europe, and the coal plants, from Greenland and Melville's Island, are identical with those of Pennsylvania and the valley of the Mississippi, as well as those of Europe. Can we, for a moment, suppose that the gigantic vegetation, thus dis- closed, could have flourished in such an ungenial climate, as charac- terizes the northern latitudes at the present day, or that they could have lived through an arctic night of several months duration 1 We put this question because we cannot doubt that whoever sees the present de- pendence of animal and vegetable life on temperature moisture, soil and other characters of physical geography, cannot hesitate to believe that certain combinations of physical conditions have always been connected with every system of organic life in the successive geological periods. No true philosopher will, indeed, regard these conditions as the cause of those systems of life, but consider them simply as adjusted pheno- mena, happening in a determined order as part of a general plan. "Some changes," says Philips, " in the constitution of the globe have brought in succession various combinations of the manifold influences of those chemical and mechanical agencies which govern inanimate nature; and which appears to be the order of God's Providence, that to these combinations the powers of each newly created system of life should correspond. The several successive systems of organic life which have been discovered in the earth, were, therefore, really successive creations, and must be expected to differ, in large and general charac- ters."—But to return to our question—Whether such a vegetation as the coal-beariug strata of the north disclose, is compatible with those condi- tions of heat, light, and moisture, which now characterize the same lati- tudes. Were this the case, we should doubtless find the same vegetation or one of similar luxuriance, abounding in the same region; but instead of this we meet with only a few stinted willows, larches, firs, &c, with an abundance of lichens, fungi, and mosses. Assuming that the extreme northern point to which a flora like that of the carboniferous era could reach, is somewhere between the lati- tudes of 65° and 90°, Mr. Lyell has asked, whether the vegetable re- mains might not have been drifted from thence, by rivers and currents, to the parallel of Melville Island, or still further. It is true that at the present day, we see the materials for future beds of lignite and coal be- coming amassed in high latitudes at a considerable distance from the place where the forests grew, and the Mackenzie and other rivers which empty into the Arctic Sea, carry along pines and other drift wood, many hundred miles into the northern ocean, where they are imbedded in deltas, or wafted towards the pole. There are two objections to this supposition, either of which ought to suffice to show that it is unsatis- factory. In the first place, the preservation of the plants themselves, retaining the distinct outline of the stems and leaves, with many deli- cate lines and streaks; the leaves themselves being attached to their branches, shew very conclusively, that they could not have been drifted to any great distance, or remained long immersed in water. In the next place, as we have already remarked, the plants either belong to extinct genera, or are different from those now found in similar latitudes. Though we need more precise information in relation to the fossils of the coal-bearing strata of high latitudes, yet we have sufficient to justify us m the conclusion, that at a former geological period, how remote no one can tell, the northern portion of our globe enjoyed a far higher tern. perature than it does at the present time. Further proof of the same fact is found in examining the fossil re- mams of hying species of marinw animals, and comparing them with those inhabiting our present seas and oceans. This comparison, as Mr Lyell well remarks, furnishes an accurate test, and enables us to sub- ject a theory of climate to the experimentum crucis. The same geolo- gist found that in Sicily, Ischia, and Calabria, where the fossil testacea of the more recent strata belong almost entirely to species now inhabit- ing the Mediterranean, the individuals in the inland deposits often ex- ceed m their average size their living analoguos, showing that the cir- cumstances under which they lived were more favorable to their deve- opment; and that they were identically the same species, is proved by the fact that living individuals precisely similar, still are met with in warmer latitudes attaining the average size of the fossils. Lyell found that out of several hundred different species of shells which he collected in Sicily, from 1000 to 3000 feet above the level of the sea, nearly all were identical with species now inhabiting the Neapolitan seas-'and moreover, that the relative abundance in which different specias occur m the strata and in the sea, corresponds in a remarkable manner. In 46 THE NEW WORLD Met EOROLOGY. general, however, the fossil species were much larger than the living, showing a higher temperature of the water they inhabited. As we go north, we find that although the fossil shells depart somewhat niore widely from ihe type of the neighboring seas, that still many are iden- tical with species now living in the Mediterranean—though the number no longer predominates. Shells gathered from the Sub-Appenine hills, although several degrees farther from the equator, stilj bear the indica- tions of a hotter climate. The fossil species and their analogues from tropical seas, correspond in size, while the same species from the Medi- terranean are diminutive and stunted in their growth, evidently from the want of those conditions found in tropical seas. That this proof is of a very satisfactory character there can be no doubt whatever, and as Mr. Lyell remarks, cannot be neutralized by any fact of conflicting charac- ter. Suppose for example, that the fossil species, from the coal-forma- tion of Melville Island, nave their living analogues ; we are to seek for them, not in the northern ocean, nor in the seas of the temperate lati- tudes, but between the tropics. Further, the fossils of the tertiary basins of Paris and London, indicate a warmer climate than those of Bordeaux, or the more modern strata of Sicily, although several de- grees further north, while those of Bordeaux afford satisfactory evidence that they lived in hotter seas, than those ot Sicily, seven degrees nearer the equator. These facts, and numerous others of a like kind, all point to a gradual refrigeration of climate. In addition to all this, it is a well known tact, that the limestone rocks, on which the carboniferous strata of northern latitudes repose, are themselves, composed of fossil corals and corallines, whose prototypes are at present met with only in the warm seas of tropical regions, show- ing conclusively, that even before the deposition of the coal formation, the waters of the polar ocean were adapted to the same forms of animal life as now inhabit the equatorial seas. Another fact, pointing to the same conclusion, relative to the former condition of the cumate of our earth, is the remains of extinct species of land quadrupeds, such as the elephant, rhinoceros, hippopotamus, hyena, lion, tiger, and other genera now chiefly confined to warmer regions, among the superficial deposits of sand, gravel, and loam, scattered over various parts of Europe, Asia, aud America. Especially the immense quantities of the bones <5f fossil elephants in northern Siberia, which have no marks of having been transported to a distance, attest the existence on its plains of these her- biverous animals at that remote period; thus demonstrating the exis- tence of a once flourishing vegetation in a country which now scarcely furnishes sufficient mess to supply the wants of a few half famished rein- deer. Pallas and other writers represent the bones of the mammoth as abounding throughout all the lowland of Siberia, extending from the borders of Europe to Behring's Straits, and from the base of the moun- tains of Central Asia to the shores of the Artcic Sea. Over this whole region occupying a space nearly as large as the whole of Europe, fossil ivory has been found, particularly on the banks of the rivers, where they present lofty precipicies of sand and clay. They, are sometimes found irnbeded in sand and gravel with marine remains, or mixed with fossilized wood, derived from carbonized peat. On the banks of the Yeni-Sey, in latitude 56°, Pallas found the tusks and bones of elephants in strata of yellow and red loam, with alternate deposites of coarse sand and gravel, containing the petrified wood of the willow and other trees, with layers of black coal. Still further to the north, in latitude 7lP as well as in numerous other places, he found the same bones mixed with marine petriaciions, such as sea-shells, and fishes teeth, in 1772 an entire carcass of a mammoth w*s discovered by Pallas on the banks of the Wiljuri, one of the tributaries of the-Lena, covered with sand, where it must have remained congealed for ages. Another en- tire carcass of a mammoth was found by Mr. Adams in 1803, much farther to the north, in latitude 70°, on the banks of the Lena. This skeleton is now in the museum of St. Petersburgh, and portions of the hair or bristles are to be seen in the collections of the Lyceum of Nat- ural History of New York. This individual was 9feet high and 16 feet long, without reckoning the large curved tusks, which is about the size of the largest living male elephants. So abundant are the fossil remains of the mammoth throughout Northern Russia, that it is computed by travellers that the bones still left in that region greatly exceeds in number all the elephants now living on the face of the globe. From the facts connected with the distribution of these fossil remains, Mr. Lyell draws ihe conclusion that a large region in Central Asia, in- cluding perhaps the southern half of Siberia, enjoyed, at no very remote period in the Earth's history, a temperate climate, sufficiently mild to afford food for large herds of elephants and rhinoceroses, of species dis- tinct from those now living. If we suppose that a vegetation capable of nourishing these great quadrupeds are furnished between the latitudes of 40 and 60°, resembling that of England, we may account perhaps satisfactorily for the remains of these animals imbedded in the banks of the rivers, as they all flow from south to north, the Yenesei being 2500, and the Lena 2000 miles in length. That the present vegetation be- tween these latitudes, to say nothing of the extreme cold of the winter months, is? not adapted to the existence of these animals, is too evident to need remark. As to the causes of their extermination it is perhaps usele.-s in the present state of our knowledge to speculate. That it has been brought about by changes in the physical geography of the Arctic region, causing a gradual refrigeration of climate, as maintained by Mr. Lyell, we are hardly prepared to believe ; and yet that it may have been connected with climatorial changes produced by other causes, we think highly probable, if not absolutely certain. There is, however, but little rr.ason to suppose that these animals, together with their com- panions, the rhinoceros, hippopotamus, and tapir, were overwhelmed by some sudden catastrophe, accompanied by an equally sudden change of climate, for we know of no cause, adequate to the production of such a catastrophe, at all reconcilable with the facts in the case. Besides the remains of fossil plants, of moluscous animals, and of gigantic quadrupeds, which are found in northern latitudes, and which testify to the existence of a former higher temperature in those regions. we might also speak of the fossil relics of the crocodile, the turtle, and tortoise, together with large shells of the genus nautilus, also testifying to the same fact. Of the numerous organized fossils entombed in the secondary rocks forming a vast portion of the North American conti nent, including the whole valley of the Mississippi, extending from the Alleghanies to the Rocky Mountains, and from the Gulf of Mexico to the northern lakes, if not to the Arctic Ocean, nearly all are of unknown species, and yet many are referable to genera and families now most ahundant between the tropics. Of these we need only allude to the most remarkable, such as the Megalosaurus and other gigantic reptiles some of them herbiverous, others carniverous, and far exceeding any now existing on the surface of the globe. Though the genera »re for the most part extinct, yet the crocodile and monitor, which inhabit the rivers and lakes of tropical climes, may still be considered their types or representatives. When we consider in addition to all this, that these secondary formations, even as far north as Baffin's Bay and Melville Island, are composed in a ?reat measure of fossil corals, the work of polyparia, which only inhabit equatorial seas, we shall need no further evidence that the former temperature of the higher latitudes on our globe was much greater than at present. Indeed (his is now admitted among the established inferences of geology, as deduced from tke evi- dence already given, though there is by no means a like unanimity of opinion with respect to the causes which have brought about so great a change. In maintaining such a doctrine, however, we by no means deny that other causes beside climate, limit the distribution of animal life. To show the absurdity of such an opinion, we have only to examine the animal and vegetable productions of New Holland and compare them with those of other countries situated in the same latitudes. It would be scarcely an exaggeration to say, that its quadrupeds, its birds, its insects, and even its vegetable productions are all new, the latter of but little use, and producing no esculent fruits,— although enjoying similar conditions of heat and moisture, with some of the most productive regions of ihe globe* When we j survey the gigantic tree-ferns, the Cycadrece Araucarice, Casuarince, and Orchidece of Australia; its corals and sponges; its trigonice \cerithiv.m and isocardia; its quadrupeds of the marsupial races simi- ! lar to those of the Stonesfield slate, and other remarkable peculiar- [ ities which might be mentioned, we cannot at least avoid a suspicion that the anomalous productions ef that region bear a striking resem- j blance to the primeval fauna and flora. But it requires no labored argument to prove, that such animals and vegetables require for their growth, far different conditions, as respects heat and moisture, than [ those which now prevail in high latitudes—though the fact itself is extremely curious, and should lead the geologist to examine further | analogies of a similar kind, as calculated to furnish important data for ascertaining the physical conditions of the globe. In the foregoing remarks, we have assumed the dependence of animal and vegetable life on climate, soil, and other characters of physical geography, heliev- ing that it will be conceded, that to every system of organic life, in every geological period, certain combinations of physical conditions necessarily belong. Such a belief does not require us to suppose that the creation of new, must always be accompanied by the destruction of •ill the old forms, since the constitution of different races, >s doubt- less equally adjusted to external circumstances. We see this fact illustrated in the existence of many species of molluscous animals. especially of the conchifera and cephalopoda during the deposition of all the great ranges of strata, from the primary down to the latest tertiary, even to the present day. Thus the Terebratula and the Nautilus, are found in every system of strata, and still abound. The producta flour- ished during the transition and carboniferous eras, but perished in the saliferous period: the spirifera was a cotemporary with the last, passing through the same periods, but ending in the oolitic: while the gastero- poda, and other generae, which came into existence during the tertiary period, still flourish, many perhaps, in equal abundance, in the waters of tropical sens. The same is true of articulated animals, fislies, reptiles, and various species of pachydermia- and ruminantia; arid it is curious to observe, how, as we rise in the scale* of organization, they become more sensibly dependent on physical conditions. If we go back in imagination to the age of reptiles, which was during the deposition of the oolitic and lias strata, we find that the rivers, the shores, and the land, abounded with Saurians of gigantic size, analogous to the [crocodile, lizard, arid turtle, and that, too, in latitudes far dis'ant from tropical climes. It is true we find a different organization, as for exam- ple in the plesiosaurus, and the iguanadon, and those still more wonder- ful animals, the pterodactylus, upiting the wings of a bat with the skele- ton of a lizard/and the Ichthoysaurus, combining the form of the dolphin with the teeth of the crocodile, the paddles of the turtle, the vertebra? of a fish, and the eyes of a bird. To this succeeded another era, when these monsters, having perished from the earth, and been entombed in their dark and silent cemeteries, the race of Mammalia was called into being, and which still flourish, the lords of the existing order of beings Passing, then, the whole fossil creation in review, and finding that those u utrainsmon' the seconrfary» and the tertiary, all differ from each other by large and general characters, can any one doubt that the suc- cessive changes of organic life, were attended with coincident changes of physical conditions, and that both operated over very large portions of the globe, though in unequal degrees and under different circum- stances The conclusion to which we have now arrived, namely, that the cli- mate of the Northern Hemisphere, once enjoyed a mean annual tem- perature similar to that now experienced within the tropics, was also that ot the earliest naturalists who investigated the contents of the an- cient strata. Since that period, so many new facts have been discov- ered, and such an abundance of testimony accumulated, that, at pres- ent whoevershould maintain a contrary opinion, would be considered as totally unacquainted with the science of geology, or sceptical as to It is hew Holland," says Mr. Field, "where it is summer with us when it is winter in Europe, and vice versa; where the barometer rises before bad weather, and falls before good ; where the north is the hot wind and the south the cold ; where the humblest house is fitted up with cedar; where the fields are fenced with mahogany, and myrtle trees are burnt tor uel; where the swans are black and the eagles are white; where the kangaroo is an animal between a squirrel and a deer, has five claws on its fore paws and three talons on vs hind-legs like a bird, and yet hops on its tail; where the mole lay? eggs yet suckles its young, and has a duck's bill; where there m a bird with a broom in its mouth instead of a tongue ; where there is a fish one half belonging to the genus Rata and the other to that ot Squalus; where the pears are made of wood, with Ihe stalk at the broader end; and where the cherry grows with the stone on the outside." Meteorology. THE NEW WORLD. the facts which it has thus farrevealed. With regard to the causes of this great climatorial change, there is, unfortunately, a greater differ- ence of opinion as there are more inherent difficulties connected with with our reasons for its adoption, The first theory which was proposed, was that the earth's axis had been for ages perpendicular to the plane of the ecliptic so that there was a perpetual equinox and uniformity of seasons through©"* the year; and that this continued until the time of Noah's flood, or perchance till the day when Joshua commanded the sun to stand still, when the earth by some sudden shock lost its equi- poise its axis became inclined or oblique, inducing the varied seasons, together with the long days and nights of the polar circles. This theory enjoyed but a temporary popularity, for as soon as the principles and laws of astronomical science were applied to its investigation it was found to be utterly untenable, and at the present day it has consequently no advocates. . Again, it has been supposed that the changes in the earth's climate have been occasioned by an increase or diminution of the calorific influ- ence of the sun, caused by variations in the mean distance of the earth from that luminary. Sir John Herschel has investigated this subject with great ability, and the following are the conclusions at which he has arrived: The major axis of the earth's orbit is invariable, but the minor axis is subject to considerable change in a long period of time, though the limits of the variation of eccentricity which this produces in the earth's orbit are as yet unascertained. This eccentricity is at present, and has been for ages beyond the reach of history on the decrease, because the minor axis of the earth's elliptic orbit is continually length- ening. The limit of this elongation is now nearly reached, for the orbit has become nearly circular. Now as the amount of solar heat received on the surface of the earth diminishes as the minor axis is elongated, he earth's heat derived from the sun has been through all historic time, and is yet on the decrease. The quantity of solar heat received on the earth, is, in fact, inversely proportional to the length of the minor axis of the orbit, and were the limits of the variation of this axis calculated the extreme change of climate from this cause might be known. Tak- ing, however, the extreme measures of eccentricity, which occur in our planetary system (Juno and Pallas, for example) as possible in the case of the earth, it follows from calculation, that the utmost difference of mean soiar radiation might amount to about 3 per cent, a quantity alto- gether inadequate to account for the changes of climates established by geological observations. The solar heat annually poured upon the earth is computed by Pouillet to be sufficient to melt a coat of ice fourteen inches thick incrusting the whole globe of the earth* (Philips.) There has been considerable effort made, of late, to ascertain the heat of the planetary spaces; for if it be not the same in every part, and if the whole solar system has a consentaneous movement in space. it is very possible that at some former period the earth may have passed through regions of the universe which communicated heat, instead of abstracting it. MM. Fourier and Swanbergh, by a different line of rea- soning, have arrived at the conclusion that the temperature in these spaces is about 50° centegrade (or — 36° Fahr.) below the freezing point, while M. Poisson admitting this to be the fact, as well as the ex- istence of great heat in the central parts of the earth, assigns the follow- ing reason for the exalted temperature below the surface :—" The cos- mical regions in which the solar system moves have a proper tempera- ture of their own, and this temperature may be different in different parts of the universe. The earth, in whatever part of these spaces it be placed, must be some time in acquiring the temperature of that region, and this temperature will be propagated gradually from the surface to the interior parts. Hence, if the solar system moves out of a hotter into a colder region of space, the part of the earth below the surface wilj ex- hibit traces of that higher temperature, which it had before acquired. Thus, without supposing great heat in the whole mass of the interior parts of the earth, the phenomenon of augmenting temperature below the surface would be. explained." As this can only be regarded as an ingenious speculation, sufficient doubtless to explain the phenomenon, could we but he assured of the truth of the premises, which necessarily are based on assumption, we shall pass it by without further comment. Professor Ure, of Glasgow, has proposed another theory, no less un- tenable, and far less philosophical. He supposes lhat previous to the deluge, the Antediluvian area had a less superficial aid than ours, and conseqently a greater depth. Assuming that they would bear the ra- tio to each other in surface as to 2 to 3, and in depth as 3 to 2, thus caus- ing the Antediluvian ocean to penetrate one half further into the crust of the earth than it does at present, and then, moreover, assuming that in the age immediately anterior to the deluge volcanic fires were con- stantly active, and raging with an intensity of which there are at present no examples, throwing up all those volcanic, plutonic, andmetamorphic rocks which now exist upon our globe, be inferred that the entire ocean- ic waters would thus be heated, to that degree, as not only to be adapt- * It was known to Sir Isaac Newton that ths obliquity of the ec'iptic was in a state of diminution, and about 2-5ths of a degree less than in the lime of Aristotle; but he lacked the necessary data, especially the preparatory steps, and improved mathematical methods, by which the stability or insta- bility of the solar system could be established. It required the labors of all the astronomers of Europe from*the time of Newton to Lagrange and Laplace, to enable the latter to demonstrate the stability of the solar system, to prove that in tha long run the orbits and motions remain unchanged, and lhat the changes in the orbits, which take place in shorter periods, never transgress certain very moderate limits. "The planets," says Whewell, "produce perpetual perturbations in each others motions, but these perturbations ve not indefinitely progressive—they are periodical; they reach a maximum value and then diminish. Each orbit undergoes deviations on this side, and on that of its average state; but these deviations are never very great, and it finally recovers from them so that the average is preserved. The periods which this restoration requires are, for the most part, enormous; not less than thousands, and in some instances, millions of years; and hence it is that some of these apparent derangements have been going on in ihe same direction since the beginning of the history of the world. But the restoration is in the sequal as complete as the derangement; and in the meantime the disturbance never attains a sufficient amount seriously to alter the adapta- tions of the system.*' (Laplace Expos, du Syst, du Mondetp. 441.) _________________47 ed to the existence of polyparies and shell-fish ; but that sufficient heat would thus be propagated to the solid land, as to furnish that high temperature, essential to that luxuriant vegetation.disclosed by the coal- bearing strata.* ' A theory, based on so many assumptions, and those too of so impro- bable a character, hardly deserves a serious consideration Could it be satisfactorily shown, that between the creation of man and the delude all the plutonic and volcanic, to say nothing of the metarnorphic rocks were upheaved from the bowels of the earth, indicating an infinitely more vast and violent degree of volcanic agency, than has been experi- enced within the historic period, we might then begin to speculate whether such a state of things, or the causes which produced them' would be adequate to explain the phenomena in question. It would* seem very remarkable, if the antediluvian earth had been the scene of such violent catastrophies, and overwhelming eruptions, that the sacred historian, Moses, has made no allusion whatever to these wonderful events, the only phenomena of a like character, which he has related being the destruction of "Sodom and Gomorroh, and the cities of the plain "by a volcanic eruption, figuratively described as " fire from hea- ven." But waving all other objections, it is enough to know, as we as- suredly do, that between the creation fff man and the deluge of Noah, there was not sufficient time for the deposition of those immense secondary strata, composed almost entirely of the fossil shells of extinct genera of marine animals, which have been cut through and upheaved, by basaltic and volcanic rocks protruded from below. We therefore dis- miss this theory as equally unsatisfactory as the former We next come to the highly ingenious theory of Mr. Lyell, who attri- butes the changes of climate in different geological periods, the changes of position of the land—in other words, to former fluctuations in the phy- sical geography of the earth. " If doubts and obscurities" says Mr. L. "still remain, they should be ascribed to our limited acquaintance with the laws of nature, not to revolutions in her economy ;—they should stimulate us to farther research, not tempt us to indulge our fancies in forming imaginary systems for the government of infant worlds." In order to appreciate properly the influence of physical geography, upon climate, it will be necessary to advert to a few facts of a promi- nent nature, connected with this subject, and then we shall be prepared to judge of the sufficiency of this cause for the production of the phenom- ena in question. It is well known that zones of equal warmth both in the atmosphere and the sea, are neither parrallel to the equator, nor to each other. Places in the same latitudes in Europe and America, have sometimes a mean difference of temperature amounting to 11°, and even in some cases to 17° Fahr.; and some places on the two continentsenjoy^ ing the same mean temperature differ from 7° to 13°. in latitude. Thus Upsal, in latitude 60° N. has about the same mean temperature, (42°) as Quebec, in lat. 47°. The isothermal line of 32° crosses the North Cape in lat. 70°. and from this vertex of curvature descends south-ward by the south side of Iceland, and the south part of Greenland, to the north points of Labrador, almost to lat. 60° ; the curve then bends to the north, and reaches 65° at Great Bear Lake, beyond which its course has not been traced. In the other direction from the North Cape, this line devi- ates to the ssuth till it crosses the Lena, below lat. 65°. Thus on the line of 32° it rises in the meridian of Norway 14° of lat. farther north than in America,and 5° farther north than in Asia. Nearly similar results would follow from tracing the other isothermal lines determined by Hum- boldt in high northern latitude?; but for a very full and satisfactory state- ment of facts on these subjects, we may refer to Dr. Forry's exccellent treatise of which this forms the sequel. It is therefore, deemed unne- cessary to repeat what has been already so ably said in the preceding pages relative to the laws which govern the superficial temperature of the earth, producing the most remarkable contrasts on the same paral- lels, for example in the European climate and in that of eastern North America, as well as in the northern and southern hemisphetes. The conclusion then to which Mr. Lyell arrives from all the facts and prin- ciples connected with the laws of temperature, is, that wherever a greater extent of high land is collected in the polar regions, the cold wilt augment; and the same result will be produced when there is more sea between, or near the tropics ; while on the contrary, so often as the above conditions are reversed, the heat will be greater; in other words, vye shall have the greatest uniformity of climate, with the greatest expan- sion of sea; the greatest mean annual heat toward the poles, with equa- torial land and polar oceans ; and the least mean annual heat with pokr land and broad equatoritlseas. (Philips.) As to the constant variation and alternation of land and water there are facts enough to place the matter beyond all doubt, and yet we have no sufficient data to warrant us in the belief that there has actually existed at any former period, precisely such a distribution as the theory ot Mr. Lyell requires. Such an arrangment indeed involves no physi- cal impossibilities, or even improbabilities, and yet it must be regarded as purely hypothetical, for the want of facts bearing immediately upon the point in question. But granting the existence, at a former geologi- cal period, of such an arrangement of land and water, it still remains to be determined whether such arrangement would be sufficient to ex- plain the facts admitted concerning ancient climate. Mr. Philips has well remarked, that if we take the oceanic polyparia which abound in reefs among primary and carboniferous strata, as a mark of climate not interior to that of the coolest regions where now coral reefs are formed the mean temperature of the sea in the latitude of Christiana situated on uat 1lnow the warm<-st band passing across the isothermal lines (now about 43°,) must have been about 20° Fahr. higher, which, added to the already existing excess of temperature on this line above the averase makes nearly 30° Fahr. for the necessary augmentation of marine tem- perature toward the north pole. It is necessary also to suppose a similar augmentation of temperature upon land, for the vegetation of coal stra- Sill fu arj?oresc«;nt f"ns,lepidodendra, sigillana, and calamites, as well as the fluviatile reptiha demand a uniform temperature above i ai iT-" ;i_and lf, , been calculated that the mean temperature of the land which supplied the plants now buripd in the oo THE NEW WORLD. Meteorology". burgh, war. at lea.-.t 15° hotter than now occurs on this warm meridional band. We think it very evident, then, that no disposition could be made of land and water, so as to insure a degree of warmth equal to that which would be required for the production of ihe fauna and flora already de- scribed. We agree, therefore, with Mr. Philips, that in general it is un- safe to push the possible average change of temperature in extra-tropical regions, beyond the triremes now observed therein. "America," he remarks, " with little north tropical and wide north polar land, gives us acase of extreme refrigeration from the pole toward the equator; Af- rica and the west of Europe compose a surface of wide and hot north tropical land, with free channelsto a polar sea. The extreme difference of these extreme climates does not we believe in any two points of like elevation reach 20° ; the half of which, is, perhaps, more than the ex- treme excess or defect of heat beyond the average of the latitude at any , fearless character invests them. Mr. Borrow has an irrepressible one point upon the surface of the earth." This writer very rationally iove of humor, great enjoyment in the observation of character, and concludes that if an average excess of 10° ot temperature be allowable ,-,•/. , , , , . , , - , ,-.. • • according to this hypothesis, the extreme excesses may have been some- ■■ a llkinS for adventure approached only by the knights of fairy tale. what greater; but from the conditions of the hypothesis, they cannot be Thus gifted, armed, and accomplished, he wanders through the taken to be so great as the extreme excesses now observed on the globe, wildest scenery ef the most romantic of all lands, Spain, living with but must be supposed comparatively small. , , u •» r 7 There remains then but one more theory by which we may reconcile , such a8 he may cha»ce to meet in village or forest, or on barren the ancient physical conditions of our'globe, with those animal and sierra, or on lonely heath, or in her Moorish halls, or amid the lowest vegetable remains, which fossil geology has revealed to our sight We, grades of her erowded but impoverished cities, and, gathering from 'THE GIPSIES OF SPAIN" AND "THE BIBLE IN SPAIN." " We have had nothing like these books before. Among their originalities one is, that written in great part, while the author was engaged in a very grave purpose, they will be read, most of all, for their pleasantry; and this, far from being occasioned by any failing | in Mr Borrow, arises as much from the vigor as fromjthe singularity of his talents—from his graphic, we might say photographic powtrs of description—from the charm of a natural manner—the novelty of the subject he has made out for himself—his tales of wonder, all true, and, more than anything,from the interest with which his strange and mean the gradual refrigeration of our globe, from a once fluid, incan- descent mass. The principal facts connected with the internal heat of the earth, according to Kane, are the following. Though at the surface, the temperature of the earth is solely dependent upon the radiating pow- er of the sun, yet it is found that it contains within itself a source of heat, which in ages excessively remote, must have retained the general all, brings before us such living groups as few of us have seen, not even in pictures." So, with perfect truth, writes the author of "Charles O'Malley," in a recent number of the Dublin University Magazine, and never was corn- mass of all the constituents of the mineral globe in igneous liquefaction, i mandation more judiciously bestowed and more truly deserved. " The At 40feet below the surface we arrive at a layer, of which the temper- Bible in Spain," we issued about a month since in a quadruple number ature is in winter and in summer exactly the same. On descending be- 0f tne New World, elegantly printed on fine paper, and so cordially has low this depth, the temperature gradually increases, and although sub- it been welcomed that we have airead disposed of tw0 iarge editions, ject to irregularities consequent on the different conducting powers of■■■ ,. ' . .,„,?„•,. , %,<=»»"«»». the rocks of different countries, the augmentation is in general about one exceeding nine thousand copies. The Zincali, or the Gipsies of degree for every 42 feet, or about 1203 for every mile. At a depth of Sp.ain," we have just published, and a more diverting mdange of inci- two miles, therefore, water would not exist as a liquid—at four miles dent and adventures has never been issued, since the whole world wore depth, tin and bismuth would naturally be liquid—and at five miles, lead, delighted with Don Quixote and Gil Bias. "Its author," says the Edin- a depth of 30 miles ihe temperature would be so high as to melt iron ; u„™i,i).„;..„f„.M»,..„ «:r .»;„„„„„.- „ . I a At and still more easily, almost without exception, the rocks which con- b.u,*J ?eview for F<*raa^' /[ at Unf T a ■ 'u—' " nCVer stitute the solid earth which we inhabit. This central mass is, therefore, churlish or ascetic; the milk of human kindness flows in his veins. * * * doubtless, in a violent state of activity at a short distance beneath the His every feeling is an inlet of joy; his pages, true exponents of the surface ; so that we live upon a pelicle of solid crystalline rocks, with man, are studded withTheartfelt admiration for the beauties of nature, which the melted mass has become skinned over, and which extends and the rare feasts spread everywhere as for a banquet in this ' valley but to 1-140 of the distance to the centre. Hence we can well imagine, of the shadow of death.'» These admirable works have been published that in many places, where orifices or cracks in this solid crust might form, violent manifestations of the internal fire should be produced, and the magnificent phenomena of volcanoes and earthquakes, should thus arise.— (Kane Cham. p. 106.) Fourier has demonstrated mathematically that though ihe earth be in an incandescent state at a distance of 12 to IS miles from the surface, yet that the effect of this fervid mas* upon the temperature at the surface may be scarcely a perceptible fraction of a degree. "We knew cer by us at t>.e very inadequate price of 25 cents each ; two copies of each can therefore be received in any part of the country for the sum of remitted to us by mail. ;il s tnermometer. n tne eartn oeiow iz leagues neptn were , -mc »««' *>i »vc uuuars remiueu to us Dy man, iree oi postage, will by a globe of a temperature 500 times greater than that of obtain more valuable and fascinating literature than can possibly be got 'ater, 200,600 years would be required to increase the surface of U1 any other way—namely, the New Woild, Blackwood's Magazine 1°. The course of ages will bring about great changes in the j „_j th„ oAr- i a„™i„man,_,u„ .„,„ i«„„, u0:„„ x^.^a „»,i f„„.T...j_j BLACKWOOD'S MAGAZINE, Let it not be forgotten that this best and most celebrated of all the tairily," says he', "from theory and observation, that the effect of this periodicals of the world can be obtained from us at $'2 a year by non- internal heat has long since become insensible on the surface, even subscribers to the " New World," and for #1 by those who subscribe though it may be very great at a moderate depth. The access ot tern-. i ,„ ,u. w««, Wm-M e««^«»v,»» ,..;,k ,i,. > the talented and learned editor of the New York ber his rendering of portions of the works of Alexander Dumas. j Review. The work will be issued in a few days in a Double Extra number, at l»\ Single copies 121-2 cents—$8 per hundred. j cents single-f 12 a hundred. NEW REPUBLICATION OF THE EDINBURGH REVIEW. OR CRITICAL JOURNAL. ®nc DoUar a [1 ear-Single Copies 25 Cents, j (CONTINUED QUARTERLY-) | With Ibe J-nnary number, .he regX^Tblication of the ^™«Jevie»'| l,„, been commenced, and it will henceforth appear, dtrwily after Us receipt in this eou.itrv. in ban-lsome double extra nambersof the New World ne wspaper Of the history and high repute of this great periodical, Utile need be related to be reader, who ,o—eS.he slightest f.m.ilmrily with the literature of the nineteenth cm-. tury. it has of la e year* owed i,i chief attractions to the brilliant and powerfu rrticle* of Lo.«l Brougham and Thomas Babblnglon Macauleyj butit has boastedof rontnmiiionsfrom the pens of Waller Scott, Thomas Moore, William Wordsworth, Dr. P.uVy, Dugald Stewart, and a host of other great authors. Their successors m the Review, tboujrh inferior in reputation, ares-arcely inferior in learning and talent -for the most profound and eminent scholars in Great Britain are now employed to supply iis page-'. . lis former editor, Lord Jeffreys, is now the most distinguished Judge on the Bench of Scotland, and it has recently been conducted by no less illustrious a person- age than Col. N.ipier, author of die ll'stoiy of the Peninsular War. Terms—One Dollar a year, in advance—Every Postmaster or Agent who will obtain five Subscribers, shall receive a sixth copy gratis. Address J. WINCHESTER, 30 Ann-st. New York. , THE LAST OF THE BARONS. BY SIR E. L BTJLWER, il AUTHOR OF "Z tXONI," "PELHAM," "NIGHT AND MORNING," "ERNEST MALTRAVEES,'- | " ALICE," fcC, &C. I The publication of tlii< long-expected work has not fiiilod to satisfy that immense interest, which the announcement of its forthcoming everywhere excited. It is one- third larger than any previous work of its celebrated author; in it be lias attempted the hi*t«ricnl novel, nnd introduced tire mapnificent nnd stirring scenes and characters, which marked that, eventful period of English history, when the wars of the houses o. York and Lancaster agitated and divided the kingdom. Earl Warwick, the king- maker, is the hero. Eight copies are furnished to any address for $1—$9 per hundred, j MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF FRANCE, [ PROM THE EARLIEST AGES TO THE PRESENT TIME. BY MRS. FORBES BUSH. : Tms work, issued by us a few weeks since, has a great degree of merit, and we ob- serve Ihut the English critical journals mention it in terms of high commendation, ft is written by an elegant and accomplished woman, capable of drawing faithful portraits nf the illustrious ladies, who have either reigned over France, or controlled the destinies of its monarchs. Five copies for §1; $16 per buirfred> LETTERS 0E MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS,' AjiJ Documents connected with her Personal History, NOW F1HST PUBLISHED. BY AGNES STRICKLAND, AUTHOR OF "TnK UVES Of THE QI'EENS OF ENGLAND," ETC. ETC. ! This work has elicited die warmest admiration wherever it has been read. The story of the unfortunate and beautiful M.-ijesty of Scotland, is familiar to all, and excites the deepest sympathy. In this delightful volume will be found the original letters, written by Mary, during her residence in France and Scotland. They are marked by that pleasing simplicity and lender feeling, with which, from the descriptions of Scott and Uell, we have been accustomed to invest her character. No woman of genius or senti- ment can fail to be pleased with this pathetie and charming memorial. Five copies for $1: $16 per hundred. BIANCA-CAP"PELL0. BY LADY LYTTON BTJLWER, AUTHOR OF " CHEVELEY," &C. This is, in all respects, superior to "Cheveley," her former production. There is more skill in the arrangement of the story and in the delineation of character. It is a romance of Italian life, written with all a woman's insight into the mysterious move merits of the human heart. Many chapters display great genius, uiul show the lady to be scarcely inferior to her gifted-husband. Eight copies for $1—$8-per hundred. F R A N cTs ~0 F ~ V A LOIS, OR THE Cl'KSE OF ST. VALLIAR. BY EDMUND FLAGG, AUTHOR OF "THE DUCHESS OF EERIURA," ',MARy TUDOR," "BEATRICE," &C. &C. It would be sufficient to say, that it is from the spirited and fluent pen of the gentle- ' man who is so favorably known to the renders of the New World, bv his thrilling sto- ries, adapted fromilie French of Victor lingo. This is decidedly his best production, and, as such, is sure lo be received with universal approbation. Ten copies for $1—■ sS uer hundred. LIGHTS AND SHADOWS OF FACTORY LIFE L\ NEW ENGLAND.': no euitor ol lilackwood s Ma'a7inp '"fin. I •.. I.......i ui i *• ^ .. i t •■• .. H„,;mi,„„. a ■ ... mu-ozi"e, i lie iji-.-i!..«.tiii(| jsnndows ot Srcotiis h Lie." ^z^^^^x^r^f.....'»■*'*«-*•«». jnd .hah*. nt. FIVE POPULAll WORKS i.)R ONE FOR 12 1 2 CEJ^TS A MONTH, DOLLAR A YEAR IN ADVANCE. The Publisher announces, with p!ea>ii",.to the Public, that he has com* me need a MONTHLY SUPPLEMENT to The New Would, which «vill embrace the whole series of Popular Works by Dickens, Lever, Ainswmith and Lover. It will he issued immediately after thp arrival of ihe English Steamer,, which leaves Liverpool on the 4th of each month, and will thus furnish the public with the latest productions, and the only com bined edition, of the above popuiar authors, in ailvance of any other estnh- lishment in t'ds country, and at a price which cannot fail to meet the public approbation. The following are the Titles of the Novels, the first numbers of which appeared in London on the first of January, J 843, and were repub- lished entire in the Monthly Supplement, on the 2?th of January, in less than 24 hours after the arrival of the Steamer. The same dispatch will be main- tained hereafter. THE LIFE AND AIiVESTURES OF MARTIN CHUZZLEWIT, £}is ttelaiioes, irricntis anb (Enemies : CO.W1USING HIS WILLS AND HIS WAYS-: WITH AN HISTORIC A L RECORD OF WHAT HE DID* AND WHAT HE DIDN'T: SHOWING, M08EOVER, WHO INHERITED THE FAMILY PLATE, WMO CAME IN FOR THE SILVER SPOONS, AND WHO FOR THE WOODEN' LADLES. THE WHOLE FORMING A COMPLETE KEY TO THE HOUSE OF CHUZZLEWIT. BY CHARLES DICKENS, ESQ. AUTHOR OF "AMERICAN NOTES," "BARNAPV RUDOF.," "NICHOLAS NICKLEBV," S.C. TOM BURKE OF "OURS," FORMING THE SECOND VOLKA1E OF " OUR MESS." BY CHARLES LEVER, ESQ. Author of " Chiirles O'MuVey." " Juelc IliiUnn," (ft. fyt. JS.D. OR ACCOUNTS OF IRISH HEIRS.. FURNISHED TO T»K I'^CIJC, .UONTHL.Y, JJY SAMUEL LOVEK, Accjuntiintfor I rah lithcrit'iicci. W I N D S OR~C A S T L E, AN HISTORICAL ROMANCE. BY W. H . AINSWORTH, Author of" The Misers Daughter," ' Uuy J'aivkes," " Twicer of fjondoii," t\c, LOITEBINGS OF ARTHUR O'LEARY. BY CHARLES LKVER, ESQ. Author of "Our Mcsi," "Churls O'Multey," if*. TERMS.—The Monthly Supplement is printed upon fine p,ap,er and n.w minion type, in a uniform, style with the New World, and sent to subscriber* throughout the United Slates and Bri'ish America for ihe low price of (-'In Sv DOLLAR per annum, remitted in advance, free of posture. (Xip Postmasters, or o'her persons, who will ohtain five subscriber.-, and remit the amount ($(5) free ofpos'agc, shall receive a sixth copy, oralis. Address, J. WINCHESTER, 30 Aun-st. CHEAPEST MAGAZINE IN THE WORLD. BLACKWOOD'S EDINBUI{CTH_MACrAZINE. A NEW R E P R I N T &tr.0 Dollars a $car~ Single QTcp'frs 18% (Ds. T!ie Publisher of tho New "V\*urld announces that he lifts commenced t! <; Republication of this most ce'.cbraled of ihe Magazine.'-, at a price which will insure it a very large circulation. " Dlackwootl" has lonji stood at tin* head of the periodical literature of the world, and it continues 10 maintain i« .: distinction, without a rival. Professor Wilson, its editor,, (old "Chri.-,-i- ph-.r North,") is ur.nvalled as a.prose-writtr am! a poet, and his contribuUui are among the first living author:- of Croat Britain. It will be bsued in a double number of ihe New vVoild,.\\iih'm 2\ nou •>. after the arrival of the English Steamer,.and sent by the fiist mails to s-u >- scriben in all parts of the United State* .ti.d British America. Terms.—T WO DOLLARS per amrsm, fjr one c..py—Five D I .-- for Three copies-r-Eighl Dollars for live cot. .lS—and $15 fur Ten ct-pi >- Daj'ahle in advance. Single copies 1S{ cents. Any Postmaster, or other person, who will ob-ain 10 subscribers, aria nwnu jl-5 thcrefir, sha.'l have an ex ra copy-■ ;.'i=. Subjeci to ne.- -\<*%& swiage only. Ad.lr.ess J. \\ LN'-UIE^TEH. P'tliii.-i'tv.. GREAT KEDLTTIOX IN PRICE! THE CHEAPEST AND BEST MEDICINE EVER KNOWN " 1)R.~RUSH'S INFALLIBLE HEALTH PILLS. HAVE attained a celebrity superior to that of any other Mpdicino hi the TTnitcd Stute*. They have been known ihTHK POOR MAN'S FRIEND, and will henceforth he better entitled thnn ever to that appellation ; since, in consequence of n (treat improvement in tlie machinery, by \vhich thev are made, much less manual labor is required, nndthe Pills are produced in a purer, better and more effective state. They will hereafter be sold at the Princi pnl Office, and at all the agencies throughout the United States, at the exceedingly low rate of TWELVE AND A HALF CENTS PER BOX. And they ate warranted to ho belter in all respects than any other Pill in the Market, « haletc-r may be their price. This reduction is made to suit the times and the means of a large portion of the popu- htiou, Who cannot afford to waste money upon "Doctor's Stuff," but want a good, peuuiite medicine, >needy and'eertaiu in itseffects, and one which will not keep them ^f home, but allow them to go about their business as usual. The proprietor, grateful yGT'l* iintnt uic *uccp--s which has attended this invaluable remedy, ^*» THE INESTIMABLE LEGACY of tho Irealest physician this country ever produced, testifies his gratitude by this step, w-liicftftlioiifrlrit rhny diminull his profits, will lareely increase his mennsof imparting ^Messing to the public—his chrefobject. fron) thfthst in offering these pills for sale. A' the present season of the year, more tkafi at any other, the human frame is subject *>i those complaints, which, though stighf in the beginning, may prove fatal in the end, iind lor Which these Pills are* sure and sovereign remedy. One, taken every night, upon going to bed, for' a month, will care the most inveterate coses of dyspepsia ; and doses of two or three, according to the age and habits of the patient, will eradicate from the system all bilious humors, purify the blood, cleanse the stomach, and in a word per- li»"t!y restore lost health and spirits, and one thing is most certain, they must always do n.iue benefit, and can never do any harm. They may be administered with the most perfect safety to small children, being utterly free from any deleterious substance. In consequence of the EXCEEDINGLY LOW PRICE 11 which they are offered—just one half what is asked for other Pills of a very inferior rliar.nct=r—they can be tried by all, and the utmost confidence may be felt in their giving! entire satisfaction. By o imppy combination of medicinal agents, these Pills are enabled to carry off all Ihe vitiated and irritating secretions from the alimentary canal, and remove any in- I'jinnmtoryor other derangement of ibe animal economy which may have been in- Miced, equalize the circulation, restore a healthy action to all the excretory organs .-nd promote a vigorous performance of the organic functions. It is now conceded by tile most eminent of the medical faculty, that the stomach is I he seat 01 fountain of all disease ; that it is, as it were, the centre, from which proceed i. II the evils produced by foreign or irritating causes, and which from thence spread to every part of the animal system. The proper mode of cure, therefore, is to attack the citadel in which the disease en ' Irenches itself, and DO combination of medicinal agents has yet been discovered »o erli- I c acinus for this purpose as the preparation of the late Br. Rcstf. and which, from the : i nivf-rsal success attending their administration, during a practice of nearly hulf a I 'eniiiry, were styled his • "INFALLIBLE HEALTH PILL." Their great virtue ts, that they arrest, disease in its first approach. They arc pre- v entives ps well as remedies ; and we will venture to say that if taken by persons when they arc first affected with symptoms of illness, mony and marly a case that is either serious or fatal, might bcavoided. 'VilF. INFALLIBLE HEALTH PILLS are a sovereign remedy for Dyspepsia, I Headache, all Bilious nnd liver complaints, cutaneous eruptions and humors, female j weakness, colds, incipient consumption, general debility, piles, nausea, heartburn, all' complaints of old standing, and in fact every disease not coming within the province of the surgeon. - If you are in possession of better mean Jl ST I't IMPORTANT AND y 'i Candidly inform me; if not. make use of these."—Horace. " Dr. Rrsii's IIkalth Pit.LS.—It is not our custom to speak of quack medicines , but these Pilli are the result of the experience of a long life spent in the study of the human frame and its diseases, and by a man who added to his great acquired know- I .-be. a superior understanding. We have ourselves tested their efficacy, and can Hi>rcliire. in ft manner, endorse the numerous recommendations by which they are at- tended ; and these are ofsuch a character that it is evident that the medicine possesses i.ll the virtue it profiles "-New World, of Nov. 19. ■' ftCT" Sold at the Principal Office, DO Ann street, wholesale! and retail, by H. O Dtt-CI-'RS, General Agent for the United Slates, to whom all orders should be ad- dressed post-paid. Also, at Wadlbigii's, 459 Broadway. PRICE TWELVE AND A HALF CENTS PER BOX, ONE DOLLAR A DOZEN, TEN DOLLARS A OROCE—CASH. LIST OF AGENTS. rtTY AGENTS. .I.C. Wadteigh, 45P Broadway, cor.Grand. ■I. Kelly, SsT Broadway. J. Axl'ord, 10f Bowery. llrug Store. 75 Chambers street. A. Rogers & Co.. 107 West Broadway". 11. Green, ■"'• Fulton st. Brooklyn. Tln.s. Dalton. i'» Vork st. do. Ar;KNT? OfTOF THK CITT. />„«r«n—Reildire fc Co. 8 State st. Im/timorr—Vr- Reed, c(*.Giyfc .-aratogn streets. r.e 'Vff—Tlm«. L. Hawks. Clumbue. ry<>oks have been published about Spain, I bolieve :xistence which treats «t missionary labor in thaKJ Many tiriugs, it is 'rue, will be found in tlie folh* lection with religion, or religious enterprise; 1 n fucing them. I was, as I may say, from first to renown, the land of wonder and mystery, wlti ir>l%i-jiRted with its strange secrets and peculiiirHid .o any individual, oertaiuly to a foreigner; and if .relies and characters perhaps unprecedented in a i n observe, that, during my sojourn in SfMiin, I was :1mt I could scarcely have given a faithful narrativi ibem fbrward in the manner which 1 have done. It ts worthy of remark that, called suddc.ily and id venture ef Spain," I was not ultogether unj>rept lav-dreams of my boyhood, Spain always bore a co •ul*r interest in bet. without any presentiment tlyit upon to take a part. Iwwever humble, m her strung! •n rly period, lea one tu acquire her noble languayc. i ipr literature, (scarcely worthy of the la/isitaitc) In .vhnn 1 entered Spain lur the first time I felt more at lone. In Spain I parsed five years, which, if not the m<*i inn in saying, the most happy years of my c,i>icuc< now that the day-dream has vanished, never, aios: t idmiratinn : site is the must magnificent country in tl! in.I certainly with the finest climate. Whother litr <■' * another nnestinn, which I sha.l not atieir.pt to i ■hscrvinz. that, among much that is lamci tabic and lhat is noble and to be admired; much stem heroic v cntne ; of low vulgar vice very Kttle, at le ot union; mtion, with which my mission lay ; for itw-'l be "« w- no claim tc, au intimate acquaintance with tlie Spnni remote as ch'iimsrances would permit me ; r» rn:tinr to live mi aniiiliarttirins with the peasants, shepherds, dread Hid liai-alno 1 have eaten ; who always treaterl and to whom I have not unfrequently been indebted fi We su.ijoin a few extracts from the London Press. " We conceive Mr. Borrow has in these pages come rank. Considering the book merely as one ol adve ;u e-.tr.tnidinnry one that has api>eared in our own or nnl< lung rime pnsl. Indued, v/e are more freqiieiitly frmiiui of this pious, single-lieatod man, tlmn in the perus.il ■taKes."—ILondon liuarterly Review. "This is a mort remarkable book. Highly as we ranch as we had reason to expect from any «ubsp.|U< certainly not prepared liw anything so striking ss this. rest, Ks literary merit is extraordinary. Never was b» 'he uninistakeable mark of jenius."—(E».ainiijrtr. " There is no taking leave of n hook hke this. Beti< had it in »nr in»wer to offer our readers.'VtA'lieinvim TERMS.—"The Bible in Spain" will be cowpi QUADRUPLE EXTRA NE risking 112 lar^r octavo pages, stereotyped in new an. •y mail to all parts of the -vnictry, at newspaper pnnt.i copios for $'—9 copies for $3—14 copies for $3—!fi o Single copies 'A cents. UwHKsellers. Agents. Pnrtmartcn. tee. are reo,uesn? Scr.i^ and ('enuda. FOREST D a (tak of (DID ( BT G. P. B. JAMES, MTTHOR OF "MORI.EY ERNBIE1N," "THE J •* thc iirc;''E.N0T," fci Tliis is deoidedly one of Mr. James's happiest effort old, and several glorious rer>onKgi>s, well knewn to t' ufiluul poetry, are attroduecd: such,for axaraple, as 1 several otliess equally fasaous, with the mention of wh roaiWs >-uri(»ity. ft is within the reaeh ef all, since i adslren for f.'—tf pvr hendred.