after having traversed a mile and a half from the bottom of the downcast pit 70 Water at the most distant forehead or mine, and at the great depth of 1200 feet from the surface Air at the same depth Difference between the mean temperature do. at surface 74 77 25 213 210 Saussure found the lake of Geneva, at the depth of 1000 feet, to be 42°; and below 160 feet from the surface there is no monthly variation of temperature. The lake of Thun, at 370 of depth, and Lucerne at 640, had both a temperature of 41°, while the waters at the surface indicated respectively 640 and 68° 30′ Fab. Barlocci observed, that the Lago Sabatino, near Rome, at the depth of 490 feet, was only 44° 30', while the thermometer stood on its surface at 77°. Mr. Jardine has made accurate observations on the temperatures of some of the Scottish lakes, by which it appears, that the temperature continues uniform all the year round, about wenty fathoms under the surface. In like manner, the mine of Dannemora in Sweden, which VOL. VI. presents an immense excavation, 200 or 300 feet deep, was observed, at a period when the working was stopped, to have great blocks of ice lying at the bottom of it. The bottom of the main shaft of the silver mine of Kongsberg in Norway, about 300 feet deep, is covered with perpetual snow. Hence, likewise, in the deep crevices of Ætna and the Pyrenees, the snows are preserved all the year round. It is only, however, in such confined situations that the lower strata of air are thus permanently cold. In a free atmosphere the gradation of temperature is reversed, or the upper regions are colder, in consequence of the increased capacity for heat of the air, by the diminution of the density. In the milder climates it will be sufficiently accurate, in moderate elevations, to reckon an ascent of 540 feet for each centesimal degree, or 100 yards for each degree on Fahrenheit's scale of diminished temperature. Dr. Francis Buchanan found a spring at Chitlong, in the lesser valley of Nepaul, in Upper India, which indicated the temperature of 14.7 centesimal degrees, which is 81° below the standard for its parallel of latitude, 27° 38'. Whence, 8.1 x 540 4374 feet is the elevation of that valley. At the height of a mile this rule would give about thirty-three feet too much. The decrements of temperature augment in an accelerated progression as we ascend. Ben Nevis, the highest mountain in Great Britain, stands in latitude 57°, where the curve of congelation reaches to 4534 feet. But the altitude of the summit of the mountain is no more than 4380 feet; and therefore, during two or three weeks in July, the snow disappears. The curve of congelation must evidently rise higher in summer, and sink lower in winter, producing a zone of fluctuating ice, in which the glaciers are formed. Baron Humboldt has stated, that the temperature of the silver mine of Valenciana in New Spain is 11° above the mean temperature of Jamaica and Pondicherry, and that this temperature is not owing to the miners and their lights, but to local and geological causes. To the same local and geological causes we must ascribe the extraordinary elevation of temperature observed by Mr. Bald. He further remarks that the deeper we descend, the drier we find the strata; so that the roads through the mines require to be watered, in order to prevent the horsedrivers from being annoyed by the dust. This fact is adverse to the hypothesis of the heat proceeding from the chemical action of water on the strata of coal. As for the pyrites intermixed with these strata, it does not seem to be ever decomposed, while it is in situ. The perpetual circulation of air for the respiration of the miners must prevent the lights from having any considerable influence on the temperature of the mines. M. Humboldt has also published an admirable systematic view of the mean temperatures of different places, in the third volume of the Memoirs of the Society of Arcueil. His paper is entitled, Of Isothermal Lines (lines of the same tem perature), and the distribution of Heat over the Globe. By comparing a great number of observations made between 46° and 48° N. lat., he C found, that at the hour of sun-set the temperature is, very nearly, the mean of that at sun-rise and two hours after noon. Upon the whole, however, hethinks that the two observations of the extreme temperatures will give us more correct results. The difference which we observe in cultivated plants, depends less upon mean temperature, than upon direct light, and the serenity of the atmosphere; but wheat will not ripen if the mean temperature descend to 47·6°. Europe may be regarded, according to this distinguished traveller, as the western part of a great continent, and subject to all those influences which make the western sides of all the continents warmer than the eastern. The same difference that we observe on the two sides of the Atlantic, exists on the two sides of the Pacific. In the north of China the extremes of the seasons are much more felt than in the same latitudes in New California, and at the mouth of the Columbia. On the eastern side of North Amezica, we have the same extremes as in China; New York has the summer of Rome, and the winter of Copenhagen; Quebec has the summer of Paris, and the winter of Petersburgh. And in the same way in Pekin, which has the mean temperature of Britain, the heats of summer are greater than those at Cairo, and the cold of winter as severe as that at Upsal. This analogy between the eastern coasts of Asia and of America, sufficiently proves, that the inequalities of the seasons depend upon the prolongation and enlargement of the continents towards the pole, and upon the frequency of north-west winds, and not upon the proximity of any elevated tracts of country. Ireland, according to Humboldt, presents oue of the most remarkable examples of the combination of very mild winters with cold summers; the mean temperature in Hungary for the month of August is 71.6°; while in Dublin it is only 60-8°. In Belgium, and Scotland, the winters are milder than at Milan. The above admirable paper furnishes us with the following TABLE OF THE ISOTHERMAL BANDS, AND DISTRIBUTION OF HEAT The temperatures are expressed in degrees of Fahrenheit's thermometer; the longitudes are counted from east to west, from the first meridian of the observatory of Paris. The mean temperature of the seasons has been calculated, so that the months of December, January, and February, form the mean temperature of the winter: The mark is prefixed to those places, the mean temperatures of which have been determined with the most precision, generally, by a mean of 8000 observations. The isothermal curves having a concave summit in Europe, and two convex summits in Asia and Eastern America, the climate is denoted to which the individual places belong. Comparing the northern half of the globe with the southern, our author observes, the southern hemisphere differs considerably from the northern; but the degree of this difference has been variously stated; the coldness of the southern hemisphere, has generally been attributed to the circumstance of the sun being a shorter time on the south, than on the north side of the equator. But it probably depends more upon the greater proportion of ocean, which gives to the southern temperate zone a climate more approaching to that of a collection of islands. There is, there fore, a less accumulation of heat during the summer, and a less radiation from the land, in proportion to its less extent; and there is consequently a less current of warm air flowing from the equator towards the south pole, which permits the ice to accumulate more around it. Near the equator, and indeed through the whole of the torrid zone, the temperature of the two hemispheres appears to be the same; but the difference begins to be felt in the Atlantic about 22° of latitude; and there is a considerable difference between the mean temperature of Rio Janeiro and Havanuah, The observations employed in constructing this table were all made at sca, except those from which the mean temperature at thirty-four degrees was deduced, which were made at the Cape of Good Hope! The influence of climate on the character and habits of man has, naturally, attracted the attention of various modern philosophers and travelJers. Humboldt observes, in his Researches, "Although the manners of a people, the display of their intellectual faculties, the peculiar character stamped on their works, depend upon a great number of causes which are not merely local; it is nevertheless true, that the climate, the nature of the soil, the physiognomy of the plants, the view of beautiful or savage nature, have great influence on the progress of the arts, and on the style which distinguishes their productions. This influence becomes the more perceptible, the farther man is removed from civilisation. What a contrast between the architecture of a tribe that has dwelt in vast and gloomy caverns, and that of the hordes whose bold monuments recal, in the shafts of their columns, the towering trunks of the palm-trees of the desert! An accurate knowledge of the arts can be acquired only from studying the nature of the site where they arose. The only American tribes among whom we find remarkable monuments, are the inhabitants of the mountains. Isolated in the regions of the clouds, on the most elevated plains on the globe, surrounded by volcanoes, the craters of which are encircled by eternal snows, they appear to have admired, in the solitude of their deserts, those objects only which strike the imagination by the greatness of their masses; and their productions bear the stamp of the savage nature of the Cordilleras. 'What a striking spectacle does human genius present, when we survey the immense disparity that separates the tombs of Tinian and the statues of Easter Island, from the monument of the Mexican temple at Mitla; and compare the shapeless idols of this temple with the masterpieces of the chisel of Praxitelles and Lysippus ! But we shall cease to wonder at the rude style, or incorrect expression, of the monuments of the American nations, when we reflect, that, cut off from the rest of mankind, wanderers in a country where man must have long struggled against nature in her most savage and disordered aspect, these tribes, with no resources but in their own energy, could only emerge with tardy progress from their native barbarism.' A recent contributor to the Classical Journal has, in his essay on the Causes of the diversity in Human Character, investigated the influence of climate on our species with considerable research and ingenuity. Extreme heat clearly darkens the skin, swells the flesh, and produces that general chubbiness of appearance which is so remarkable in the torrid zone. The intermediate degrees of temperature produce proportional effects; and persons born in temperate climates become gradually assimilated to the characters of the warmer ones in case of their migration thither. The original Portuguese and French settlers on the coast of Africa would scarcely recognise the kindred of their descendants, who, retaining a smattering of their original language, are closely assimilated to the native tribes, both in their complexion and in the woolly hair that covers their heads. 'One of the most striking illustrations of the assimilating powers of climate,' says the writer just alluded to, is afforded in the case of the Jews. This tribe is scattered over the whole face of the earth, and, though naturalised in every soil, it is still preserved distinct from the rest of mankind. The Jews, on account of the prejudices of religion, and other causes, never intermarry with any but their own sect. If, therefore, they are assimilated to the people among whom they reside, this cannot be ascribed to a mixture of races. Yet it is found that the English Jew is white, the Portuguese brown, the American olive, and the Egyptian swarthy; so that there are, in fact, as many different species of Jews, as there are countries in which they reside, a diversity which can scarcely be accounted for from any other cause than the influence of climate. And climate,' as this writer further observes, ‘has a direct influence in regulating the strength, or weakness of the human constitution; in consequence of which it materially affects the character. The inhabitants of a hot climate are never so robust as those of a more temperate region; extreme heat relaxes the muscular fibre, deranges the natural secretions, and enervates the whole corporeal system. This imbecility of body necessarily has a great effect on the mind; and among such people we have reason to expect timidity and cowardice rather than valor and a capacity to endure hardship. In a climate where moderate cold occasionally prevails, the animal fibre is braced, and all the bodily functions are allowed free play. Here, therefore, we have reason to expect a strong and hardy race, equally qualified to endure the fatigues of the field, and to brave the dangers of war.' In confirmation of this reasoning he cites the imbecile character of the Chinese, the Persians, and the Hindoos, for successive ages. With indolence we also find the love of luxury and effeminate pleasures prevail in warm climates: together with a remarkable degradation of the female sex. Hence polygamy destroys domestic rule and domestic happiness: woman is the slave altogether of the sexual desires of the master-sex. She is jealously secluded for the sake of her transient charms; and the object of warm passion, at the best, rather than of generous and tender friendship or esteem. Some writers have, indeed, contended, that these climates are favorable to the early stages of science and the arts; and remind us that the 'fertile plains of the south of Asia, are universally respected as the cradle of arts, and of genius.' 'Soon, however, have they migrated from these regions. There has been a continual progress northward from happier climes to those less favored by nature,' observe the same parties; and we conclude, with the writer in the Classical Journal before adverted to, that it is in the temperate regions of the earth therefore, that we are to look for an advanced state of the arts, and there that we are to expect examples of heroic valor, transcendant genius, incorruptible patriotism, and unshaken virtue. And it will not be denied, that historical evidence affords the most direct confirmation of the truth of this doctrine. CLIMAX, n. s. Gr. Kλua. Gradation; ascent; a figure in rhetoric, by which the sentence Id. Ah? who can tell how hard it is to climb The steep where Fame's proud temple shines afar, Ah! who can tell how many a soul sublime Has felt the influence of malignant star, And waged with Fortune an eternal war. What is the end of fame? "Tis but to fill A certain portion of uncertain paper; Some liken it to climbing up a hill, Whose summit, like all hills, is lost in vapour. Byron. CLIMBER, a plant that creeps upon other supports; the name of a particular herb. [vy, briony, honey-suckles, and other climbers, must be dug up. Mortimer. CLIME, n. s. contracted from climate, and therefore properly poetical. Climate; region; tract of earth. He can spread thy name o'er land and seas, Whatever clime the sun's bright circle warms. Milton. They apply the celestial description of other climes unto their own. Browne's Vulgar Errours. |