A manual of Geography, physical, industrial and political ... New edition

Section I

Extent and Boundaries : Dimensions, Inland Seas, Gulfs, Sic. . 17-21 H. Surface : Capes — Peninsulas — Mountains — Plains and Valleys, Steppes, &c 21-34 III. Drainage : Rivers and Lakes 34-40 IV. Islands : in the Arctic Ocean — the Atlantic — the Baltic — the Mediterranean . 40-46 V. Climate: Mean annual and seasonal Temperature, Rains, "Winds, &c. 46-51 VI. Natural Productions : Metals and Minerals ..... 51-57 VII. do. Vegetation 57-59 Vlll. do. Zoology — Mammalia — Birds — Reptiles — Fishes— Insects 60-65 IX. People op Europe : Races of Men — Languages 66-68 Table of European Mountains, with their Elevations . . . 69-72

Chapter IV. Great Britain And Ireland

I. England and Wales : Extent and Boundaries — Capes, Coasts, Estuaries — Seas, Tides, &c. — List of Counties — Surface of Land — Islands— Rivers — Lakes — Minerals — Climate, Vegetation, &c. — Population, Industrial Pursuits, Manufactures, Commerce, fee- Divisions and Principal Towns 73-112 II. Scotland do. do. do. . 112-132 LTI. Ireland do. do. do. . 132-145 Form of Government, Religion, Education, Army and Navy, Colonies 146-143 // SYNOPSIS OK CONTENTS.

Chapter V. The Countries Op Western

EUnorE. SECTION PAGB I. France : Extent and Boundaries— Rursnce, Rivers, &c— Climate aud Natural Productions— Inhabitants, Industrial Pursuits, Manufactures, &c— Divisions and Principal Towns— Government, Religion, Education, -Sic.— Colonies 160-169 II. BKLOIDV : do. ilo. do. . 170-170 III. The XinrrF.RLANDg : do. do. do. . 17G-184

Chapter VI. The Countries Op Central Europe

1. Switzerland : Boundaries and Extent— Surface, Rivers, Lakes, &c. — Climate, Productions, &c.— Inhabitants, Industrial Pursuits, &c. — Divisions and Principal Towns— Government, Education, &c 185-193 II. Germany : Natural Features— Climate and Productions— Population, &c 193-201 The German Empire 201-214 PurssLt 201-2OH Smaller States of the German Emtire . . . 208-214 South German States 214-217 IU. The Austro-Hungartan Empire 217-234

Chapter VII. The Countries Op Northern And Eastern Europe

I. Denmark : Extent and Boundaries— Surface, Rivers, &c— Climate, Productions, &c. — Inhabitants, Commerce, &c. — Divisions and Principal Towns— Government, Religion, Colonies, &c. . . . 235-240 Iceland 238-233 II. Sweden and Norway do. do. do. . 240-251 III. Russia do. do. do. . 251-763 Circassia 2C5-266

Chapter VIII. The Countries Of Southern Eueope

I. Tur-KET : Boundaries and Extent— Surface, Rivers, Sic.— Climate and Productions — Inhabitants, Commerce, iSic. — Provinces and Towns — Government, Religion, Manners, &c 267-281 MoXTEXEORO . . 280-281 II. Giœece ■ do. do. do. . 281-288 III. Italy do. do. do. . 288-309 IV. Spam do. do. do. . 3119-323 V. Portugal do. do. do. . 323-331 Tabular Vievr of the European States ...'.... 331 Turkey iu Europe. Changes made by the Treaty ol Berlin, July 13, 1878 . 332 ISaaZX MANUAL OF GEOGRAPHY.

Chapter I. General Division Of Land And Water

( 1 . ) The entire surface of the earth is estimated to contain about 197 millions of English square miles, of "which the land (so far as at present known) occupies about 5H millions, and the water 145i> millions. It is possible that there may be considerable tracts of land yet undiscovered within the limits of the polar regions, but these cannot be so great as to affect materially the proportions of the above estimate. The solid portion of the earth's surface occupies, therefore, Little more than one-fourth part of its entire extent. (2.) The northern half of the globe exhibits a much larger extent of land-surface than the southern half, and the proportion of land to water is greater in the case of the North Temperate Zone than in either of the other zones. If the whole surface of any belt of the globe be regarded as unity, the proportionate area of land in each is expressed by the decimals given in the following table : — In the Northern half of the Torrid Zone '2C046 Southern ha's of tbe Torrid Zone -23462 North Temperate Zone '49192 South Temperate Zone '08477 North Frigid Zone -33880 That is, within the portion of the Torrid Zone which is to the north of the equator, the land occupies a little more, and in the southern half of the Torrid Zone a little less, than a quarter of the total area.

In the North Temperate Zone, the proportions of land and water make near approach to equality, the former occupying very nearly half the entire area. In the South Temperate Zone, on the contrary, the land fills less than a tenth part of the whole. The North Frigid Zone (so far as it has yet been explored) shows a land area which is about a third of the whole. The corresponding belt B PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. of the southern hemisphere (South Frigid Zone) is too imperfectly known to admit of any similar calculation.1 It thence appears that, if the entire surface of each hemisphere he taken as unity, the proportion of Land within the northern half of the globe is -36372, and in the southern half '1064G : and that the proportion which the whole of the Land bears to the Water is as 1 to 2-&13. (3.)

The water is in reality one vast, continuous, and connected Ocean, which surrounds and insulates the land. It forms three great basins— Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian, which arc partially separated from one another by the masses of land that form the great continents and islands. To these may be added two other divisions— Arctic and Antarctic, by which names are respectively distinguished the bodies of water situated within the limits of the Arctic and Antarctic Circles, and probably reaching to the Poles. There are, however, no natural limits to these last-named divisions: the Arctic Ocean seems to belong naturally to the basin of the Atlantic, and the Antarctic is equally connected with the waters of the Pacific, the Atlantic, and the Indian Oceans. The name Southern Ocean is sometimes given to that part of the water which lies be tween the Antarctic Circle to the south, and a line to the north drawn from Tierra del Fue.^o to the south of New Zealand, thence to Tasmania and the south coast of Africa, and across to Tierra del Fuego again.

In its widest part (at the equator) the Pacific Ocean stretches over half the circumference of the globe, and alone 1 As the figures given above differ to some extent from those generally cited in books treating of geography, it may be proper to state that they are the result of an entirely independent series o£ calculations made by the present writer, based upon the method explained, many years since, in his ' Principles of Mathematical Geo graphy, comprehending a theoretical and practical explanation of the construction of Maps ' (London, 1843). The surface of the globe is divided, for the purpose, into a series of zones, each of which corresponds in breadth to one degree of the meridian ; the superficial area of each zone is then determined on the geometrical principle, that ' the surface of a spherical zone is to the area of the sphere as the distance of* the parallels which bound it (or the difference between the sines of the latitudes) is to the diameter of the sphere.' It is obvious that the portion of a zone which is comprehended between any two given meridians will bear the same relation to the entire zone that the difference of longitude does to its whole circumference (360°) : hence, by ascertaining, from maps on a sufficiently largo scale, the longitudinal extent of any space of which the dimensions are required, the means are supplied for obtaining, with very considerable accuracy, its superficial area, in so far as zones of one degree in breadth are concerned.

The addition together of these areas, through a succession of such zones, will of course give the superficial dimensions of any re quired area of the globe. Three other estimates of the proportional areas of land and water, with reference to each zone, as well as to the entire globe, appear to have been made, previously to that of the present writer. One of these (and that from which the figures most fre quently quoted have been derived) was by Malte-Brun, who has not Btated the elements of his calculation. In the case of the two others, the respective weights of the land and water areas, derived from the paper gores used to cover the surface of a large artificial globe, were the basis of the figurea arrived at. This method was employed by Dr. Long, in 1742, and repeated at a later date by Professor Rigaud, of Cambridge.

The figures given in the text exhibit a very near correspondence with those of Rigaud, and this harmony of results derived from methods so totally opposite as those respectively employed furnishes a strong presump'tion in favour of their accuracy. The great addition to our knowledge of the lands lying within the Arctic Circle, acquired within the last quarter of a century, gives the decimal which ex presses the proportionate land-area within theNorth Frigid Zone a higher value than it bore in the first edition of the present wri ter's work, above referred to. CONTINENTAL DIVISIONS OF THE GLOBE. 3 occupies a much greater extent than the whole of the land on the earth's surface. (4.) The land, which is exceedingly irregular in its distribution, forms two great masses, or continents, distinguished as the Eastern Continent (or Old World) and the Western Continent (or New World).

The main body of the Eastern Continent extends in a general east and west direction, while the Western Continent stretches in length from north to south — facts which, as we shall hereafter see, are connected with the general direction of the mountain chains, and the great masses of high land in each. The Eastern Continent is divided into Europe, Asia, and Africa ; and the Western Continent into North America and South America. Each of these divisions is, indeed, property regarded as a continent in itself. Australia, an extensive and detached tract of land, situated to the south-eastward of Asia, is also sufficiently large lo be entitled to the appellation of continent. There are, then, in all, six continents (using the word in its limited sense) — four in the eastern, and two in the western, hemisphere.

The continents of Europe, Asia, and North America are situated wholly to the northward of the equator. Africa and South America are also partly in the northern half of the globe. Australia is the only one of the continents that is entirely within the southern hemisphere. Besides the above-named continental regions, there are a vast number of islands, distributed throughout the ocean. These exhibit every variety of shape and size, and in many cases form large groups. In general, islands are regarded as belonging to that continent to which they are most nearly adjacent. But the numerous insular groups that occur in the Pacific Ocean, within the tropics, are re garded as forming, under the appropriate name of Polynesia, a separate division of the earth. Europe, Asia, Africa, America, Australia, and Polynesia con stitute, in modern geography, the six great divisions of the globe. PHYSICAL GEOGEArHT.

Chapter II. Introductory Sketch Of Physical Geography

(5.) General Outline of tlte Land. — Of the great land-masses, Europe has by much the largest extent of sea-border or maritime frontier. The sea penetrates its outline much more completely than is the case with the other continents. The Mediterranean and Baltic Seas, with their numerous gulfs, are evidence of this. Asia has its immediate outline penetrated by thc adjacent seas; but their waters do not, as in the case of Europe, advance into the very heart of the mainland. The vast and solid mass of the African continent is comparatively unaffected by the surrounding waters. Noith America, especially on its eastern side, makes, in variety of outline, nearer approach to the condition of Europe. The southern half of the New World, less favourably circumstanced in this respect, has some amends in its vast rivers— a network of inland waters on the largest scale.

(C.) The following table shows that Europe has, in proportion to extent of surface, nearly three times as much coast-line as Asia, about four times as much as Africa, more than twice as much as South America, and nearly twice as much as North America. It is not uninteresting to observe that the almost infinite variety of outline, by which Europe is distinguished as a whole, finds ils extremest development in the case of the shores of Greece, in tlie one direction, and in those of Britain, in another. And the central position which, with respect to the lands of each hemisphere, the latter occupies, constitutes a fact well deserving of the student's regard.1 ' Dividing the globe into two hemispheres by a great circle which coi responds to the rational horizon of London— passing to the south of Africa, cutting the' southern extremity of Ada, and Intersecting South America— we have the greate-t possible Surface Coast-lino Square miles of surface for 1 mile of coast Europe Asia Africa . . . , North America..

South America.. Australia 3,700,000 1 7,500,000 12,000,000 8,600,000 7,000,000 3,000,000 19,500 35,0i'0 16,000 24 gon 14,500 10,000 190 500 750 350 482 filial CT Linden . W Bu#hes AREAS OF ELEVATION. 5 (7.) Mountains. — The true relationship of Mountains to the other physical features of the earth's surface is often very imperfectly appreciated. Mountains form, in nearly all cases, portions of areas of elevation, and they cannot be properly treated apart from the highland regions to which they belong. There are, no doubt, many instances of isolated hills — in some cases of considerable elevation — which rise conspicuously above a surrounding plain ; especially within regions where the surface has undergone disturbance by volcanic agency. But in the vastly greater number of cases — in cluding all the more elevated and widespread mountain regions, as the Alps, the Pyrenees, Taurus, Altai, Caucasus, Himalaya, Andes, and others— the so-called mountain-chain is in reality only the most conspicuous portion of a much more extensive region of eleva tion, forming in most cases one of the outer barriers of the latter.

That is, the mountains must be regarded as portions of the great masses of high land known as plateaus, or table-lands. Even the Himalayas, the loftiest elevations on the earth's surface, have no existence apart from the vast plateau-lands known by the names of Tibet and Pamir ' — the latter, literally the ' roof ' or ' upper floor ' of the world. The Alps are similarly placed with regard to the high plains of Switzerland and Southern Germany. The so-called Ghauts of Western India form a connected mountain-range only on the side of the Malabar coast ; and the Himalayas, relatively to the Tibetan plateau, are reduced to half their altitude above the Ganges valley. In the western hemisphere, the Andes only exhibit their full altitude as a continuous chain — or, rather, succession of chains (cordilleras) — upon the side of the Pacific Ocean.

(8.) The plateau-lands of the Old World stretch in the general direction of east and west (more strictly, north-east and south-west) through its lensrth, from the neighbourhood of the Pacific to the shores of the Atlantic Ocean, occupying, in the case of Asia, the greater part of its most central regions. The prolonged mountain chains which mark their outer border follow, of course, the same general direction. The areas of elevation (mountain-chains and table-lands inclusive) make everywhere nearer approach to the Pacific and Indian Oceans, and to the waters of the Mediterranean, than to the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans. It hence follows that their outer borders have a more rapid descent in the direction of the two former than in that of the two latter named oceans. The mountain chains of Southern Asia sink with a rapid slope towards the Indian Ocean, as those of Southern Europe do towards the Mediterranean, while the ranges which mark the opposite face of the plateau-lands decline gradually towards the much more distant Asiatic shores of the Arctic Sea, or, in the case of Europe, towards the waters of the Baltic and White Seas.

In other words, the high lands of the Old World exhibit a rapid slope to the southward, and a more prolonged slope towards the north. area of land brought within the limits of one hemisphere, and the greatest area cf water within the other. London occupies the central point of the land-hemisphere ; its antipodes that of the water-hemisphere. ' Bam-i-Dftnya (Nat/ward, in ' Proceedings of Royal Geographical Society of London,' vol. xv. 1871), PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. In the New World, these conditions are changed; the highest grounds are found more immediately adjacent to the western side of the whole land-mass. Their outer flanks present continuous chains, towards the waters of the neighbouring Pacific on the one side— towards the great river-valleys of the interior on the other; and these chains assume the direction of north and south.

Those of them which form the western border of the entire area of elevation — that is, the westernmost cordilleras of the Andean region, In the case of South America, with the Cascade Ranges and the Sierra Nevada, in the northern half of lhe American continent — decline rapidly to the westward : their inland descent is more gradual, and much less considerable. It is towards the Atlantic that the longer slopes of the land, in both hemispheres, are directed.1 (9.) The Ocean. — The waters of the Pacific cover an area greater than that of all the lands on the globe, and equal to above a third of the earth's surface. At the equator, its vast basin measures 12,000 miles across. The Indian Ocean, which communicates with the Pacific, in its middle belt, through the numerous channels of the Malay Archi pelago, is closed in to the north and west by the lands of Asia and Africa— a condition that involves important consequences to the climates experienced in its adjacent lands.2 It possesses two strictly inland seas (of which the Pacific does not offer a single example) — viz. : the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf, the former of them unex ampled in the fact of its not receiving a single perennial stream.

The Atlantic, in its shape, regarded as a whole, bears some resemblance to the windings of a mighty river. It passes, tothe northward, into the Arctic or North Polar Ocean, which is really a prolongation of the same basin. It is specially characterised by its inland seas, or land-enclosed basins, of which the Mediterranean and Baltic Seas on the one side, and Hudson Bay on the other, are the most obvious and familiar examples. (10.) Depth of the Sea. — Vast as is their area, the waters are, after all, but a superficial covering of the least elevated portion of the earth's solid crust. The land which slopes down to the shore is prolonged beneath the waters, and repeats within the depths of ocean the inequalities that distinguish its visible portions. Sound ings prove this to be the case. According asjthe land descends by gradual or abrupt slopes, so in general is the depth of the neighbouring sea found to be more or less considerable within a short distance of the shore-line : an abrupt and rugged line of coast, the seaward termination of a mountain-area, is generally proximate to the waters of a deep sea, and the reverse.

Recent observations show that the depth of the ocean, great as it is, falls short of what was formerly believed to be the case The earlier experiments directed to this point were in most (perhaps all) cases vitiated by insufficient allowance for the influence of drift 1 See chap. xv. ' Physical Geography of South America ' * See Climate of India. THE OCEAN. 7 from currents and other causes. Of the numerous soundings made by the ' Challenger ' (1873-4) within the North Atlantic basin, one showing 23,250 feet, immediately adjacent to the island of St. Thomas, W. Indies, gives a maximum. This exceeds by half the altitude of Mont Blanc, and nearly equals the highest elevations of the Andes. Many soundings exceeding 18,000, and some that ex ceed 20,000, feet, have been taken within widely-dispersed areas of the North Atlantic — for the most part towards the western side of its basin."

Depths varying between 2000 aud 2650 fathoms (15,900 feet) were obtained by the ' Challenger ' in her run across the southern half of the Atlantic basin, midway between South America and South Africa. South of south latitude 30° the depth is rarely as great as 16,000 or 17,000 feet, and never greater. An elevated ridge, at a depth not greater than 8500 to 10,000 feet below the surface, runs through the centre of the bed of the Atlantic from Iceland to the Cape of Good Hope. Deep valleys lie on each side of this ridge ; and the Azores, Ascension, and St. Helena are peaks rising from it. The Cape de Verde Islands, the Canaries, and Madeira stand on separate plateaus. A depth of 15,600 feet is the maximum hitherto observed within the Indian Ocean. Nearly double that depth has been found within the North-western Pacific.

Off the Kurile Isles a depth of 27,930 feet was recorded ; east of Japan, one of 27,858 ; and among the Ladrone Islands, one of 27,450 feet.2 (11.) The proportion which the particles of salt (chiefly chloride of sodium, or common salt) contained in the waters of the sea bear to its entire body varies according to local conditions, and the density of the water undergoes like variation. In those seas which are within the wanner latitudes — i.e. within or near the tropical belt — the proportion of saline contents is generally found to be above, in the case of those that are within or adjoin the polar basins, below, the average of the ocean as a whole, which is in a ratio of about three and a half per cent, of its entire mass. The average saltnessof the Atlantic is a little in excess of jff5ths ; of the Indian Ocean about jligths ; of the Pacific Ocean, between the Malay Archipelago and the Aleutian Islands, i§f„ths ; and between the Aleutians and the Society Islands iggjths.

The saline contents of the Mediterranean amount to Tgroths (nearly four per cent.), and the Red Sea contains a still larger proportion, as much as j^ths. (12.) The temperature of the sea exhibits a variation which is of less considerable range than that of the superjacent atmosphere, and very much less considerable than that of the land. The mean sur face temperature of the water is generally coincident (or nearly so) with that of the air : within the middle and lower latitudes — indeed, as a rule, throughout— the temperature falls with increase of depth. 1 The British Islands rest upon a vast submarine plateau, of which the larger portion is covered by the waters of the North Sea, and the adjacent Atlantic, in the direction of the Faroe Islands and Iceland. Some distance west of the Irish coast, the depths suddenly increase from 500 to 1700 fathoms and upwards. 3 See chap. iii. pp. 18 — 20, as to the depths and other conditions of Baltic and Mediterranean Seas. rin'sicAL GEOGRArrnr.

The decrease, however, does not exhibit any uniform ratio, and is affected by currents — either of warmer or colder water — flowing at various depths. Everywhere in the Torrid and Temperate Zones, the bed of the ocean is covered with a layer of cold water from 2000 to 3000 feet thick, and varying from 32° to 35° Fahr. in tempera ture. In the Pacific this layer reaches to within 9000 feet of the surface. Above this layer in all the oceans there lies another wliich reaches to between 3000 and 2500 feet from the surface, and which is almost uniformly of a temperature of 403 Fahr. The heat of the water nearest the surface varies with the latitude and the time of the year. The temperature of the Mediterranean, below a surface stratum of about fifty fathoms, to which the direct solar heat may be assumed to penetrate, is found of remarkable uniformity, remaining nearly at 54° to the very bottom.

The specific gravity of sea-water exceeds that of fresh water in the ratio of 1-026 to 1 : the amount, however, varying with the larger or smaller proportion of saline ingredients. Sea-water (unlike fresh water, which has its maximum density at 39° or 40°, and freezes at 32°) continues to increase in density down to its freezing point, which is as low as 28-5°. The various densities of different portions of the great body of ocean, resulting from their different degrees of heat, are the most influential cause of ocean-currents. (13.) Currents are streams in the ocean, exhibiting (like the rivers on the land, but on a scale of vastly greater magnitude) a continuous flow, from one part of the ocean towards another part. In some portions of the globe, they may be traced through vast areas of the ocean, by the colour of the water, its temperature (higher or lower, as the case may be, than the average of the particular parallel), and, above all, by the observed rate of motion with which the ocean-stream carries forward whatever is borne upon its surface.

The normal movement of ocean-currents results, there is little doubt, from the different temperatures of the tropical and the polar waters, and especially from the intense cold (and consequent greater density) of the latter. A constant circuit of water between the poles and the equator is thus maintained— the colder and heavier waters of the polar seas flowing (at their outset, below the surface, towards which, however, they gradually rise as they reach warmer latitudes) in the direction of the equator; the warmer and lighter waters of the tropical belt slowing, upon the surface, in the direction of either pole. The chief supply of the cold layer at the bottom of the oceans certainly comes, however, from the vast body of water in the Antarctic and Southern Oceans. The cold water from the Arctic Ocean hardly reaches farther south than the North of Scotland in the North Atlantic, and apparently has no influence in the North Pacific.

The movements thus generated, however, are materially modified by other conditions— amongst the most influential of which is the earth's axial motion from west to east. This eastivardhi motion exhibits, with reference to particular parallels, a gradually dimin ishing ratio, in advancing from the equator to either 'pole At the TnE ATMOSPHERE TRADE-WINDS. 9 equator, it is equivalent to above a thousand miles an hour, under the parallel of 60° only half that amount, and at the pole it has no existence. The body of water (and, similarly, the advancing column of superjacent air) moving from the tropics in the direction of either pole maintains an eastwardly motion which is in excess of that be longing to the higher latitudes into which it is advancing, and is hence deflected to the eastward of the meridian: it becomes, in consequence, a current setting to the north-east, and meets the western shore-line of either continent, bringing with it the high temperature derived from the regions of the south and south-west.

Under precisely opposite conditions, the body of water (or column of air) moving from the pole, in the direction of the equator, possessing an eastwardly motion which is below that of the lower parallels, lags behind the increasing eastwardly tendency ; that is, it falls constantly to the westward of the meridian, and moves towards the south-n-est, meeting the eastern shores of the Old and New Worlds, and carrying to them the cold influences and climatic conditions of the polar regions.1 Other causes, however, determine the great movements of tie waters, and also those of the air. The trade-winds which blow perennially across the Atlantic and Pacific, within a belt of about 30° on either side of the equator, may be assumed as the chief agents in occasioning the Equatorial Currents which cross those oceans in a westwardly direction.

The Gulf Stream, which issues from the Gulf of Mexico, and sets in a north-east and eastwardly direction through the western portion of the North Atlantic, is probably due to the equatorial current of the Atlantic, the waters of which, stopped in their farther westward progress by the continuous land of the American continent, make the circuit of the Caribbean Sea and the Mexican Gulf, finding an ultimate outlet from the latter through the narrow channel between the peninsula of Florida and the neighbouring islands of the West Indies. It appears probable that most of the great ocean-streams are to be regarded as derivatives cither from the great tropical or warm current of either hemisphere, due to the flow of warm water in the direction of the pole ; or from the polar or cold current, due to the iiow of the colder and heavier water from either pole in the direc tion of the equator.

The earth's axial rotation, — the continuity of land through large areas, prolonged in the direction of the meridian, — the inequalities in the bed of the sea, — and the influence within the tropical belt of the Atlantic and Pacific, of perennial winds, — sufficiently account for the actual deviation of these streams from their normal direction. (14.) Climate. — The great conditions of temperature and com parative amount of moisture, as distributed over the earth's surface, are described in succeeding pages. Illustration of them, in various 1 A south-westwardly current and a north east wind, it should be remembered, are the same in point of direction, being, in either case, cold. On the other hand, a north-eastwardly current of water is equivalent, in point of direction and tempera ture, to a south-west wind.

The name applied to the currents by the sea are derived from the direction towards which they move ; those given to winds indicate the quarter whence they are derived. PHYSICAL GEOGRArnY. measure, and under the most contrasted combinations, is found in the case of every country on the globe.1 Illustration of the truth that climate depends largely upon other causes than latitude is derived from the study of lines drawn, upon a map, through places of equal temperature. Such lines are called Isotherms— or Isothermal Lines.2 If all places that receive the sun's rays at the same angle, and have the same lengths of day and night, enjoyed an equal measure of heat, parallels of latitude would of course be isotherms also. But this is far from being the case. The isotherms within each hemisphere make great curves away from the due east and west direction of the parallels.