The Portland daily press., 1866-12-28

Isothermal lines are imaginary ones that
pass through those points, on the surface of
the earth, at which the mean annual tempera-
ture is the same. To most people it is sub
iect of wonder, and to some here in New Eng
land is almost a matter of complaint against
dame Nature, that these lines deviate, espe-
ciaIly in our case, SO widely from the lines of
latitude which encircle the earth Consider
ing that the forces of the suns rays are equal
on all latitudin&l lines, because they fall with
the same perpendicularity and obliquity on all
like distances from the equator, it has been,
and yet is, an unsolved mystery, why the win
ter should be longer and the summer shorter
in New England, and, indeed, in most parts Of
the Atlantic States, on the same parallel of lat
itude, than they are in Europe and on the Pa
cihc coast of our own continent. We in Maine,
for instance, are in the latitude of the south of
France, where the fig and the olive abound,
and where what zoe should call winter is never
known; whereas we have climate that is
rigid as that of northern Europe, even of Nor
way and Sweden. England is as far north as
Labrador, andy yet grass is green all winter,
and cattle need much less shelter or stall feed
ing than they require in our northern States.
Why is this? Why are zoe the unfavored of
the earth in regard to the warming rays of an
equal sun? These questions cannot find their
solution in astronomical causes-that science
which is the earliest, most demonstrable, and
the foundation of all civilization. Every
pound of air in our world, whether it be at the
bottom or the top of the atmospheric ocean,
contains the same amount of heat, so-called,
A. of 4Ihn NH. aI or.i,. ko4 Io
whole face of nature are of as much power in
New England in lat. 43 deg. as in lat 43 deg
in France OF Italy. The mystery, then, must
be explained by other causes. What are they?
Here we enter the regions of conjecture. We
must view facts from different standpoint, if
obliged to abandon the field of astronomical
laws. In the field Of observation alone, we
meet with so many conflicting facts, and so
many exceptions to every general rule, that
our conclusions are not very reliable.
The great amount of frozen seas and lakes in
our northern regions are supposed to be the
cause of our long and cold winters; but what
pray, makes those northern waters in America
freeze so much more than water freezes in the
same latitude ON the European continent? Is
it not the cold weather that causes the ice of
those seas ana lakeS raUucT IudH tiie Ice there
which makes the cold weather?
Then again. it is said that the mountains of
the United States cause these differences in
climate, as high elevations are always cold
(which is not true) and the air which rushes
down from them chills that of the valleys be-
low. But they have high mountains in the
neighborhood OF France and Italy-the Alps,
the Pyrenees, &c, and why should not those
mountains produce the same effects upon the
European climate that results from the ele-
waited lands of America? These are interesting
questions Who can solve them?
The Professor of the Smithsonian Institution
at Washington is quite certain that the differ
ence between the Isothermal curves, on the
lines of latitude between Europe and Ameri-
ca, is to be explained by tie influence of the
Gulf stream which, passing by England and
Norway, is felt even in Siberia, and which
modifies the climate wherever it goes. But if
this be SO, we should like to be informed, why
this warm tide, which passes still more I'M
cooled by distance, go near the coasts of Maine
and Nova Scotia, as to be almost within reach
of the mainland, does not have the same modi-
flying effect upon our climate as it is said to
have upon that of England, Sweden and Nor
way after it reaches those northern ATTITUDES
in Europe? One would think that zoe should
be specially favored by that warm current
While these isothermal lines are so strongly