The Portland daily press., 1869-07-21
DAILY PRESS.
PORT,LAND.
Wednesday Morning, July 81, 1869.
Republican Nominations.
FOR COvERNoR
JOSHUA L. CHAMBERLAIN,
FOR GOVERNOR
Eaf = 1900 Il
Letter from the Nsrshwesf-Ns. TX
OF BRUNSWICK,

question of climate, and the DETECTION of iso-
thermal lines-a subject presumed not to
possess immense interest for the general
reader, per Sc, and yet one that has been and
ssill is used to render many people dissatis-
fed with comfortable home surroundings,
through mischievous impression that heav-
en- has been more profuse in its fayors to dis
tant localities than to those nearer home. In
that letter denied the correctness of an oft
made statement that the isothermals of the
Atlantic coast bend as they 90 westward, ten
degrees or more towards the north pole before
reaching the Rocky mountains, and insisted
that from the Atlantic coast to the mountains
the isothermal lines conform very closely to
those of latitude, detecting no more than DIFF
ference in altitude or prevailing winds are
sufficient to explain. igs na4 4s
r HIGH AUTHORITY. iasi sa.ai
E Since that letter was first written, I have
received, through the courtesy OF an esteemed
friend in your city, copy Of the Agricultural
Report for 1867, and at page 2s0 I find an ar
ticle communicated by Prof. Merrick, of
Washington, d. c., on the @elimate of the
Pacific coast" which says that the annual
isotherm of 80 degrees Farenhcit, passing
not through North Cape in the frigid zone,
but through London, is depressed ten de-
grees in crossing the Atlantic, striking the 4
American coast near New York city" The
g annual isotherm" refers not to the tempera-
ture OF any particular season of the year, but
to mean temperature, and Prof. Merrick
sta.es that the mean temperature of London
finds its corresponding temperature at New
York. The higher temperature Of the Euro
pean over the American coast is referred, in
the article under notice, to the system OF
warm water currents springing from the Gulf
Stream. These currents bear the heated wa
ters of the tropical seas diagonally across the
Atlantic, ameliorating the rugged northern
coast climates of Europe, and placing them
upon par with opposite American coast
climates at least ten degrees further routh."
Instead of this isothefmal, which strikes
the coast near New York city, sweeping down
through Pennsylvania, up through Ohio,
around the foot of Lake Michigan, and
north of st. Paul before striking the Missis-
sippi river, and then up still further north
through the Red River and Saskatchewan
valleys far into the heart of the British Do
minion, as represented by the ''fnanciar pa
per from which The Press recently quoted.
Prof. Merrick asserts emphatically that the
same isotherm passes nearly aeest across the
American continent to the longitude of 103
degrees west, where the elevation OF the
Rocky Mountain plateau causes it to DIP sud-
denly soutls,oard as far as the latitude of
Santa Fe; thence crossing the Rocky noun
tains westwardly, it trends northwest, almost
parallel with the Pacific coast, to the north
end of Vancouvre island" the climate on that
coast being about the same mean tempera-
ture as On the European coast in the same
latitude. eaa- "a ~ s..-.t.-
I 1t will be seen from this authority -consid-
cred of the first Importance in American cir
cles-that there Is no marked detection, Ell
ther north or south, of the isothermal lines of
the Atlantic coast, till they are suddenly bent
southward by the altitude Of the Rocky
mountains; in other words, that the climate
Of Minnesota and other States Of the North
west is essentially the same as Of States in
the same latitude farther east and on the sea-
board, and this confirms the position assum--
ed In my last letter, that the climate of st.
Paul differs very little from that of Montreal,
and that Minnesota has essentially the same
climate as northern New York, Vermont,
New Hampshire and Maine, the difference In
winter being against Minnesota on account
Of greater severity, balanced perhaps by the
fact of less wind and not so great fall of
snow. In summer the heat is more intense
than in the same latitude on the coast, owing,
doubtless, to the modifying influence Of ocean
breezes. E m sasss .ssss..,e ~.
SUDDEN CHANGES.
While On the subject of climate may as
well. here as elsewhere, contrary TO the usual
mode of statement say that this is emphatic
ally region of sudden climatic changes, and
Of extreme range of temperature between
summer heat and winter cold. The range of
the mercury between the extremes Of winter
and summer, Is not less than one hundred
and fifty degrees, running up in summer to
l04 degrees above, and sinking in winter to
pearly 30 degrees below zero. The winters
are more equable than the summers, steady
cold being the rule of the former, while in
summer the changes are too sudden to render
the adaptation of clothing to the wants of the
human system anything like . convenient
operation. Itis no infrequent thing for the
early part of q summer day--so hot an to rem.
der linen clothing burden-to be succeeded
py 1slate afternoon or early evening 50 chilly
that thick ~;-ter clothing is by no meass I'M
comfortable, while the rnanges rom heated
evening to cold morning, though less un
grateful to the feelings, and less inconvenient
for adapting the clothing to the necessities Of
the system, are of even more frequent-al-
most of diurnal-occurIence.
lo afas1i IsoTHERMALs AGAIN -aanlA
Returning briefly to isothermals ;--Prof.
Merrick, in the article already quoted from'
not only shows the close conformity of the
isothermals of the sea coast, to the lines Of
latitude, in their course westward, till the
high plateau of the Rocky mountains sudden-
! ly causes them to dip southwark, and theif
| abrupt northern detection when the Pacific
| slope is reached, but he elaborately discusses
the causes OF this northern detection, and
shows why the climate of our western coast
corresponds very nearly to the climate ten de-
grees further south on the Atlantic coast.
dy bi PACIFIC "eULF sTREAM.n
1t has been shown by careful observation
and experiments, that a current known to
navigators as the Japanese Current" or Ku-
70 Siaoo, similar to the Atlantic !" Gull Stream, "
resulting from the union of two currents OF
heated water from the Indian Ocean, which
tends north-nnrthHest, strikes the American
coast between Vancouyre island and the island
| of Sitka. Lieut.. Bent, of the U. S. Navy, in .
paper read by him on the "Kuro Siwo,R says
| its softening influence Is felt ON the coast OF
Oregon and California, but In q less degree
perhaps, than that Of the Gulf Stream on the
coast Of Europe, owing to the greater width
of the Pacific, and vessels trading on
the coast Of Kamschatca, when becoming un-
wieldly from accumulation of ice upon their
hull and rigging, run over to the higher iati-
tude on the American coast, and thaw out in
the same manner as vessels frozen up on the
Atlantic coast retreat to the Gulf Stream, un-
till favored by an easterly wind" The facts
of observation show that the climate OF
Pugets sound is nearly on par with that o.
New York city, while British Columbia and