Lawrence) were astonished to find themselves exposed to an intensity of
winter cold far exceeding that which prevailed in Italy, France, and
Scotland, situated in corresponding parallels of latitude. But, however
much a consideration of these climatic relations may have awakened
attention, it was not attended by any practical results until it could be
based on the numerical data of 'mean annual temperature'. If, between 58
degrees and 30 degrees north latitude, we compair Nain, on the coast of
Labrador, with Gottenburg; Halifax with Bordeaus; New
p 319
York with Naples; St. Augustine, in Florida, with Cairo, we find that, under
the same degrees of latitude, the differences of the mean annual temperature
between Eastern America and Western Europe, proceeding from north to south,
are successively 20.7 degrees, 13.9 degrees, 6.8 degrees, and almost 0
degrees. The gradual decrease of the differences in this series extending
over 28 degrees of latitude is very striking. Further to the south, under
the tropics, the isothermal lines are every where parallel to the equator in
both hemispheres. We see, from the above examples, that the questions often
asked in society, how many degrees America (without distinguishing between
the eastern and western shores) is colder than Europe? and how much the mean
annual temperature of Canada and the United States is lower than that of
corresponding latitudes in Europe? are, when thus 'generally expressed',
devoid of meaning.
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