Warm climate

“ The calmer light, the more gentle and equalized heat, the thicker and more humid atmosphere, explain that equalization of temperature, those days half veiled and transparent nights, and that tepid climate of the polar regions, that we might consider as presiding at the development of primitive life. Finally, the primitive sun, by its slow condensation, passing insensibly into its present state, necessarily forced the retreat of the torrid zone, thus ending the anterior equality of the climate, permitting cold to become established at the pole, and concentrating heat at the equator. ”

“ The three climatic zones of moderate temperature are described in detail, and the distinctive features of the social condition and civilisation of their inhabitants dwelt upon. The influence of the atmosphere, heat, &c., on the physical and even mental and moral peculiarities of peoples is maintained to be great. Not only the darkness of skin of the negroes, but their characteristics of disposition and of mode of life, are traced to the influence of climate. ”

“ It may, however, be permitted us to state a few simple facts relative to the atmospheric temperature of our globe, and the adaptation of organic beings to the different degrees of heat within the inter-tropics, in the temperate and in the polar latitudes. Climate varies not only according to latitude, but also according to elevation, the relative proportions of land and water, the nature of the surface of the land, the extent of forests, etc. ”

“ The elements—temperature, sunshine, wind, humidity, and rainfall—are recognized as having importance and should be known for every part of our country. The latest movement is for facts in local climate, even that of the farm or certain parts of it, and of the soil. ”

“ Moreover, on sunshiny days, the reflection and radiation of the sun's warmth from the vertical sides of the houses must tend in no inconsiderable degree to raise the temperature locally, and aid in producing a thaw. The facts observed in a city are hence not a complete guide in the discussion of general climate changes. ”

“ This work finished, then the warming power of a non-setting sun becomes evident, and the continuously accumulating heat of his rays displays its remarkable effect on vegetable life, and everything capable of being warmed. These peculiarities of Arctic climate must become exaggerated as the Pole is approached, the winter cold still more intense, and the accumulation of summer heat still greater. ”

“ But the temperature of a place is influenced very much by several other causes, as well as by the force and duration of the sun's heat. First, the elevation of a country above the level of the sea has a great influence upon its climate. Elevated districts of country, even in the torrid zone, often enjoy the most agreeable climate in the world. ”

“ The heat of the climate must necessarily be excessive; and this is augmented, in the course of the river, by high woods, without sufficient intervals, in many places, to admit of being refreshed by the winds. ”

“ Now, if the Earth of our cold Climate be so fertile of animate bodies, what may we think of the fat Earth of hotter Climates? Certainly, the Sun may there, by its activity, cause as great a parcel of Earth to fly on wings in the Air, as it does of Water in steams and vapours. And what swarms must we suppose to be sent out of those plentifull inundations of water which are poured down by the sluces of Rain in such vast quantities? ”

“ The covering of an area by a great city, a village, a forest, a barn, or a tent modifies the climate of the particular area covered so long as the covering remains, but there is no appreciable climatic effect a few feet above the surface of the earth between a forest and a field of grain. The climate of a region like the American continent is controlled fundamentally by the great [244] oceans that wash its shores, by the trend of its mountain systems and their height, and by the direction of its prevailing winds. ”

“ While the true basis on which to establish climatic areas or provinces is the resultant of all the weather elements which go to make up the atmospheric conditions recognised under the broader term climate, so many factors have to 185 be considered that it is extremely difficult to arrive at a general acceptable conclusion. The principal elements of the weather to be considered are, approximately, in the order of their importance, beginning with the one which exerts almost universal control—temperature, precipitation, the winds, absolute and relative humidity of the air, and evaporation. ”

“ Climate in its modern acceptation signifies that peculiar state of the atmosphere in regard to heat and moisture which prevails in any given place, together with its meteorological conditions generally in so far as they exert an influence on animal and vegetable life. ”

“ In nature, the sun heats the earth's surface and this heat is conducted to deeper layers of soil and water during the day and back to the surface at night—the varying ability of different soils and of water to absorb and conduct heat has a profound effect on local and worldwide weather and climate. ”

“ Therefore it may be presumed that definite climatic conditions are required for the specific development of each type of species and for each kind of civilization. Just as history shows that one of the many conditions of human progress has changed repeatedly from century to century on account of variations in climatic factors, so these stimuli have, from the earliest times, swayed and modified all classes of organic life. Climate serves to develop, retard, or extinguish animal characteristics, habits, and development. ”

“ But we were all so willing to get into a warmer climate, that we did not incline to put in anywhere, till, having run thus fifteen days and the wind still holding southerly, with small alteration and clear weather, we could easily perceive the climate to change, and the weather grow milder. ”

“ Enough has been said to indicate that climate is nearly as important to animal life as it is to the vegetable existence, and that a cold climate, if it be not so extreme as to limit the production of cereal crops, and has frequent changes in temperature, pressure, sunshine, and cloud, favors the development of hardy and resourceful races of men; in fact, that no dominating race can exist without such stimulating conditions of climate. ”

“ The best climate is, therefore, one where the temperature ranges from not much below the freezing-point at night in winter to about 80 degrees F. by day in summer, and where the storms which bring daily changes are frequent at all seasons. ”

“ In an extensive country, it will, of course, be expected that the climate is not the same in all its parts. It is remarkable that, proceeding on the same parallel of latitude westwardly, the climate becomes colder in like manner as when you proceed northwardly. ”

“ Here then the atmospherical currents [263] of mountains and coast meet and neutralize each other,—the extremes of both disappear: and the result is a delicious climate for the convalescent, whose tender organs require a gentle uniform temperature, alike removed from the extremes of heat and cold, dryness and moisture; and he who has the precaution or prudence to keep in the shade while the sun crosses the vale in the middle of the day, may, in truth, enjoy undisturbed all the curative qualities of a delightful and renovating temperature. ”

“ The solar heat, which grows for us the food by which we live, is no doubt in one sense the final cause of every meteorological change, bringing those years of want and years of plenty which are due to local variations of climate, that depend, through a chain of causes very remote and obscure, no doubt, yet finally, upon the sun. ”

“ The Houses or dwellings of these People are admirably calculated for the continual warmth of the Climate; they do not build them in Towns or Villages, but seperate each from the other, and always in the Woods, and are without walls, so that the air, cooled by the shade of the Trees, has free access in whatever direction it hapens to blow. ”

“ Such being the case, the actual character of any climate will be far better realized by placing in juxtaposition the mean annual temperature, the mean temperature of the hot, and the mean temperature of the cooler months. ”

“ In the regions of Asia, Southern Europe, and Northern Africa, where the weather was at first the most zealously studied, the daily as well as yearly changes of temperature, direction of wind, cloudiness, and precipitation, have a far greater regularity than in our climate.
As Nature there also yields her fruits in greater plenitude, the dependence of universal welfare on the weather phenomena is far less painful and disturbing than in our latitudes. ”

“ It is, upon the whole, not probable that so small an extent of forest, so situated, could produce a sensible influence on the general climate of the globe, though it might appreciably affect the local action of all climatic elements. The total annual amount of solar heat absorbed and radiated by the earth, and the sum of terrestrial evaporation and atmospheric precipitation, must be supposed constant; but the distribution of heat and of humidity is exposed to disturbance in both time and place by a multitude of local causes, among which the presence or absence of the forest is doubtless one. ”

“ The polar limits of the temperate zones are fixed by the isotherm of 50° for the warmest month. Summer heat is more important for vegetation than winter cold, and where the warmest month has a temperature below 50°, cereals and forest trees do not grow, and man has to adjust himself to the peculiar climatic conditions in a very special way. ”

“ These two directions are those of heat and cold. We cannot suppose that life would develop in any important degree in a region of perpetual frost, such as the polar regions of our globe. But we do not find any end to it as the climate becomes warmer. On the contrary, every one knows that the tropics are the most fertile regions of the globe in its production. The luxuriance of the vegetation and the number of the animals continually increase the more tropical the climate becomes. ”

“ So the most excessive climate—that is, the climate where the greatest extremes alternate, other things being equal, is upon or near the line or area of greatest magnetic intensity. I say other things being equal, because large bodies of water modify climates by equalizing the seasons—making the summers cooler and the winters warmer than the mean of the parallel. ”

“ In winter the large amount of heat stored in the water is slowly given out to the air above. Thus the climate near the ocean is made more moderate both in winter and summer by the large capacity of water for heat. ”

“ Climate and crops, climate and industry, climate and health, are subjects of vital interest to man.
The Climatic Elements and their Treatment.—Climatology has to deal with the same groups of atmospheric conditions as those with which meteorology is concerned, viz. temperature (including radiation) ; moisture (including humidity, precipitation and cloudiness) ; wind (including storms) ; pressure; evaporation, and also, but of less importance, the composition and chemical, optical and electrical phenomena of the atmosphere. ”

“ Climate too has changed again and again, either through the elevation of mountains in high latitudes leading to the accumulation of snow and ice, or by a change in the direction of winds and ocean currents produced by the subsidence or elevation of lands which connected continents and divided oceans. ”

“ The waters of lakes, therefore, and rivers, would be much hotter in winter, and would be never chilled in summer by melted snow and ice. A remarkable uniformity of climate would prevail amid the archipelagoes of the temperate and polar oceans, where the tepid waters of equatorial currents would freely circulate. The general humidity of the atmosphere would far exceed that of the present period, for increased heat would promote evaporation in all parts of the globe. ”

“ An equally bold speculation, founded on the well-known fact that the temperature of the earth and of its internal waters increases as we descend beneath the surface, has suggested that artesian wells might supply heat for industrial and domestic purposes, for hot-house cultivation, and even for the local amelioration of climate. ”

“ And a civilization flourishing under the auspices of a caprice, will come to grief. Climate is a symbol of vagaries, contradictions and sudden affinities. It is the atmospheric expression for the feminine and the poetic in men. As a matter of fact contingencies186 of interfering land surfaces, of changing barometric pressure, of oceanic tides, of air currents, of solar radiation, combine into a labyrinth of possibilities to make places that ought to be cold, hot, and vice versa. ”

“ Climate is an expression for the conditions of a district with regard to temperature, and its influence on the health of animals and plants. The sun is the great source of heat, and when its rays are nearly perpendicular—as at the Tropics—the heat is greater on the earth than when the slanted rays are gradually cooled in their passage. As one passes to a higher level, he feels the air colder, until he [Pg 111] reaches the fluctuating snow-line that marks perpetual snow.
The temperature of the atmosphere also depends upon the radiation from the earth. ”

“ It is, however, quite possible that certain changes in progress on the sun may act in a specific manner on our climate. I do not indeed say that there is much reason for thinking that the great heat-wave has really been connected with any intrinsic changes in our luminary, but it is just possible that something of the kind may have occurred. ”

“ The word climate has certainly special reference to the character of the atmosphere, but this character is itself dependent on the perpetually concurrent influences of the ocean, which is universally and deeply agitated by currents having a totally opposite temperature, and of radiation from the dry land, which varies greatly in form, elevation, color, and fertility, whether we consider its bare, rocky portions, or those that are covered with arborescent or herbaceous vegetation. ”