The terrific power of these mighty agencies of nature illustrate His perfections, who has all resources at his command, to minister to the comfort of his servants, or the inevitable destruction of his enemies. To be hostile to the God of heaven and of earth, is surely the height of folly as well as of ingratitude. “He sendeth forth his commandment upon earth: his word runneth very swiftly. He giveth snow like wool: he scattereth the hoar-frost like ashes. He casteth forth his ice like morsels: who can stand before his cold?”
In these frigid regions, the scurvy becomes a very alarming disease, and many individuals have perished by it, who have attempted to winter in Spitzbergen and neighbouring countries. It appears, however, probable, that this disease is not so much influenced by the severity of the climate as by the use of improper aliment. An excellent paper on this subject, by Dr. John Aikin, is published in the Memoirs of the Literary and Philosophical Society of Manchester. It affirms, that by the constant use of fresh provisions, the occasional use of oleaginous substances, together with frequent exercise, a warm dwelling, and a warm clothing, there would, probably, be little danger in exposure to the severities of a Spitzbergen winter. Whenever I have had occasion to expose myself to severe cold, I have found that the more I am heated the longer I can resist the cold without inconvenience. The warmth produced by simple fluids, such as tea or soup, is preferable to that occasioned by spirits. After the liberal use of tea, I have often sustained a cold ten degrees at the mast-head for several hours without uneasiness. I have frequently gone from the breakfast-table, where the temperature was 50° or 60°, to the mast-head, where it was ten, without any other additional clothing except a cap, yet I never received any injury, and seldom much inconvenience, from the uncommon transition.
The antiseptical property of frost is remarkable. Animal substances requisite as food, of all descriptions, (fish excepted,) may be taken to Greenland, and there preserved any length of time, without being smoked, dried, or salted. Beef, mutton, pork, and fowls, the latter neither plucked nor drawn, are constantly taken out from England, Shetland, or Orkney, and preserved in this way. When used, the beef is best divided by a saw; it is then thawed in cold water, and, if cooked, when three, four, or five months old, will frequently appear as profuse of gravy as if it had been recently killed. A further antiseptical effect is produced by the cold on animal and vegetable substances, so as to preserve them, if they remain in the same climate, unchanged for a period of many years. An instance corroborative of this remark is given by M. Bleau, who, in his Atlas Historique, informs us, that the bodies of seven Dutch seamen, who perished in Spitzbergen, in the year 1635, were found twenty years afterwards by some sailors, who happened to land about the place where they were interred, in a perfect state, not having suffered the smallest degree of putrefaction. Wood, indeed, has been met with in Spitzbergen, which has resisted all injury from the weather during the lapse of a century.
Our remarks must now be directed to meteorology, and to an investigation of the temperature of the north Polar regions, and its constant tendency to equalization.
Though in a state of rapid improvement, the science of meteorology is acknowledged to be yet in its infancy. Before the discovery of the weight of the atmosphere by Torricelli, about the year 1630, no means of registering its variations of pressure could be known or practised. Hence we can have no very correct idea of the relative temperature of climates in the present and remote periods, unless from occasional historical remarks of the formation of ice in particular lakes, rivers, or parts of the sea, or from the capability of the earth for producing certain fruits or grain. In consequence, however, of the use of the thermometer and barometer, meteorology, as a science, has made considerable advancement. The records of phenomena, which these instruments indicate, have proved highly useful. Professor Mayer has given us a formula for determining the temperature of any situation on the globe, where observations have not been made. Dr. Hutton has presented us with an ingenious and plausible theory of rain; and Kirwan, Humboldt, and others, have advanced our knowledge of the climates of different countries. Dr. Wells has investigated the phenomena of dew, and professor Leslie has conducted profound researches on the relations of air to heat and moisture, and on the propagation of heat and cold through the atmosphere to distant regions. By the invention, also, of several curious and useful instruments, especially the hygrometer for the measurement of the dryness or dampness of the atmosphere, he has contributed very largely to the advancement of meteorological knowledge.
The temperature of the atmosphere in any particular region is one of those phenomena, which, however they may fluctuate, or whatever may be their daily, monthly, or yearly variations, and however unequal and capricious these may be, will, on the average of numerous corresponding periods, be found to be dependent on certain laws tending to produce equilibrium; so that the general results are remarkably uniform. When we experience particularly cold winters, or particularly hot summers, we might suppose that the mean temperature of the years in which the former occur, would be greatly below, and that of years in which the hot summers occur, would be greatly above, the general standard. But this will seldom be found to be the case. In temperate climates of the northern hemisphere, the mean temperature of any one year, derived from the mean of the daily extremes of heat and cold, or from any particular number of daily observations, continued through the course of twelve successive months, seldom differs from the general mean temperature, as derived from the observation of a great, number of years, more than two or three degrees. The mean temperature of any single month cannot be supposed to be equally uniform; this, however, does not differ so widely from the general mean of the month as might be expected.
As the mean annual temperature of a country is, therefore, probably given by one year’s observations only, to within two or three degrees of the truth, the mean of a period of eight or ten years will, probably, come within one degree of the truth. By the comparison of the results of thermometrical observations, made in different countries, with each other, tracing the changes of temperature, which appear with certain changes of latitude or situation, some ingenious and philosophical men have endeavoured, by principles of analogy and induction, to determine the mean temperature of every parallel of latitude from the Equator to the north Pole. These calculations have been considered as near approximations; and, as long as observations were wanting, served for purposes of investigation, to complete the scale of the temperature of the globe. When we reach, however, the regions of perpetual ice, a remarkable anomaly is discovered, the mean temperature falling below the estimation in these tables at once 17°. From a series of observations on the temperature, etc., of the Polar regions, conducted with care during twelve successive voyages to the Greenland Seas, I am able to deduce the following conclusions.
The mean temperature of the months of April, May, June, and July, are satisfactorily derived from the means of the latitudes and of the observations of temperature; but the mean temperature of the whole year, and of the winter months, wherein no observations in such high latitudes have yet been made, can only be ascertained by analogy. From the examination of numerous thermometrical registers, particularly one consisting of 54,750 observations, made in a succession of fifty years, at Stockholm, it would seem that the temperature of the year in northern latitudes is indicated by that of the 27th to 28th of April. I have collated 656 observations, made on 242 days, in nine different years, extending equally before and after the 27th of April, from which the mean temperature of the year, in latitude 76° 45′, near the meridian of London, appears to be 18° 86′. Reducing all the monthly temperatures derived from my observations to the parallel of latitude 78° north, by the application of Mayer’s formula, and allowing for the fact that many of the observations of April were made at a considerable distance from the ice, I calculate the temperature of April, latitude 78°, to be 14° 23′, and the mean of the year in the same proportion exactly 17°. Having discovered, by observation chiefly, the mean temperature of the months of April, May, June, and July, and the probable mean temperature of the year in the icy regions adjoining Spitzbergen, I conceive it not difficult to calculate the temperature of the remaining months. The difference between the mean temperature of the year and that of July, is 21½° in Stockholm, and 20° near Spitzbergen. Finding not only that the difference of temperature between the mean of the year and July, near Spitzbergen, but that the progressive increase of temperature from April to July, also, bore a strong analogy to the relative circumstances at Stockholm, I formed a scheme of decimals, connected with a simple formula, by which the same proportion of change, which has been observed to take place every month at Stockholm, may be made very readily to apply to any other country, whence, situations and circumstances being nearly similar, the temperature of unobserved months may be calculated. The temperature of January, latitude 78°, comes out—1°; that of February, O° 7′; March, 6° 1′; August, 34° 9′; September, 27° 8′; October, 18° 5′; November, 9° 8′; and December, 3° 1′.
Following the example of every generalizing meteorologist, I may, with some propriety, extend my observations to the probable temperature of the north Pole, provided I can proceed on data, not merely arbitrary or fanciful, but founded on observation and analogy.
It has been observed, that professor Mayer’s theory for ascertaining the temperature of every latitude, becomes exceedingly wide of the truth when we approach the regions of perpetual ice, notwithstanding in most other situations on the sea, or bordering thereon, it holds sufficiently near. According to it, the mean temperature of latitude 76° 45′, near the western coast of Spitzbergen, would have been 33° 8′, instead of 18° 8′, as shown by my observations; and, according to it, the mean temperature of the Pole is reckoned to be about 31°. The 15° difference between the observation and calculation must be considered as the frigorific effect of the ice, of which, if we can ascertain the probable measurement at the Pole, we shall be able to modify Mayer’s calculation, so as to approximate to the mean temperature. At the Pole, no wind could convey the mild influence of a temperate climate, because, from whatever direction it should blow, it must be cooled down by brushing over an extensive surface of ice; consequently, the full frigorific effect of the ice must be greater in the Pole than in places situated at or near the borders of the ice. In a total period of 242 days, the temperature of the air was, by observation, found to be more or less influenced by the ice during 173 days of that period. Hence, as 173 is to 15°, the anomaly occasioned by the mean temperature, so is 242 to 21°, which is the probable anomaly that may be expected when the temperature is always influenced by the ice, or the anomaly which may be supposed to occur at the Pole. Now, if we deduct 21° from 31°, the calculated temperature of the Pole, the actual mean temperature at the Pole will be about 10°.