A treatise on the causes and principles of meteorological phenomena : Also two essays ; the one on marsh fevers; the other on the system of equality, proposed by Mr. Owen of New Lanark, for ameliorating the condition of mankind / by Graham Hutchison.

  • Hutchison, Graham.
Date:
1835
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A treatise on the causes and principles of meteorological phenomena : Also two essays ; the one on marsh fevers; the other on the system of equality, proposed by Mr. Owen of New Lanark, for ameliorating the condition of mankind / by Graham Hutchison. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

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    son why southerly winds, which in our northern latitude blow from a warm towards a comparatively cold clim- ate, are usually damper and more prolific of clouds and rain than those from a northerly direction. Again, when the wind blows from the ocean in summer, particularly during its latter half, the atmo- sphere becomes gradually undersaturated as it ad- vances over the land ; and, upon the same principle, when it blows in the contrary direction, viz. from the land towards the ocean, during the opposite season of the year, it in like manner gradually becomes under- saturated as it approaches the ocean, and vice verso.. The reason of these results will appear obvious by comparing the annual range of temperature which the surface of the land undergoes with that of the ocean. In temperate latitudes, the annual range of heat to which the surface of the Atlantic ocean is subjected, is limited to about 9 degrees of Fahrenheit; whereas, that of the surface of the land, in corresponding lati- tudes on the continent of Europe, at no great dis- tance from the ocean, may be about 90 degrees. The temperature of the ocean varies, therefore, no more than about 4^ degrees from the mean for the latitude, during the coldest and warmest periods of the year; whereas, that of the land varies about 45 degrees from the mean annual temperature. In like manner, dur- ing day and night, the temperature of the surface of the ocean undergoes little variation, compared to that of the land. And it may be laid down as a general law, that in a given latitude, the nearer any place is to the ocean, the more limited is the range of tem- perature both daily and annually; and, on the con-