The universal geography : earth and its inhabitants

CLIMATE. 19
mountain ranges. January is a far colder month on the banks of the Thames than
in the Hebrides, and plants which the frosts of Middlesex would kill flourish
in these islands in the open air, even in midwinter.* Yet it happens but
rarely that the larger rivers become ice-bound, and a sight such as the Thames
presented in February, 1814, when it was frozen over above London Bridge, and
placards announced that there was a "safe pathway over the river to Bankside,"is
not likely to be seen again, since it was due in some measure to old London Bridge,
with its narrow arches, which now no longer obstructs the free passage of the river.
The winter temperature is mildest on the southern coasts of Devonshire and Corn-
wall, and there the myrtle and other sub-tropical plants flourish in the open air all
the year round.
Snow and ice are known, of course, and the quantity of the former which
occasionally falls in Northern England and in the Scotch Highlands is great.
It is rare, however, for the thermometer to fall below 18"'' Fahr., and rarer still
for such a degree of cold to continue for any length of time. The difference
between the mean temperature of the coldest and warmest months hardly ever
exceeds 25° Fahr., and in South-western England it does not amount to 19° Fahr.
This is very little when compared with places on the continent, for at Paris
and Rome it amounts to 30° Fahr., at Berlin to 36° Fahr., and at Vienna to
40° Fahr. The daily range of the summer temperature in Shetland, the Orkneys,
and the Hebrides, which enjoy perhaps the most insular climate in Europe, is only
about 10° Fahr. On the west shore of Great Britain it rises to 12° and 14° Fahr.,
in the central districts to 15° Fahr., and in the south to 20° Fahr. At Paris and
other places on the continent it is much higher, f
The direction of the winds naturally exercises an important influence upon
temperature, no less than upon the distribution and amount of rain. The westerly
winds, which preponderate throughout the year, and more especially in summer
and autumn, carry with them the warmth and moisture of the Atlantic. Easterly
* Kamsay, " Physical Geography and Geology of the British Isles."
Latitude.
Sandwich (Orkneys) . . o9°o'
Aberdeen ST'S'
Glasgow
55°51'
Edinburgh 5o°27'
Carlisle 5i°oi'
York
53°.31'
Manchester
53°29'
Liverpool 53°i!5'
Dublin
Birmingham
.53°21'
.... 52°55'
Limerick
52°39'
Oxford sr-iG'
Swansea
51°36'
London STSO'
Gosport o0'47'
Plj-mouth S0°22'
Penzance
50°7'
t Mean TEMrERATURE IN Dequees Fahrenheit.
Winter.
39-r