Popular Science Monthly/Volume 33/October 1888/What Is Known of the Earth

by R. Strachey

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WHAT IS KNOWN OF THE EARTH.^[1]

By Lieut.-General R. STRACHEY, F. R. S.

SO thorough has been the success with which recent labors of geographical research have been prosecuted, that it would now be hardly possible to describe what is known of the earth, otherwise than by pointing to what is still unknown, and this might be summarized in a very few words.

Besides the interior of Borneo and New Guinea, and the portion of Central Africa where Stanley is for the present moment lost to view, no considerable part of the earth's surface is unexplored, with the exception of the polar regions, which have till now proved inaccessible. The maps of the interior of Africa now supply trustworthy representations of a vast system of rivers, lakes, and mountains, till recently wholly unknown to the civilized world, and what remains to be done is little more than to fill in the details of well-ascertained large outlines. Australia has been crossed and recrossed in many directions. The darkness which so long enveloped Central Asia has been entirely cleared away, and, though parts of Thibet are yet to be visited, the true nature of the central plain lying between that country and Siberia is completely known. The geographical features of North America are little less perfectly mapped than those of Europe; but large parts of the interior of South America, much of which is covered by forest, are still unsurveyed. The southern border of the North Polar Sea, and the very complicated system of islands and channels along the northern margin of the American continent, between Bering Strait and Greenland, have been precisely delineated, and the boundary of the same sea along northern Asia has also been determined. The highest northern latitude reached is about 83½° north—that is, within five hundred miles of the pole. The nearest approach to the south pole has been in 78° 11' south, but the difficulties arising from climate have till now stood in the way of any satisfactory survey of the land seen at some few points in the antarctic area.

The figure of the earth, and its existing features, have had their origin in a former state of the planet, during which it has been subject to the gradual changes that accompanied its cooling from a previously much higher temperature. The forces of nature which are still at work, including the most wonderful of all, life, have operated upon the globe while it thus passed through the stages which have led to what it now is; producing varied conditions of surface, from which have arisen, as direct consequences, differences of climate, and corresponding variations in the forms and distribution of living creatures, vegetable and animal. Thus it is that while every part of the earth has its own characteristics, the general system of nature is one and the same everywhere; the special characters of the several regions being due to the action of local features or conditions, which are no sooner called into existence than they in turn become secondary efficient causes of the infinitely varied phenomena that our globe presents to us. In this manner has been evolved the face of nature as we now see it; nature which, working with never-varying forces, appears to man in the present as his type of stability, while it is constantly leading, through ever-varying forms, from the hidden shapes of an impenetrable past to those of an unknown future.

The influence of the movements and figure of the earth may everywhere be traced among the phenomena brought to our knowledge by the more and more complete exploration of its surface. The daily and annual motions of the globe, subject to the effects of the spherical form of the earth and the direction of its axis of rotation, determine at all parts of its surface the amount of heat and light received from the sun, and thus regulate all the conditions of existence upon it; they give rise to the varying length of days and of seasons at different places, and to a multitude of recurring phenomena which characterize or influence the animate and inanimate world. In whatever direction we turn are to be found alternations of what may be termed terrestrial work and rest, day and night, summer and winter, periodical winds extending over longer or shorter periods, seasons of rain and dry weather. The tides of the ocean, and the less apparent though not less regular periodical oscillations of the atmosphere, as well as the little understood variations in terrestrial magnetism, are consequences of the same general causes.

The remarkable force inherent in the globe, known as terrestrial magnetism, which gives a determinate direction to a freely suspended magnetic needle, and is of inestimable value to man, has long been the subject of observation and study. It is now established that there are two magnetic poles, one in each hemisphere, at which the needle would point vertically upward and downward. Their position, which is not coincident with the geographical poles, is found to have varied according to some yet unknown law. In the year 1878 the northern pole was in latitude 70° north, longitude 96° west, and the southern in latitude 731/2° south, longitude 1471/2° east. Between these poles, a line that has been termed the magnetic equator, where the needle assumes a horizontal position, is found to pass round the earth, following an unsymmetrical line, which in 1878 lay almost wholly to the north of the terrestrial equator in the hemisphere east of Greenwich, and to the south of it in the western hemisphere. It further appears that the magnetic force is not evenly distributed on the earth, and that the points of maximum intensity do not coincide with either of the magnetic poles. In the northern hemisphere there are two foci of maximum force of unequal intensity, the most powerful lying at about latitude 53° north, longitude 92° west, near the great American lakes, the weaker in latitude 65° north, longitude 115° east, in Siberia. For the southern hemisphere, the available data are far less numerous, and the determination of the foci of force is less reliable. It is, however, believed that here also there are two points of maximum, of nearly equal power, and not far removed from one another, one in latitude 65° south, longitude 140° east, the other in latitude 50° south, longitude 120° east. The unit by which magnetic force is measured has been assumed, adopting English standards of weight and length, to be that which would impart to a weight of one grain a velocity of one foot in one second of time. On this scale the magnetic force, where least, is found to be 6·0; the northern maxima are 14·2 and 13·3 respectively, and each of the southern 15·2. The declination, or variation of the direction of the needle from the true meridian, is a consequence of these unequal forces operating upon it, the westerly or easterly tendency of the needle (as the case may be) following the geographical position of the place of observation in its relation to the several foci of force, with a general result of considerable complexity. Up to the sixtieth parallel of latitude, north or south, the declination, whether easterly or westerly, rarely exceeds 30°; and, speaking generally, it is easterly in the Pacific and westerly in the Atlantic and Indian Oceans, Near the poles, where the dip becomes high, the directive force of the earth's magnetism becomes much reduced, and the magnetic needle becomes comparatively unreliable and of little use. The nature and mode of operation of magnetism, and the allied phenomena of electricity, continue to be subjects of speculation, no explanation of them having yet been proposed, such as that which refers heat and light to the vibrations of an elastic medium. Our knowledge of the phenomena of terrestrial magnetism therefore still remains in the empirical stage; they are, however, held to show that the earth's magnetism is distributed through its mass, and that the magnetic force either wholly or mainly resides in the interior, and can not be attributed to external influences, though it may be affected by them. Whether or not geographical features have any influence on the distribution of this force is doubtful. Observation shows that all the elements of the earth's magnetism not only vary from place to place, but from time to time; the variations being in some cases periodical and dependent on the time of the day or the season of the year. and others extending, with no apparent tendency to periodicity, over considerable lengths of time. The manner in which these variations occur is still a matter of investigation, and their causes are doubtful, but the diurnal and annual changes are probably connected with changes of the temperature of the earth or its atmosphere, and may be influenced by geographical conditions. The non-periodical changes that have been recorded are very large. These variations have been attributed by some to changes going on in the condition of the interior of the earth, and by others to external influences; but they continue to be among the most obscure of physical phenomena. Besides the variations above mentioned, there also arise other irregular disturbances of the indications of the magnetic needle, of short duration, which are sometimes spoken of as magnetic storms. They occur with a frequency which shows a tendency to periodicity, diurnal or annual, and often almost simultaneously at distant parts of the earth, with nearly identical effects, and with a marked increase in intensity with increase of latitude. They likewise exhibit a period of increase and decrease coinciding with that observed in the sun-spot area, thus giving additional reason to connect them with modifications of the magnetic or electric condition of the earth or atmosphere arising in some manner from the action of the sun. The probable connection of these disturbances with the electrical condition of the atmosphere is indicated by their frequent occurrence simultaneously with appearances of the aurora, and with electrical earth-currents. The frequent, if not continuous, display of the aurora in the vicinity of the magnetic poles, further suggests a relation between the electrical and magnetic conditions of the earth. The true nature of all these phenomena is, however, still very imperfectly ascertained.

A very little observation and thought threw discredit on the ancient cosmogonies, and showed that they failed to give any satisfactory solution of the problems submitted by the advance of knowledge. If the extravagant myths of Asiatic origin, which peopled the earth millions of years ago with races of anthropomorphic demigods, and heroes descended from the sun and moon, could not bear the test of facts, neither have those traditions fared better which unveil the earth fully equipped with all the present forms of life and specially prepared to be the dwelling place of man, some few thousand years ago. Precise observation has now supplied satisfactory proof that the earth's surface, with all that is on it, has been evolved through countless ages, by a process of constant change. Those features that at first sight appear most permanent, yet in detail undergo perpetual modification, under the operation of forces which are inherent in the materials of which the earth is made up, or are developed by its movements, and by its loss or gain of heat. Every mountain, however lofty, is being thrown down; every rock, however hard, is being worn away; and every sea, however deep, is being filled up. The destructive agencies of nature are in never-ceasing activity; the erosive and dissolving power of water in its various forms, the disintegrating forces of heat and cold, the chemical modification of substances, the mechanical effects produced by winds and other agencies, the operation of vegetable and animal organisms, and the arts and contrivances of man, combine in the warfare against what is. But hand in hand with this destruction—nay, as a part of it—there is everywhere to be found corresponding reconstruction, for untiring nature immediately builds up again that which it has just thrown down. If continents are disappearing in one direction, they are rising into fresh existence in another. Though the ocean tears down the cliffs against which it beats, the earth takes its revenge by upheaving the ocean's bed. When we look back, by the help of geological science, to the more remote past, through the epochs preceding our own, we find complete evidence that the globe has passed in succession through an infinitude of anterior states, by means of small modifications extending over a vast period of time, but not differing in essentials from those which we now see to be going on. There are still preserved to us the remains of land and marine plants and animals—which lived, produced other generations, and died—possessed of organs proving that they were under the influence of the heat and light of the sun; indications of seas whose waves rose before the winds, breaking down cliffs, and forming beaches of bowlders and pebbles; of tides and currents spreading out banks of sand and mud, on which are left the impress of the ripple of the water, of drops of rain, and of the tracks of animals; of volcanoes pouring forth streams of lava; and all these appearances are precisely similar to those we observe at the present day as the result of forces which we see actually in operation. Pushing back our inquiries, we at last reach the point where the apparent cessation, or failure of evidence, of former terrestrial conditions such as now exist, requires us to consider the relation in which our planet stands to other bodies in celestial space; and, vast though the gulf be that separates us from these, science has been able to bridge it. By means of spectroscopic analysis, it has been established that the constituent elements of the sun and other heavenly bodies are substantially the same as those of the earth. The examination of the meteorites which have fallen on the earth from the interplanetary spaces, shows that they contain nothing foreign to the constituents of the earth. The inference seems legitimate, corroborated as it is by the manifest physical connection between the sun and the planetary bodies circulating around it, that the whole solar system is formed of the same kinds of matter, and is subject to the same general physical laws. These conclusions further support the supposition that the earth and other planets have been formed by the aggregation of matter once diffused in space around the sun; that the first consequence of this aggregation was to develop intense heat in the consolidating masses; that the heat thus generated in the terrestrial sphere was subsequently lost by radiation; and that the surface at length cooled and became a solid crust, inclosing a nucleus of much higher temperature. The heat of the interior of the globe increases about 1° Fahr. for every fifty or sixty feet of depth below the surface. The surface appears to have now reached a temperature which is virtually fixed, the gain of heat from the sun being just compensated by the loss from radiation into surrounding space. As the exterior gradually cooled, contractions necessarily ensued, producing change of form and dimensions; and to these, acting in combination with gravity, are, no doubt, largely due the great irregularities of the earth's surface. The strains set up by these forces must have continued to cause movements for a vastly prolonged period, and are doubtless still in action. But the irregularities of the surface constitute only a small part of the effects of internal heat on the earth, and mineralogy is the branch of science to which reference must be made for a knowledge of the many simple and compound substances that have issued, under the operation of chemical forces, from the vast laboratory contained within the cooling crust of the once incandescent globe.

During the passage of the globe to its present state many wonderful changes must have taken place. The ocean, after its condensation from a gaseous state into that of liquid, must have long continued in a state of ebullition, or bordering on it, surrounded by an atmosphere densely charged with watery vapor. Apart, however, from the movements in the solid crust of the earth caused by its gradual cooling and contraction, its early higher temperature hardly enters directly into any of the considerations that arise in connection with its present climate; and it must remain doubtful how long and to what extent those conditions of climate which interest us most, as having occurred during the period in which the existence of life is indicated, have been affected by such early higher temperature.

In the absence of any direct means of ascertaining the condition of the earth's interior, aid has been sought from mathematical science, by which it has been established that the thickness of the solid outer shell of the earth must be considerable; and that if the interior is in a fluid state at all, which is very doubful, it must be covered by a great thickness (probably not less than several hundred miles) of solid, comparatively unyielding matter; and it is argued, with apparent force, that no passage can exist by which molten matter, if there be any, could ascend from such depths to the surface. Recent speculation has consequently suggested that even volcanic phenomena may be consequences of the heat developed by intense pressures set up by the mechanical forces concerned in the movements of the cooling outer solid crust, and that they are not immediate results of the very high temperature which almost certainly still subsists at great depths in the earth's interior. A more probable explanation would seem to be that by some local or partial removal of pressure in the otherwise solid interior, a portion of intensely heated matter is able to pass into the fluid state, and so finds a way through some fissure to the surface.

Should any still hesitate to believe that vast mountains like the Himalaya or the Andes, and analogous depressions of the bed of the ocean, can have been produced by a mere secular change of the earth's temperature, I would remind them that the forces called into action by the earth are proportionate to its magnitude, and that their effects must be on a corresponding scale. It has been calculated on sound data that the contraction of the diameter of the earth, consequent on the fall of temperature from a fluid state to its present condition, has been about one hundred and ninety miles. At this rate a subsidence of five miles, which is the approximate greatest depth of the ocean, would correspond to a fall of temperature of about 200° Fahr. But the elevations and depressions of the earth's surface were probably produced by a comparatively much smaller loss of heat, and were due rather to tangential strains than to direct up-thrust or subsidence. An illustration may assist in forming a proper estimate of the irregularities of the earth's surface, which, though apparently great, are insignificant when viewed in relation to its actual dimensions. This hall might contain a globe forty feet in diameter. If this globe represented the earth it would be on a scale of one foot to about 200 miles; and one inch would be equivalent to a distance of 162/3 miles, or 88,000 feet. On such a globe the difference between the polar and equatorial diameters would be less than one inch, and the greatest elevations in Britain would be about the thickness of a threepenny-bit. The highest mountains and the deepest seas would be shown by elevations and depressions of hardly more than one third of an inch; and if they were distributed as such features are on the earth, they would be visible only with difficulty, and to the unaided eyes of a casual observer would hardly interfere with the apparent perfect smoothness of the globe's surface.

The conception of the vast duration of geological time is one with which most persons are now more or less familiar. It is well to remember that great though the changes in human affairs have been since the most remote epochs of which there are records in monument or history, nothing indicates that within this period there has occurred any appreciable modification of the main outlines of land and sea, or of the conditions of climate, or of the general characters of living creatures. The distance that separates us from those days is as nothing when compared to the remoteness of past geological ages. No numerical estimate on which reliance can be placed has yet been made of the duration even of that portion of geological time which is nearest to us; and we can say no more than that the earth's past history, as recorded in what we now find upon it, or as inferred from what we find, probably extends over hundreds of thousands or millions of years. It is through the facts of geography, as now acquired and interpreted, that the geologist is supplied with the means of arriving at the true signification of much that occurred in past time, the traces of which survive in physical features or organic forms. He finds that the most important agencies in determining and modifying the present conditions of existence on the earth, whether as affecting inorganic nature or organic beings, are closely connected with the actual distribution of land and sea, and the configuration of the surface; and he learns that it is through these agencies that he must seek to unravel the intricacies of the past.

The study of geology, in its turn, enables the geographer to understand many things that would otherwise be unintelligible to him. He thus learns how the boundaries of sea and land have been determined; where connections formerly existing have been severed; how islands have risen from the ocean and may be sinking below it; to what causes are due the rocky coasts and headlands, the indentations of the coasts, the formation of bays and fiords; at what time and by what means mountains have been raised up, plains laid out, valleys excavated, and the courses of rivers and positions of lakes fixed; and he is taught the constituents and qualities of the materials forming the surface of the earth, of the soil upon it, and of the minerals beneath it. And as a better insight is obtained into the natural relations of the mountains, the plains, the valleys, rivers, lakes, and seas, the conviction arises that the ever-diversified details of the face of the globe are in no sense accidents or fortuitous results, little worthy, as such, of admiration unless for their picturesque forms or wonderful proportions; but that they are the direct, orderly, and necessary outcome of the action of forces simple in themselves, and operating in accordance with well-known and invariable physical and mechanical laws. The perception of general characteristics of structure among the various features of the earth's surface that pass under our review is, indeed, too often overshadowed and obscured by their magnitude, by the multitude of their details, and by the variety of their forms, which at first produce impressions of hopeless confusion; but, when once the idea of subordination to common laws is duly conceived, it receives confirmation at every fresh step taken.

The area of the dry land is very greatly exceeded by that which is covered with water. The whole surface of the earth being 197,000,000 square miles, about 55,000,000 are land and 142,000,000 water. The average height of the land above the sea-level is also very much less than the average depth of the sea-bottom below that level; so that a rearrangement of the surface is quite possible by which the whole of the land might be submerged with comparatively little disturbance of the present level of the sea, or reduction of its average depth. The highest measured peak of the Himalaya, known as Mount Everest, which is also the highest in the world accurately determined, just rises 29,000 feet above the sea-level, but such elevations even as 15,000 feet are, elsewhere, with the sole exception of parts of Thibet, confined to isolated peaks or very narrow bands along the crests of a few of the highest mountain-ranges. The area above 12,000 feet is about two per cent of the whole land, and that above 6,000 less than nine per cent. From a careful computation recently made, it would appear that the mean height of the surface of the land above the sea-level is about 2,250 feet; the continental areas having the following elevations: Europe, 939 feet; Asia, 3,073 feet; North America, 1,888 feet; South America, 2,078 feet; Australia, 805 feet. The greatest depths measured in the ocean exceed 27,000 feet, and it has been estimated that the mean depth is about 12,500 feet. About five per cent of the ocean area is less than 600 feet in depth, and a somewhat smaller proportion, more than 18,000 feet. About seventeen per cent is less than 3,000 feet. The ocean-bed generally appears to present very extensive, comparatively uniform plateaus, varied only by moderate undulations, possibly to be attributed to contractions of the earth's crust caused by cooling; these range in depth from 12,000 to 17,000 feet, and their general direction maintains a rough parallelism with that of the neighboring continents. Submarine deposits derived from the land do not extend beyond 300 or 400 miles from the shore; but at great depths deposits are being formed with extreme slowness, which are probably derived from decomposed organisms, or from cosmic, volcanic, or other matter, carried down through the water. Accepting these estimates, it will appear that the volume of land above the sea-level is about one fifteenth part only of the volume of the ocean.

With the latest additions made to our knowledge of the depth of the ocean there has also been acquired an altogether new series of facts bearing on its temperature, and its capacity for supporting life. The variations of heat and cold, due to change of season or to day and night, which affect the surface, descend to a comparatively small depth, being greatly reduced in the first 100 fathoms, and below that depth for the most part eliminated, so that at 300 or 400 fathoms an approximately uniform temperature is met with. With increased temperature at the surface, there is increased evaporation, followed by greater density, by reason of which the surface water sinks, and the higher surface temperature is partially communicated to the subjacent strata. From the mobility of water, and its high specific heat, which is almost four times that of the materials composing the land-surface, the sea surface can never acquire a very high temperature. At the same time, the evaporation which is constantly going on from the whole surface of the ocean leads to a large quantity of the heat it receives from the sun becoming latent, and powerfully aids in preventing an accumulation of heat. These facts render the ocean one of the most important factors of terrestrial existence; it furnishes to the atmosphere the moisture which is one of the essentials of life, and serves by the circulation of its waters, and the diffusion of vapor derived from it, to equalize the temperature of the globe, by moderating the extremes both of heat and cold. Hence the greater or less proximity of the sea directly affects all conditions of climate. The circulation of the waters of the ocean, which is set up chiefly by the action of winds on the surface, but in part by variations of temperature and of density, and by the effects of evaporation, is controlled in all its details by geographical features.

Among the influences which give to the earth the characteristics that most immediately affect its fitness for occupation by man and the support of life generally, those due to the atmosphere are, without doubt, the most prominent. These, under the designation of climate, are constantly affecting us. But of all recognized branches of science, that which treats of the atmosphere—meteorology—is at the present time certainly the most backward. The reasons are not far to seek. The air is invisible, and in its upper regions inaccessible. The changes it undergoes are difficult to observe, and, from their great complexity, difficult to grasp, while what we know of them is almost wholly confined to the immediate proximity of the earth. It is pretty certain that the most important among the causes which operate on the atmosphere are changes of temperature; but the application of mathematical reasoning to the movements of an elastic fluid such as the air, charged with watery vapor, when submitted to changes of temperature upon a rotating sphere, presents very serious difficulties, and little has been done to grapple with them. What is known of these subjects is as yet almost exclusively empirical. Instrumental appliances are here far in advance of theories, and it is not to be disguised that great waste of labor too frequently results from an exaggerated refinement in observation, and subsequent numerical computation, which has no real value. The variations of the temperature, of the pressure, and of the motion of the air, and of the quantity of vapor it contains, give rise to the great series of phenomena which are included under the general term climate. Of these variations the primary causes are the action and reaction of the mechanical and chemical changes set up by the sun's heat as influenced by the earth's motion, terrestrial position, and the condition of its surface, as well as by fluctuations of the sun's heat itself, though of these last we know too little to do more than recognize their presence.

The conditions which determine at any place the greater or less degree and duration of direct exposure to solar radiation, and therefore the quantity of heat received there, are position in relation to latitude, combined with the diurnal and annual movements of the earth. The nature of the surface regulates the local accumulation of heat, by reason of the varying power of absorption or radiation possessed by different substances; while with elevation above the sea-level as the density of the air becomes less, the sensible temperature and the quantity of watery vapor are subject to corresponding change. The whole of the results thus produced, moreover, are modified by movements in the air consequent on atmospheric changes from place to place, or from time to time.

The inequalities of the earth's surface, which are insignificant when viewed in relation to the whole globe, are of the greatest importance in relation to the atmosphere. For, owing to the laws of elastic fluids, the great mass of the air and of the watery vapor it contains are concentrated very near the surface. One fourth of the air and one half of the vapor are found below 8,000 feet from the sea-level; one half of the air and nine tenths of the vapor are below 19,000 feet, which hardly exceeds the average elevation of the highest ranges of the Himalaya Mountains; while three fourths of the air and virtually the whole effective vapor lie below 30,000 feet, and therefore within the influence of the highest summits of those mountains. That portion of the atmosphere which is nearest the surface is manifestly the most likely to be acted upon by irregularities of relief, and by local variations in the power of absorbing or radiating heat or diffusing vapor. Hence it is certain that it is the movements of the lower strata of the atmosphere that chiefly affect all conditions of climate, though no doubt there are great movements in the upper regions to bring about the restoration of equilibrium, which, is being constantly disturbed from below. The principal periodical winds—such as the trade-winds, the monsoons, the land and sea breezes—are found to be essentially dependent on periodical variations of atmospheric pressure, accompanying variations of temperature due to geographical position or surface conditions. The proximate causes of the more characteristic winds have also been well made out. These, too, are due to atmospheric disturbances producing areas of high or low pressure; the rapidity and intensity of the development of which, with the direction of their paths and their position, determine the force of the wind, the direction in which it blows, and the manner in which it veers or backs, that is, changes its direction. But how the changes of pressure are determined, and what causes the transfer of the disturbed area, commonly under the form of an atmospheric eddy or vortex, in a definite direction, usually from west to east, is still to be ascertained; though here, too, it is obvious that the distribution of the land and sea areas, and of the ocean-currents, on which the temperature of the superincumbent air so immediately depends, combined with the rotatory motion of the earth, are among the principal agencies at work.

Among the most intricate problems of meteorology are those relating to the evaporation of water, the formation of vapor and its diffusion and suspension in the air, and its condensation as cloud, rain, or snow. The low specific gravity of aqueous vapor, and the consequent evaporation that releases it at the earth's surface, tend to diffuse it in accordance with the mechanical laws which govern elastic fluids. But the reduction of the temperature of the air in ascending above the surface renders this diffusion impossible beyond a certain point; and observation shows that the quantity of vapor actually existing in the upper parts of the atmosphere is mainly dependent on temperature, and amounts to not more than one fourth part of what would be present if it were diffused freely and simply obeyed the law of hydrostatic pressure. It follows that a height in the atmosphere is at length necessarily reached where condensation must take place and clouds or rains be formed, and that, speaking generally, the vapor in the upper strata of the air is constantly tending to a condition of unstable equilibrium, from which it may readily be once more restored to the earth in the shape of water. This sufficiently accounts for the rarity of a perfectly cloudless sky, which indeed can hardly exist excepting where such a movement of the air is going on as will carry off the aqueous vapor, as fast as it is formed by evaporation, to a region where the temperature is high enough to prevent its condensation.

The great activity of the air in discharging the functions of equalizing temperature and distributing moisture over the earth is remarkable. If the whole quantity of moisture in the air at any moment were condensed so as to leave it absolutely dry, the resulting stratum of water if distributed evenly over the whole earth would be less than one inch in depth. Yet it is estimated (though perhaps on insufficient data) that the mean rainfall over the whole globe is not less than sixty inches in the year, and falls of ten times this amount are known to occur in some localities. Observations of the velocity of the wind at marine stations show that these results are due to the almost unceasing passage of air highly charged with vapor over the regions where and during the time in which rain thus falls, and to the unceasing renewal of the supply of moisture by evaporation. The relatively very large sea-area has an important effect in maintaining the supply of the rain that falls on the land; and the immediate dependence of rainfall on local geographical features is too well known to call for more than a passing remark.

A few words will indicate the magnitude of the forces which are called into silent and comparatively unobserved operation in the atmosphere by the sun's heat in the production and recondensation of aqueous vapor. It has, as I noticed, been estimated that on the average five feet of water falls annually as rain over the whole earth. Supposing that condensation takes place at an average height of 3,000 feet above the surface, the force of evaporation must be equivalent to a power capable of lifting five feet of water, over the whole surface of the globe, 3,000 feet during the year. This, not reckoning the force required for the transport of the rain in a horizontal direction, would involve lifting 332,000,000 pounds of water 3,000 feet in every minute, which would require about 300,000,000,000 horse-power constantly in operation. Of the huge energies thus exerted a very small part is transferred to the waters that run back through rivers to the sea, and a still smaller fraction is utilized by man in his water-mills; the remainder is dissipated in celestial space. A well-known consequence of the physical properties of the air is the gradual reduction of temperature observed in ascending mountains. This, amounting to 1° for about 300 feet of elevation, gradually produces a change of conditions similar to that caused by passing from the equator toward the poles, and at the greatest elevations an arctic climate is established even under a tropical sun. Among the sublimest sights furnished by nature are the great ranges of mountains which traverse or approach the tropics. Rising into the regions of perpetual snow, they discharge important functions in the economy of the globe. By the intrusion of the solid terrestrial surface into the upper part of the atmosphere, the low temperature there, which otherwise could have produced no effect on the earth, is brought into active operation. Great rivers spring from the melting fields of snow and ice that crown the mountain-summits, and, swollen by the copious condensation of rain on their slopes, flow down to the plains below, which are fertilized by their perennial waters.

 

1. From "Lectures on Geography," delivered before the University of Cambridge.