In this place, merely an out-line can be attempted.
Temperature is the degree of heat or cold in the particles of all
bodies, which is perceptible by sensation, and is measurable by their
expansion or contraction. It is the key to the theory of the winds, of
rain, of aerial and oceanic currents, of vegetation and climate with
all their multifarious and important differences. While the inclined
position of the earth on its axis and its movement in its elliptical
orbit influence the general amount of heat, it is rather to the
consequences of these in detail that we are called when we speak of
temperature. If the sun shone on a uniformly level surface, everywhere
of the same conducting and radiating power, there would be but little
difficulty in tracing the monotonous effects of temperature.
The reformer Luther, as eccentric as he was learned and sincere, is
reported to have said, that, if he had been consulted at the Creation,
he would have placed the sun directly over the centre of the world and
kept it there, to give unchanging and uniform light and heat! It is
certainly much better that he was not consulted. In that case, every
parallel of latitude would have been isothermal, or of equal mean
annual temperature.
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