The seasons would have been invariable in
character. Some portions of the earth would have been scorched to
crispness, others locked up in never-changing ice.
Vegetation, instead of being universal, would have been confined to a
narrow zone; and the whole human race would have been driven together
into one limited habitable space, to interfere with, incommode, and
destroy each other. The arrangement is best as it is.
We find very important modifications of temperature, occasioned not
only by astronomical influences, but by local causes and geographical
characteristics. For while, as a general rule, the nearer we approach
the equator, the warmer we shall be, yet temperature is greatly
affected by mountains, seas, currents of air or water, by radiation,
by forests, and by vegetation. It is found, in fact, that the lines of
temperature, (the happy conception of Humboldt,) when they are traced
upon the map, are anything but true zones or circles.
The line of the greatest mean warmth is not coincident with the
equator, but falls to the north of it. This line at 160 deg. W. Long, from
Greenwich is 4 deg. below the geographical equator; at 80 deg.
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