Page:Polar Exploration - Bruce - 1911.djvu/95

Rh Graham Land (64° 24′ S.) the mean of January, the warmest month, is 30.38° F., while at Cape Adare, Victoria Land (71° 18′ S.), the summer mean is 30.4° F.

Comparing these summer temperatures with those of the Arctic Regions, it is found that in Spitsbergen (79° 53′ N.) the mean temperature of July (corresponding to January in the south) is as high as 41.50° F., and that in Franz Josef Land (80° N.) it is 35.6° F. in the same month. The mean temperature in Spitsbergen for June, July, and August is 37.1° F., and even that of the ice-bound King Oscar Land in 76° 40′ N., 88° 40′ W., is 33.35° F. The point is, that while the mean temperature of the summer months in the Arctic Regions is well above freezing-point, viz. 32° F., that of the Antarctic Regions is practically always below the freezing-point. "This remarkably cold Antarctic summer," says Dr. Rudmose Brown, "acts in two ways upon plant life: firstly, the winter snow lies late on the ground—all the later as the summer is a cloudy and somewhat sunless period, and December is well advanced before the majority of available sites are laid bare, while in February the winter again begins; secondly, and this is the chief reason, it is doubtful if a flowering plant could obtain the requisite amount of heat needed for its various life functions even to reach the