Climate
in its most general acceptation, embraces all those modifications of the atmosphere by which our organs are sensibly affected; such as temalso on the ensemble of moral sensations which mankind experience in the different zones. There are two general causes on which the climate peculiar to any country principally depends: First, its distance from the equator; second, its altitude above the level of the sea; but their effect is generally modified by many circumstances exerting a partial influence. Among these may be enumerated the configuration and extent of the country; its inclination and local exposure; by which it is intersected, or which are in its vicinity; the nature of the soil as it is more or less favorable to radiation, absorption, and evaporation; the proximity to, or distance from, seas; the action of winds blending the temperatures of different latitudes; and even the changes produced by cultivation. The appreciation of all these causes, which modify the results deduced from the consideration of the direction of the chains of mountains CLINTON latitude and elevation alone, and the effect produced by their combined operation, constitutes the science of Climatology.