ay,
chilling the waters. Notwithstanding the immense area of ice, the
summer climate of the Greenland coast is remarkably moderate, even as
far north as Melville Bay. The reason for this is the same as that
mentioned for the climatic peculiarities of Europe. A current from the
south, probably an eddy from the Gulf Stream, carries water northward
along the Greenland coast, thus raising the temperature so that the
ice which forms in the sea water and the bergs which float upon its
surface are made to disappear during the warm part of the year.

Sailing from the coast of Greenland at about the middle point, near
Disco Island, in the early part of September, one leaves a land with a
delightfully pleasant climate and warmth almost like that of the early
autumn of temperate latitudes, and proceeding south-westward across
Davis Straits to Baffin Land, two or three hundred miles southward,
there finds himself in the midst of the conditions of early winter.
The Greenland coast is not snow covered, plants are still in blossom
and the hum of insects is heard; but in this more southern latitude,
on the American side, the summer insects have entirely disappeared,
only a few belated flowers are seen in protected places and a thin
coat of snow covers all the land. Light snow may fall here during any
time of the summer; but in spite of these differences Baffin Land is
not ice covered, while Greenland is. The ice cap of the interior of
Greenland is present less because of the severity of the climate at
sea level than from the fact that the air which reaches this land has
become humid in crossing the water areas, and further in the fact that
the interior is a highland. On the Baffin Land side the interior is
less elevated and there is less water to the westward in the direction
from which the prevailing winds blow.

* * * * *

CAUSES OF POVERTY.[1]

[Footnote 1: Report of Richmond Mayo Smith, Franklin H. Giddings,
and Fred. W. Holls, Committee on Statistics of the New York
Charity Organization Society.--Condensed for Public Opinion.]

The most interesting, and at the same time the most difficult, problem
connected with an analysis of cases is to determine the real cause of
destitution. It requires great experience and intelligence on the part
of workers in charity to give even approximately the fundamental
reason why a certain family has come to destitution. To classify cases
from rec