From 202 years ago:
“It will without doubt
have come to your
Lordship’s knowledge
that a considerable change
of climate, inexplicable
at present to us,
must have taken place
in the Circumpolar Regions,
by which the severity
of the cold that has
for centuries past enclosed
the seas in the high
northern latitudes in an
impenetrable barrier of ice
has been during
the last two years,
greatly abated.
(This) affords ample proof
that new sources of warmth
have been opened and
give us leave to hope
that the Arctic Seas
may at this time
be more accessible
than they have been
for centuries past,
and that discoveries
may now be made in them,
not only interesting to the
advancement of science.
but also to the
future intercourse
of mankind
and the commerce
of distant nations.”
President of the Royal Society,
London, to the Admiralty,
November, 20, 1817
Minutes of Council,
Volume 8. pp.149-153,
Volume 8. pp.149-153,
Royal Society, London.
November 20, 1817
November 20, 1817
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