8 



ON THE CAUSES OP THE 



the Southern Atlantic, appears to have its origin in so remote 

 a part as near the western coast of Australia. From between 

 say 20 and 30 degrees of south latitude, wind blows from the 

 east across the Indian Ocean, and it apparently carries with it 

 the waters of the ocean, as an oceanic current sets on Mada- 

 gascar and the southern part of Africa. It then passes across 

 the Southern Atlantic, as a south-east wind, extending to the 

 coast of Brazil, followed throughout its course by the water of 

 the ocean. A part of this water, being impelled by the wind 

 through the Caribbean Sea and into the Gulf of Mexico, is 

 there accumulated and raised to a higher level, until it finds 

 an outlet in the channel between Florida and the island of 

 Cuba, along which channel it passes as the well-known Gulf 

 Stream. Now wind, acting constantly on the surface of water 

 as these trade winds do, and over the extent of two great 

 oceans, must, for the reasons that have been giten, be con- 

 sidered fully able to set that water in motion, not merely on 

 the surface or a little below it, but to a depth quite equal to 

 that at which the currents are found in the Southern Atlantic, 

 the Caribbean Sea, or the Gulf of Mexico. 



The eastern trade wind of the Northern Atlantic in like 

 manner traverses the surface of the part of the ocean that lies 

 between the Canary Islands and the West Indies, taking 

 water with it, which water, in conjunction with that which 

 comes from the Southern Atlantic, is forced into the Gulf of 

 Mexico ; and the water of these two currents is, by its 

 accumulation and acquired velocity, carried northward to the 

 bank of Newfoundland, from which it is deflected across the 

 Atlantic. 



It is evidently the same kind of force, namely, the force of 

 the wind acting on the surface of water, that produces the 

 oceanic current that has been already alluded to, in the Gulf 

 of Guinea, which, to the surprise of the rotatory theorists, 

 flows in an opposite direction to those just mentioned ! A 

 strong wind from the west here traverses only a moderate 



