284 



WRITINGS OF JOSEPH HENRY. 



[1855- 



with water, the trade-winds blowing on each side and acting 

 on the water would produce a current toward the west, en- 

 circling the whole globe. But since the region of the equator 

 is crossed by continents, the continuous current we have 



Ocean Currents of the Western Hemisphere. 



Fig. 9. 



spoken of is broken up and deflected right and left into ex- 

 tended circuits; the water blown from the coast of Africa 

 along the region of the equator westward is divided into two 

 currents, as represented in Fig. 9, one directed northward, 

 and the other southward, by the projecting part of South 

 America. The northern branch, as shown by the arrows, 

 passes through the Gulf of Mexico, and impelled by the 

 action of the surface wind and the rotation of the earth, 

 makes a complete circuit, returning into itself along the 

 coast of Africa, leaving in the centre a large area of stag- 

 nant water covered with weeds, and known by the name of 

 the Sargasso Sea, The entire course of the waters in this 



