8 ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 
influence. The results for this region and for Belle Isle strait are fully 
given in pamphlets issued by this Survey (6). In the seasons of 1904 
and 1907 the outer part of the Bay of Fundy was examined, chiefly 
on the lines of the International and Atlantic steamship routes, from 
St. John N.B. to Cape Sable. As a result, the direction and strength 
of the current at each hour of the tide, has been published in the form 
of tables (7). This is the first region of extended area in North America 
for which detailed information is available, of a similar character to 
that published for the English channel and the North sea. 
The currents in Northumberland strait were investigated in the 
season of 1908. These proved to be exceedingly complex, owing to 
tidal interference from its two ends; which occasions a large diurnal 
inequality in the maximum velocity and in the time of slack water. 
The strength of the current amounts to three knots in some of the 
narrower parts. Its general characteristics are explained in a report 
of progress (8). 
The character of our tides and currents, as described in the reports 
of this Survey, have been extensively republished, especially in Ger- 
many; and the reports have also been noticed in British and French 
magazines, and periodicals in the United States. Some general articles 
by the writer have also appeared in “Nature”? (9). 
WIND DISTURBANCE. 
When the writer first began these investigations, the general 
impression derived from books was that the current would always be 
found to set in the same direction as the wind. But the longer the 
investigations were carried on, and the greater the care to assign each 
movement of the water to its true cause, the less residuum there re- 
mained to ascribe to the wind, as otherwise unaccounted for. 
This impression seems to have gained currency chiefly because 
of a faulty method of observation, by which the drift of small floating 
objects was taken to represent the set of the current. The drift of 
the mere surface or skin of the water cannot be accepted; as the direc- 
tion of the current should mean its movement at a depth of at least 
half the draught of an ordinary vessel. The impression may also be 
due in part to the difficulty of distinguishing leeway from current 
drift, especially in the old sailing-ship days. It is also noteworthy 
that in obtaining information from fishermen, only the least observant 
men speak in a vague way of the current running with the wind. The 
more intelligent men attribute less to the direct action of the wind, 
and distinguish the various effects more carefully. 
The effects of the wind in disturbing the current, as observed 
throughout the eight seasons above noted, have been collected and 
