24 Natural History BiULirriN. 



One of the best proofs of Darwin's moral greatness is the 

 fact that, dviring the voyage ot the '• Beagle," he was always 

 seasick when the weather was at all rough, and vet had the 

 sublime force of character to keep constantly at work, accom- 

 plishing more in the way of collecting and observing than an\- 

 other naturalist has done in the same length of time. 



On Monday, Ma}- 8th, the Gulf Stream was entered. The 

 wind having been high during the night, the water was decid- 

 edly " lumpy " in the morning, much to the distress of the 

 miserable seasick victims. 



Sir Wyville Thomson^ calls the Gulf Stream •• one of the 

 most marvelous things in the ocean " and -• probably the most 

 glorious natural phenomenon on the face of the earth."- It 

 forms the subject of some of the most interesting chapters in 

 the modern science of thalassography.'^ 



To quote from Sir Wyville Thomson's •• Depths of the 

 Sea." '• Mr. Croll calculates the Gulf Stream as equal to a 

 stream of water lift\- miles broad and a thousand feet deep, 

 flowing at a rate of four miles an hour; consequently conven- 

 ing 5,575,680,000.000 cubic feet of water per hour, or 133.- 

 816,320,000,000 cubic feet per day. This mass of water has 

 a mean temperature of 18" C. as it passes out of the Gulf, 

 and on its northern journey it is cooled down to 4". 5 C. 

 The total quantit}' of heat therefore transferred from the 

 equatorial regions per day amounts to something like 154.- 

 959,300,000.000,000,000 foot pounds." This, he sa\s. is 

 enough heat to equal the entire amount received' from the sun 

 by the arctic regions. 



It has been my fortune to cross the Gulf Stream ten tmu\s 

 between longitude 70" and 76" W. On at least six of these 

 occasions, the weather was decidedly squalh'. and on three 

 severe storms were encountered. Sailors alwa\s feel a decided 

 relief when they get across " the Gulf," as it is called. This 

 great volume of warm water coming into cooler latitude.^; thus 



1 " Depths of (ho Sea," pajie :i(!(>. 



■^ Loc.cit. Chapter VIII. 



=* "Three Cruises of the Bhikc," Chapter X I ; "\'u\a^a' of Uie ChalleuETer," Atlan- 

 tic. \'ol. I, Chapter 5. The condensed statements wliich follow are liascd on facts 

 taken from these sources, unless otherwise indicated. 



