22 REPORT — 1853. 



Dr. Scoresby could on this occasion only briefly touch. The discovery, in personal 

 researches near the western coast of Spitzbergen, of comparatively ■warm water, 

 increasing in warmth with the depth, he had long ago set foith, in the ' Account of 

 the Arctic Regions,' as an indication of the extension of a branch of the Gulf-stream 

 into the Icy Seas of Greenland ; whilst the descent of apolar current, as indicated by 

 the general set to the south-westward of the Greenland ices, had in the same work 

 been amply proved and illustrated. This south-westerly drift from the east side of 

 Greenland, associated with the southerly set out of Baffin's Bay, sufficiently explained 

 both the cold surface temperature met with in the researches of the present paper, 

 and the occurrence so prevalently of icebergs and drift ice in and near the meridians 

 embraced by the banks of Newfoundland. And it might be reasonably inferred, 

 perhaps, that both the position of these banks and the characteristic differences of the 

 currents within the fifth and sixth decimate sections, so fully discussed, would have 

 their true explanation in the consideration of the polar currents descending in two 

 branches — the main one by the east coast of Newfoundland, the westerly and smaller 

 one by the Strait of Belleisle. 



Connected with this subject, it is very interesting to trace the ceconomy and beneficial 

 effects, as in many respects most obviously elicited, of the currents of tte ocean. 

 For here we find, as in all the Creator's works, the striking marks of benevolent 

 design in the ordering and Controling of the most subtle, or apparently vaguely 

 acting agencies, to the benefit of the earth and its inhabitants. Of such indications 

 nsay be noticed : — 



1. The grand ceconomy of oceanic currents in their equalizing tendency on the 

 extreme temperatures of the difl^erent regions of the globe, from which the climate 

 of the British Islands, for example, notwithstanding some minor disadvantages, 

 derives such marked benefit in the diminishing of the range of temperature. 



2. The maintaining, by the reciprocating currents, of the equable saltness of the 

 ocean, and so preventing the dift'erences in evaporation from the surface in the 

 tropical and polar regions from destroying the characteristic quality of the salt sea. 



3. The production by current eddies of sand-banks, favourable for the habitation of 

 fishes, of which the banks of Newfoundland may be pointed to as characteristic 

 examples. 



4. The mingling of the waters of all regions of the globe, and the manuring, as it 

 were, with fresh soil, of the great pastures of the creatures inhabiting the ocean. 



5. The carrying away of large portions of the ice-formations of the higher lati- 

 tudes for dissolution in a warmer climate, thus preventing the entire polar regions 

 being filled with ice, and that ice being gradually pushed forward and maintained by 

 its direct action on climate, which so might have rendered large portions of the now 

 temperate zones uninhabitable or unsuitable for man. 



6. And, in order to the due operation of counter and reciprocating currents betwixt 

 the equatorial and polar regions, we must not overlook the a-conomic design obvious 

 in the distribution and configuration of the continents of the eastern and western 

 hemispheres, betwixt which we find two great meridional channels permitting a free 

 circulation of waters betwixt the two continents on opposite sides of the globe, and 

 running, not improbably, from pole to pole ! 



On Deep- Sea Soundings and Errors therein from Strata- Currents, with 

 Suggestions for their investigation. By the Rev. W. Scoresby, D.D., 

 F.R.S., Corresp. Institute of France, t}c. 



No long time has elapsed since the notion was very prevalent among seamen, that 

 it was impossible to sound the ocean beyond the depth of a very few hundreds of 

 fathoms. It was imagined that in water exerting a superincumbent pressure on the 

 plummet greater than the weight of metal, no sounding-lead would sink ; a curious 

 notion, which could not have been otherwise than a delusion, unless the water of the 

 sea had been indefinitely compressible, so as to have become of equal density, at 

 least, with that of the metal of the plummet. 



There is a difficulty, however, though of a very different nature from that just 

 noticed, in respect to' the obtaining of correct information in very deep soundings, 

 which seems, from the confidence given to recent experiments, to have been 



