CHAP. VIII. THE GULF-STREAM. 385 
his address to the Royal Institution, Dr. Carpenter 
states, that ‘‘ the Gulf-stream constitutes a peculiar 
case, modified by local conditions,” of “a great 
general movement of equatorial water towards the 
polar area.” I confess I feel myself compelled to 
take a totally different view. It seems to me that 
the Gulf-stream is the one natural physical pheno- 
menon on the surface of the earth whose origin and 
principal cause, the drift of the trade-winds, can be 
most clearly and easily traced. 
The further progress and extension of the Gulf- 
stream through the North Atlantic in relation to 
influence upon climate has been, however, a fruitful 
source of controversy. The first part of its course, 
after leaving the strait, is sufficiently evident, for 
its water long remains conspicuously different in 
colour and temperature from that of the ocean, 
and a current having a marked effect on naviga- 
tion is long perceptible in the peculiar Gulf-stream 
water. ‘‘ Narrow at first, it flows round the penin- 
sula of Florida, and, with a speed of about 70 or 
80 miles, follows the coast at first in a due north, 
afterwards in a north-east direction. At the lati- 
tude of Washington it leaves the North American 
coast altogether, keeping its north-eastward course ; 
and to the south of the St. George’s and New- 
foundland Banks it spreads its waters more and 
more over the Atlantic Ocean, as far as the Acores. 
At these islands a part of it turns southwards again 
towards the African coast. The Gulf-stream has, 
so long as its waters are kept together along the 
American coast, a temperature of 26°6 C.; but, 
even under north latitude 36°, Sabine found that 
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