CHAP. VIII] THE GULF-STREAM. 391 
wise the conclusion that the abnormal mildness of the 
climate on the north-western coast of Europe is due 
to a movement of equatorial water in a north-easterly 
direction. ‘ What I question is the correctness of 
the doctrine that the north-east flow is an extension 
or prolongation of the Gulf-stream, still driven on 
by the vis a tergo of the trade-winds—a doctrine 
which (greatly to my surprise) has been adopted and 
defended by my colleague Professor Wyville ‘Thom- 
son. But while these authorities attribute the whole 
or nearly the whole of this flow to the true Gulf- 
stream, J regard a large: part, if not the whole, of 
that which takes place along our own western coast, 
and passes north and north-east between Iceland and 
Norway towards Spitzbergen, as quite independent 
of that agency; so that it would continue if the 
North and South American continents were so com- 
pletely disunited that the equatorial currents would 
be driven straight onwards by the trade-winds into 
the Pacific Ocean, instead of being embayed in the 
Gulf of Mexico and driven out in a north-east direc- 
tion through the ‘ narrows’ off Cape Florida.”* Dr. 
Carpenter does not mean by this to endorse Mr. 
Findlay’s opinion that the movement beyond the 
A5th parallel of latitude is due solely to the drift of 
the anti-trades; he says, “ On the view I advocate, 
the north-easterly flow is regarded as due to the 
vis a fronte originating in the action of cold upon 
the water of the polar area, whereby its level is 
always tending to depression.” ’ The amelioration 
of the climate of north-western Europe is thus 
1 Dr, Carpenter: Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society for 
1870, op. cit. 22@ p= cit. 
