204 THE GULF STREAM. 
retaining an initial velocity which originated in lower latitudes, then : 
losing both its velocity and its heat on its way north.* 
The Straits of Florida have a width of about 48 miles between Jupi- 
ter Inlet and Memory Rock; the greatest depth is 439 fathoms, and the 
cross-section 430,000,000 square feet. At three knots, the delivery would 
be, as calculated by Commander Bartlett about 436,000,000,000,000 
tons a day, an amount of warm water far less than we find over the 
North Atlantic, which, as has been shown, is derived from the western 
set of the equatorial current, joining the Gulf Stream in its way towards 
European shores.t (See Figs. 1-6.) 
Commander Bartlett thus describes the general course of the Gulf 
Stream 
‘The Gulf Stream has for its western bank the 100-fathom curve as 
far as Cape Hatteras. It has a depth of 400 fathoms as far as Charles- 
ton, where it is reduced to 300 fathoms; but the Arctic current has for 
its eeerern bank the 1,000-fathom curve, which is quite close to shoal 
water from the George’s Bank to Hatteras. ; 
“The average surface temperature in the axis of the stream rarely 
exceeded 83° F. in June and July. On one or two occasions the ther- 
mometer read as high as 86° and once 89°; but it was at high noon in 
a dead calm. The temperature at 5 ume did not range above the 
average of 814°. 
‘“The increase of temperature of the surface was found as we entered 
the current. - - 
“The surface temperatures did not indicate a cold wall inside of the 
stream and the water inside of the 100-fathom line to the shore seemed 
to be an overflow of the stream, as the temperatures to 5, 10, and 15 
fathoms were nearly as high as those found in the stream. 
‘““The temperatures at the bottom in the stream, at corresponding 
depths, were the same as those found in the Windward Passage, and 
* Between Halifax and the Bermudas, the section of the Gulf Stream observed 
by the Challenger was cooled 1° C., as compared with that of the Bermudas to 
New York. The Gulf Stream retains its heat as a surface current as long as the 
temperature is sufficiently high to make it lighter than the surrounding water. 
Its greater salinity causes it to sink below the comparatively fresher water of 
northern latitudes. Similarly, the Arctic current, when it reaches a certain latitude 
along our eastern coast, sinks from its greater specific gravity below the warmer 
surface currents and continues its way south as an undercurrent of cold water. 
t It might, perhaps, be advisable to distinguish between the eastern extension of 
the Gulf Stream, combined with the Atlantic drift, and the Gulf Stream proper, un- 
derstanding by the latter the water which passes through the Florida Straits. 
This has been called by Petermann the Florida Stream; and the name of Gulf Stream 
has been applied to the vast body of warm water which super-heats the basin of 
the Eastern Atlantic to the eastward of 45° west longicude. There seems to be no 
reason for changing the name of the Gulf Stream because so many other liberties 
have been taken with it. We should retain the original name, limiting it to the 
Florida Stream coming from the Gulf of Mexico and applying to its eastern extension, 
in connection with the Atlantic easterly drift, some new name, such as Equatorial 
Drift or the Caribbean Stream. 
— wT 
