* 



On the Gulf Stream and Currents of the Sea. 165 



quits the sea, his observations go with him, and are to the world 

 as though they had not been. 



Capt. Manderson, of the royal navy, published many years ago 

 "An examination into the true course of the Florida Stream," 

 which he ascribed to the Mississippi and the floods of the other 

 rivers emptying into the Gulf. But judging from what we see 

 daily going on in the Mediterranean, the waters from the rivers, 

 especially in summer, when they are at low stages, and when 

 the Gulf Stream runs at the greatest velocity, are not sufficient 

 to supply the water of evaporation. Taking the hypothesis of 

 the English officer for granted, it was asserted by another writer 

 that the velocity of the Gulf Stream might be determined by 

 the freshets in the Mississippi. Capt. Livingston put these the- 

 ories at rest by showing that the volume of water discharged 

 through the Gulf Stream exceeds what is emptied from the Mis- 

 sissippi by more than three thousand times. 



Upon the ruins of this hypothesis, which Capt. Livingston so 

 completely overturned, he advanced the opinion that the velocity 

 w the Gulf Stream "depends on the motion of the sun in the 

 ec 'Ptic, and the influence he has upon the waters of the Atlan- 



lo this day our books on navigation quote this opinion 



1 noiu comment. The most generally received opinion, how- 



e f> is that the Gulf Stream is caused by the trade winds. 



his, doubtless, is one of the causes ; but is it of itself adequate 



^ch an effect ? To my mind, the dynamical laws of the 



> as at present expounded, appear by no means to warrant 



e conclusion that it is, unless the aid of other agents is also 

 ro «ght to bear. We know of instances in which the water 

 ^been accumulated by the force of winds on one side of a 

 * e > or in one end of a canal at the expense of the other ; but 



e F are rare, and the effect of violent, sudden, and particular 

 a j lses ' SUc h as the trades never afford. And this piling up is 



y «nown to take place in shallow basins, or against strong 

 currents. 



u Pposing the pressure of the waters that are forced into 



Caribbean Sea by the trade winds to be the sole cause of 



l 'lf Stream, that sea and the Mexican Gulf should have 



c lncn h'gher level than the Atlantic. Accordingly the advo- 



es of this theory require for its support " a great degree of 



ation." Major Renncll likens the stream to "an immense 



