On the Gulf Stream and Currents of the Sea. 177 



difference in surface temperature only as the degree of heat ac- 

 cumulated there, it can be made to appear that the quantity of 

 specific heat daily discharged through the Gulf Stream, from those 

 regions, is sufficient to raise mountains of iron from zero to the 

 melting point, and to keep up from them a molten stream of metal 

 greater in volume than the waters daily discharged from the Mis- 

 sissippi river. Who, therefore, can calculate the benign influence 

 of this wonderful current upon the climate of the south? 



At the depth of two hundred and forty fathoms, the temperature 

 of the currents setting into the Carribbean Sea has been found as 

 low as 48°, while that of the surface was 85°. Another cast, 

 with three hundred and eighty-six fathoms, gave 43° against 83° 

 at the surface. The hurricanes of those regions aaitate the sea 



O*""" "D 



to great depths: that of '80 tore rocks up from the bottom in 

 seven fathoms, and cast them on shore. They, therefore, cannot 

 lail to bring to the surface portions of the cooler water below. 



These cold waters, doubtless, come down from the north to 

 replace the warm water sent through the Gulf Stream, to moderate 



e co ^ °f Spitzbergen ; for, within the arctic circle, the temper- 

 ature at corresponding depths off the shores of that island is only 

 °oe degree colder than in the Carribbean Sea ; while, on the coasts 

 of Labrador, the temperature in depth is 25°, or 7° below the 

 freezing point of fresh water. Captain Scoresby relates that, on 

 e coast of Greenland, in latitude 72°, the temperature of the 

 air was 42°, of the water 34°, at the surface, and 29° at the 

 de pth of one hundred and eighteen fathoms. He there found a 

 current setting to the south, and bearing with it this extremely 

 Co a water, with vast numbers of ice-bergs, whose centres, per- 

 a Ps, were far below zero. It would be curious to ascertain the 

 r °utes of these under-currents, on their way to the tropical re- 

 jHons, which they are intended to cool. One has been found at 

 he equator two hundred miles broad, and 23° colder than the 

 surface water. Unless the land, or shoals, intervene, it no doubt 

 co *es down in a spiral curve. 



erhaps the best indication as to these cold currents may be 

 erived from the fish of the sea. The whales first pointed out 



existence of the Gulf Stream by avoiding its warm waters. 

 on g °ur own coasts, all those delicate animals, and marine pro- 



l0 ns, which delight in warmer waters, are wanting ; thus in- 

 ^ atl »g by their absence the cold current from the north now 



0l - *<•*„, No . l._ A pril-June, 1844. 



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