8 On the Physical Geology of the United States, §c. 
rents both of the ocean and the atmosphere have a tendency to 
a circular flow ; those flowing from the equatorial toward the 
polar regions bend more and more to the eastward as they ad- 
vance into higher latitudes, while those flowing from the poles 
towards the equator, bend to the westward as they approach the 
tropical regions. 'This may be seen in the southwest winds of 
the United States and the Gulf Stream, in one case—and in the 
prevailing currents of the atmosphere and of the Atlantic Ocean, 
that cause the trade winds and the equatorial current, in the 
other.* 
The bending of these currents of the ocean and of the atmo- 
— to the eastward in the northwardly flow, and to the 
* In regard to the great currents of the ocean, the following a are said to have been 
distinctly recognized as permanent, and with slight variations in velocity. Nu- 
merous local and variable currents have been noticed, which are caused by sub- 
divisions and deflections of the more general ones, and by those causes that pro- 
duce eddies. Theory would render others probable that have not been recognized. 
-.) The equatorial current of the Atlantic is divided by the eastern coast 
of South America into two branches. The la arger | flows to the W. and N. W. 
into the Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico, ‘causin; a higher level than that of 
equilibrium, and a flow t through the Gulf of a called. the Gulf Siream ; the 
other flows along the coast of Brazil toward Sandw 
(2.) The equatorial current of the Pacific has a ne moderate westward So 
which is nearly uniform ane constant, like the trade winds in the central and 
Western parts of that ocea 
Branches of this daenie are said to set northward along the coasts of China 
and Japan, corresponding to the Gulf Stream; and southward by New Holland 
toward the Antarctic region 
(3.) The equatorial shen of the Indian Ocean has a northwest flow, caused 
by a deflection of the same current from the Pacific among the reefs and islands 
between which a part of it passes, and by the southwardly polar current, The 
northwest current flows west from Cape Comorin to the African coast, thence 
along that coast through the Mozambique Channel to the Laguilas Banks near the 
Cape of Good Hope, wiidte it meets the Lagullas current from the Antarctic seas. 
. Numerous counter and variable currents are also found in the Indian Ocean. 
icebergs even against the wind, and against the Gulf Stream in the vicinity of the 
Banks of Newfoundland. This current proceeds southwardly, and owing to the 
rotation Of the earth, it presses to the westward along the coast of the United 
States, and gives that coldness to the water that modifies so eee the climate. 
(2.) Another polar current sets from the north in the Atlantic Ocean near its 
eastern shore, and these two o polar currents by their action on the Gulf Stream, 
deflect a part of its waters across the Atlantic and along the western coasts of Eu- 
— to join again the equatorial current. 
Part of the Lagullas current flows along the et coast of Africa ‘to- 
wade St. Helena and Ascension, to join the equatorial cu 
(4.) Another in the Pacifice:sets. ts along the west coast of eal America to join 
the westward flow from the Gallipagos, 
