60 THE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY OF THE SEA. 



sphere the currents are broad and sluggish; in the northern, 

 narrow, sharp, and strong. Then we have in the north other 

 chmatic contrasts for which we may search southern seas in vain. 

 Hence, without further investigation, we may infer southern seas 

 to be less boisterous than northern. 



170. By a like reasoning we may judge the North Pacific to 

 storms in the North ^^ ^^ss boistcrous than thc North Atlantic; for, 

 Atlantic and Eacific. though wc havc Continental climates on either side 

 of each, and a Gulf Stream in both, yet the Pacific is a very much 

 wider sea, and its Gulf Stream is (§ 54) not so warm, nor so sharp, 

 nor so rapid ; therefore the broad Pacific does not, on the whole, 

 present the elements of atmospherical disturbance in that com- 

 pactness which is so striking in the narrow North Atlantic. 



171. Nevertheless, though the North Pacific generally may not 

 storms along their ^^ SO stormy as thc North Atlantic, we have reason 

 western shores. ^^ bclicve that mctcorological agents of nearly equal 

 power are clustered along the western shores of each ocean. 

 Though the Gulf Stream of the Pacific is not so hot, nor the cool 

 littoral currents so cold as those of our ocean are, yet they lave 

 the shores of a broader continent, and hug them quite as closely 

 as ours do. Moreover, the Japan Current, with its neighboring 

 seas, is some 500 miles nearer to the pole of maximum cold than 

 the Gulf Stream of the Atlantic is. 



172. Some philosophers hold that there are in the northern 

 Position of the poles hemisphere two poles of maximum cold : the Asi- 

 nndThtS-rfluence ^tic, ucar the iutcrscction of the parallel of SO'' 

 TVf^'tE'^t"^ with the meridian of 120° E., and the American, 



oceans. ^^^^ j^^^ ^^o ^^^ j^^^^ -^qqo -^^ Thc Asiatic polc 



is the colder. The distance between it and the Japan Current is 

 about 1500 miles; the distance between the other pole and the 

 Gulf Stream is about 2000 miles. The bringing of the heat of 

 summer, as these two streams do, in such close juxtaposition 

 with the cold of winter, can not fail to produce violent commo- 

 tions in the atmosphere. These commotions, as indicated by the 

 storms, are far more frequent and violent in winter, when the 

 contrasts between the warm and cool places are greater, than they 

 are in summer, when those contrasts are least. Moreover, each 

 of these poles is to the northwest of its ocean, the quarter whence 

 come the most terrific gales of winter. Whatever be the exact 



