GULF STEEAM, CLIilATES, AXD COMIilEKCE. 63 



tlie midst of the severest frosts. It is the presence of this warm 

 water and a cold atmosphere in juxtaposition there which gives rise to 

 the "silver fogs" of Newfomidland, one of the most beautiful phe- 

 nomena to be seen any^vhere among the treasures of the fi'ost-king. 



174. The influence which the Gulf Stream exercises upon the 

 Influences upon storms of the North Atlantic, which take their rise 

 ^^*^"^^' within the tropics, is felt as far over even as the 

 coast of Africa: it is also felt upon those which, though not 

 intertropical in their origin, are ImoTMi to visit the oflfings of the 

 American coasts. These gales, in whatever part of the ocean east 

 of the Gulf Stream they take their rise, march to the north-west 

 until they join it, when they "recm'vate," as the phrase is, and 

 take up their line of march to the north-east along with it. Gales 

 of mnd have been traced from latitude 10° N. on the other side of 

 the Atlantic to the GuK Stream on this, and then with it back 

 again to the other side, off the shores of Em^ope. By examining 

 the log-books of ships, the tracks of storms have been traced out 

 and followed for a week or ten days. Their path is marked by 

 wreck and disaster. At a meeting of the American Association for 

 the Advancement of Science, in 1854, Mr. Eedfield mentioned one 

 which he had traced out, and in which no less than seventy odd 

 vessels had been T^Tecked, dismasted, or damaged. 



175. Now, what should attract these storms to the Gulf Stream, 

 More observations in is a qucstion whicli yet remains to be satisfactorily 

 s?ioi'°",* !!it/^''.^^ answered. A c'ood series of simultaneous baro- 

 turn. metric observations within and on either side of 

 the Gdf Stream is a gi'eat desideratum in the meteorology of 

 the Atlantic. At the equator, where the trade-winds meet and 

 ascend, where the air is loaded with moistm^e, and where the vapour 

 n'om the warm waters below is condensed into the equatorial 

 cloud-ring above, we have a low barometer. 



176. How is it with the Gulf Stream when these storms fi'om 

 Certain stoi-ms make right and left buTst in upou it, and, turning about, 

 for it and follow it. gom'se aloug mth it ? Its waters are warm ; they 

 give off vapour rapidly; and, were this vapom' visible to an 

 observer in the moon, he no doubt would, on a winter's day espe- 

 cially, be able to trace out by the mist in the air the path of the 

 Guh* Stream through the sea. 



177. Let us consider the effect of vapoiu' upon winds, and then 

 How aqueous vapour the importance of the observations proposed (§ 175) 



assists in produciDg „. -l- , i i ji • j i ■'• a 



Minds. _ wiil perhaps be better appreciated. Aqueous va- 



