GULF STREAM, CLIMATES, AND COMMERCE. 65 



snpplies its shores (§ 283) more abundantly with vaponr than 

 the Noi-th Atlantic does. This no doubt assists to make furious 

 and more frequent the storms of the Xorth Pacific. 



172. Position of the poles of maximum cold, and their influence 

 upon the meteorology of these tioo oceans.— Some philosophers hold 

 that there are in the northern hemisphere two poles of maximum 

 cold : the Asiatic, near the intersection of the parallel of 80'^ with 

 the meridian of 120° E., and the American, near lat. 79° and 

 long. 100° W. The Asiatic pole 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, cannot fail to produce violent commotions in the atmo- 

 sphere. 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 gi'eater, than they are in summer, 

 when those contrasts are least. Moreover, each of those poles is 

 to the north-west of its ocean, the quarter whence come the most 

 terrific gales of winter. Whatever be the exact degree of 

 influence which future research may show to be exercised by 

 these cool places, and the heat dispensed so near them by these 

 mighty streams of tepid water, there is reason to believe that 

 they do act and react upon each other with no inconsiderable 

 meteorological power. In winter the Gulf Stream carries the 

 temperature of summer as far north as the Grand Banks of 

 Newfoundland. 



173. Climates of England and silver fogs of Neicfoundland. — The 

 Imbitual dampness of the climate of the British Islands, as well 

 as the occasional dampness of that along the Atlantic coasts of 

 the United States when easterly winds prevail, is attributable 

 also to the Gulf Stream. These winds come to us loaded with 

 vapours gathered from its warm and smoking waters. The Gulf 

 Stream carries the temperature of summer, even in the dead of 

 winter, as far north as the Grand Banks of Newfoundland, and 

 there maintains it in the midst of the severest frosts. It is the 

 presence of this warm water and a cold atmosphere in juxta- 

 position there which gives rise to the " silver fogs " of New- 

 foundland, one of the most beautiful phenomena to be seen 

 anywhere among the treasures of the frost-king. 



174. Injiuences upon storms. — The influence which the Gulf 



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