IS THE GULF STREAM A MYTH? 117 



assign to it effects of unusual importance. And in 

 the course of the discussion whether there is in truth 

 a Gulf Stream or rather whether our shores are 

 visited by a current which merits such a name a 

 variety of interesting facts were adduced, which were 

 either before unknown or had attracted little attention. 

 As at a recent meeting of the same society these doubts 

 have been renewed, we propose to examine briefly, in 

 the first place, a few of the considerations which have 

 been urged against the existence of a current from the 

 Gulf of Mexico to the neighbourhood of our shores ; 

 and then, having rehabilitated the reputation of this 

 celebrated ocean river as we believe we shall be able 

 to do we shall proceed to give a brief sketch of the 

 processes by which the current-system of the North 

 Atlantic is set and maintained in motion. 



In reality the Gulf Stream is only a part of a sys- 

 tem of oceanic circulation ; but in dealing with the 

 arguments which have been urged against its very 

 existence, we may confine our attention to the fact 

 that, according to the views which had been accepted 

 for more than a century, there is a stream of water 

 which, running out of the Gulf Stream through the 

 Narrows of Bernini, flows along the shores of the 

 United States to Newfoundland, and thence right 

 across the Atlantic to the shores of Great Britain. 

 It is this last fact which is now called in question. 

 The existence of a current as far as the neighbour- 

 hood of Newfoundland is conceded, but the fact that 

 the stream flows onward to our shores is denied. 



