IS THE GULF STREAM A MYTH? 119 



rowness of the Bernini current is one deserving of 

 careful attention. Are we free to identify a current 

 six hundred miles in width with one which is but thirty 

 miles wide, and not very deep ? An increase of width 

 certainly not less than thirtyfold would appear to cor- 

 respond to a proportionate diminution of depth. And 

 remembering that it is only near the middle of the 

 Narrows that the Gulf Stream has a depth of four 

 hundred yards, we could scarcely assign to the wide 

 current in the rnid- Atlantic a greater depth than ten 

 or twelve yards. This depth seems altogether, out of 

 proportion to the enormous lateral extension of the 

 current. 



But besides that even this consideration would not 

 suffice to disprove the existence of a current in the 

 mid- Atlantic, an important circumstance remains to be 

 mentioned. The current in the Narrows flows with 

 great velocity, certainly not less than four or five miles 

 an hour. As the current grows wider it flows more 

 sedately ; and opposite Cape Hatteras its velocity is 

 already reduced to little more than three miles an hour. 

 In the mid- Atlantic the current may be assumed to 

 flow at a rate little exceeding a mile per hour, at the 

 outside. Here, then, we have a circumstance which 

 suffices to remove a large part of the difficulty arising 

 from the narrowness of the Bernini current, and we can 

 at once increase our estimate of the depth of the mid- 

 Atlantic current fivefold. 



But this is not all. It has long been understood 

 that the current which passes out through the Narrows 



