CHAP, vin.] THE GULF-STREAM. 33 \ 



wise the conclusion that the abnormal mildness of the 

 climate on the north-western coast of Europe is due 

 to a movement of equatorial water in a north-easterly 

 direction. "What I question is the correctness of 

 the doctrine that the north-east flow is an extension 

 or prolongation of the Gulf-stream, still driven on 

 by the vis a tergo of the trade-winds a doctrine 

 which (greatly to my surprise) has been adopted and 

 defended by my colleague Professor Wyville Thom 

 son. But while these authorities attribute the whole 

 or nearly the whole of this flow to the true Gulf- 

 stream, I regard a large part, if not the whole, of 

 that which takes place along our own western coast, 

 and passes north and north-east between Iceland and 

 Norway towards Spitzbergen, as quite independent 

 of that agency; so that it would continue if the 

 North and South American continents were so com 

 pletely disunited that the equatorial currents would 

 be driven straight onwards by the trade-winds into 

 the Pacific Ocean, instead of being embayed in the 

 Gulf of Mexico and driven out in a north-east direc 

 tion through the 'narrows' off Cape Elorida." 1 Dr. 

 Carpenter does not mean by this to endorse Mr. 

 Eindlay's opinion that the movement beyond the 

 45th parallel of latitude is due solely to the drift of 

 the anti-trades ; he says, " On the view I advocate, 

 the north-easterly flow is regarded as due to the 

 vis a f route originating in the action of cold upon 

 the water of the polar area, whereby its level is 

 always tending to depression." 2 The amelioration 

 of the climate of north-western Europe is thus 



1 Dr. Carpenter : Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society for 

 1870, op. cit. 2 Op. cit. 



