IS THE GULF STREAM A MYTH? 115 



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 I believe I shall be able 

 to do I 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 neighbourhood of 

 Newfoundland is conceded, but the fact that the stream 

 flows onward to our shores is denied. 



The point on which most stress is placed is the 

 shallowness of the passage called the ' Bernini Narrows,' 

 through which it is assumed that the whole of the Gulf 

 current must pass. This passage has a width of about 

 forty miles, and a depth of little more than six hundred 

 yards. The current which flows through it is perhaps 

 little more than thirty miles in width, and a quarter of 

 a mile in depth. It is asked with some appearance of 



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