I2O LIGHT SCIENCE FOR LEISURE HOURS. 



motion thus imparted to it begins to show itself more 

 and more, until the current is gradually changed from a 

 north-easterly to an almost easterly stream. The process 

 is the exact converse of that by which the air- currents 

 from the north gradually change into the north-westerly 

 trade-winds as they get farther south. 



But it is further remarked that as the current passes 

 out beyond the shelter of Newfoundland, it is impinged 

 upon by those cold currents from the arctic seas which 

 are known to be continually flowing out of Baffin's Bay 

 and down the eastern shores of Greenland ; and it is con- 

 tended that these currents suffice, not merely to break 

 up the Gulf current, but so to cool its waters that these 

 could produce no effect upon the climate of Great Britain 

 if they ever reached its neighbourhood. 



Here, again, I must remark that we are dealing 

 with no new discovery. Captain Maury has already 

 remarked upon this peculiarity. * At the very season 

 of the year,' he says, ' when the Gulf Stream is rush- 

 ing in greatest volume through the Straits of Florida, 

 and hastening to the north with the greatest rapidity, 

 there is a cold stream from Baffin's Bay, Labrador, 

 and the coasts of the north, running south with equal 



velocity One part of it underruns the Gulf 



Stream, as is shown by the icebergs, which are carried 

 in a direction tending across its course.' There can be 

 no doubt, in fact, that this last circumstance indicates 

 the manner in which the main contest between the two 

 currents is settled. A portion of the arctic current finds 

 its way between the Gulf Stream and the continent of 



