IS THE GULF STREAM A MYTH? 131 



system of oceanic circulation ; but in dealing with 

 the arguments which have been urged against its very 

 existence, we may conline 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 neighbor- 

 hood of Newfoundland is conceded, but the fact that 

 the stream flows onward to our shores is denied. 



The point on which the most stress is placed is the 

 shallowness of the passage called the " Bernini Nar- 

 rows," 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 a 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 reason, how this narrow current 

 can be looked upon as the parent of that wide stream, 

 which is supposed to traverse the Atlantic with a mean 

 width of some five or six hundred miles. Indeed, a 

 much greater width has been assigned to it, though on 

 mistaken grounds ; for it has been remarked that since 

 waifs and strays from the tropics are found upon the 



