IS THE GULF STREAM A MYTH? 139 



sea-bottom. It has been proved that the living crea- 

 tures which people the lower depths of the sea exist 

 under circumstances which evidence a perfect uni- 

 formity of temperature ; and arguments on the subject 

 of the Gulf Stream have been derived from the evi- 

 dence of what is termed a minimum thermometer 

 that is, a thermometer which will indicate the lowest 

 temperature it has been exposed to let down into the 

 depths of the sea. All such arguments, whether ad- 

 duced against or in favor of the Gulf-Stream theory, 

 must be held to be futile, since the thermometer in its 

 descent may pass through several submarine currents 

 of different temperature. 



Lastly, an argument has been urged against the 

 warming effects of the Gulf Stream upon our climate, 

 which requires to be considered with some attention. 

 It is urged that the warmth derived from so shallow a 

 current as the Gulf Stream must be, by the time it has 

 reached our shores, could not provide an amount of 

 heat sufficient to affect our climate to any appreciable 

 extent. The mere neighborhood of this water at a 

 temperature slightly higher than that due to the lati- 

 tude could not, it is urged, affect the temperature of 

 the inland counties at all. 



This argument is founded on a misapprehension of 

 the beautiful arrangement by which Nature carries heat 

 from one region to distribute it over another. Over 

 the surface of the whole current the process of evapo- 



