IS THE GULF STREAM A MYTH? 147 



winds, blowing from equatorial to polar regions, liave 

 an eastward motion. 



It is singular how completely the supporter of each 

 rival view has succeeded in overthrowing the argu- 

 ments of his opponent. Certainly Maury has shown 

 with complete success that the inconstant trade-winds 

 cannot account for the constant Gulf current, which 

 does not even flow before them, but, in places, exactly 

 against their force. And the reasoning of Sir John 

 Herschel seems equally cogent, for certainly the flow 

 of water from equatorial toward polar regions ought 

 from the first to have an eastward, instead of a west- 

 ward motion ; whereas the equatorial current, of which 

 the Gulf Stream is but the continuation, flows from 

 east to west, right across the Atlantic. 



Equally strange is it to find that each of these emi- 

 nent men, having read the arguments of the other, 

 reasserts, but does not effectually defend, his own 

 theory, and repeats with even more damaging effect 

 his arguments against the rival view. 



Yet one or other theory must at least point to the 

 true view, for the Atlantic is subject to no other agen- 

 cies which can for a moment be held to account for a 

 phenomenon of such magnificence as the Gulf Stream. 



It appears to us that, on a close examination of the 

 Gulf-Stream mechanism, the true mainspring of its 

 motion can be recognized. Compelled to reject the 

 theory that the trade-winds generate tke equatorial 



