CHAP. VIIL] THE G ULF-STREAM. 391 



wise the conclusion that the abnormal mildness of the 

 climate on the north-western coast of Europe is due 

 to a movement of equatorial water in a north-easterly 

 direction. "What I question is the correctness of 

 the doctrine that the north-east flow is an extension 

 or prolongation of the Gulf-stream, still driven on 

 by the vis a tergo of the trade-winds a doctrine 

 which (greatly to my surprise) has been adopted and 

 defended by my colleague Professor "Wyville Thom- 

 son. But while these authorities attribute the whole 

 or nearly the whole of this flow to the true Gulf- 

 stream, I regard a large part, if not the whole, of 

 that which takes place along our own western coast, 

 and passes north and north-east between Iceland and 

 Norway towards Spitzbergen, as quite independent 

 of that agency; so that it would continue if the 

 North and South American continents were so com- 

 pletely disunited that the equatorial currents would 

 be driven straight onwards by the trade-winds into 

 the Pacific Ocean, instead of being embayed in the 

 Gulf of Mexico and driven out in a north-east direc- 

 tion through the 'narrows' off Cape Florida." 3 Dr. 

 Carpenter does not mean by this to endorse Mr. 

 Eindlay's opinion that the movement beyond the 

 45th parallel of latitude is due solely to the drift of 

 the anti-trades ; he says, " On the view I advocate, 

 the north-easterly flow is regarded as due to the 

 vis a front e originating in the action of cold upon 

 the water of the polar a.rea, whereby its level is 

 always tending to depression." 2 The amelioration 

 of the climate of north-western Europe is thus 



1 Dr. Carpenter : Proceedings of the Koyal Geographical Society for 

 1870, op. cit. 2 Op. cit. 



