ITS EFFECT ON CLIMATE. 59 



the cold towards the south. There are similar cur- 

 rents in the Pacific, but they are neither so large 

 nor so regular as those of the Atlantic, owing to the 

 wide formation of the basin of the former sea. 



The effect of the Gulf Stream on climate is very 

 great. The dreary fur-trading establishment of 

 York Factory, on the shores of Hudson's Bay, is 

 surrounded by a climate of the most rigorous char- 

 acter the thermometer seldom rising up so high 

 as zero during many months, and often ranging 

 down so low as 50 below zero, sometimes even 

 lower, while the winter is seven or eight months 

 long : the lakes and rivers are covered with ice 

 upwards of six feet thick, and the salt sea itself is 

 frozen. Yet this region lies in the same latitude 

 with Scotland, York Factory being on the parallel 

 of 57 north, which passes close to Aberdeen ! The 

 difference in temperature between the two places 

 is owing very much, if not entirely, to the influence 

 of the Gulf Stream. 



Starting from its caldron in the Gulf of Mexico, 

 it carries a freight of caloric towards the North 

 Atlantic. Owing partly to the diurnal motion of 

 the Earth on its axis, its flow trends towards the 

 east ; hence its warm waters embrace our favoured 

 coasts, and ameliorate our climate, while the eastern 

 sea-bord of North America is left, in winter, to the 

 rigour of unmitigated frost. 



But besides the powerful influence of this current 

 on climate, it exerts a very considerable influence 



