64 SCIENTIFIC EFFORTS. 



In former years, ships used to get entangled in 

 this weedy region for weeks together, unable to 

 proceed on their voyage. The great Columbus fell 

 in with it on his voyage to America, and his fol- 

 lowers, thinking they had reached the end of the 

 world, were filled with consternation. This Sar- 

 gasso Sea lies in the same spot at the present day, 

 but men now know its extent and position. In- 

 stead of steering straight for port, they proceed a 

 considerable distance out of their way, and f by avoid- 

 ing this calm region, accomplish their voyages with 

 much greater speed. 



The ocean currents have been, by repeated and 

 long - continued investigation, ascertained and 

 mapped out ; so also have the currents of the at- 

 mosphere : so that, now-a-days, by taking advan- 

 tage of some of these currents and avoiding others, 

 voyages are performed, not only in much shorter 

 time, but with much greater precision and certainty. 

 As it was with ocean currents long ago, so was it 

 with atmospheric. Navigators merely put to sea, 

 steered as near as possible on their direct course, 

 and took advantage of such winds as chanced to blow. 

 Now they know whither to steer in order to meet 

 with such winds and currents as will convey them 

 in the shortest space of time to the end of their 

 voyage. The knowledge necessary to this has not 

 been gained by the gigantic effort of one mind, nor 

 by the accidental collocation of the results of the 

 investigations of many ordinary minds. But a few 



