968 Transactioas of the American Institute. 



Arctic sea. The temperature of this stream, eighty-six degrees being 

 its maximum, modifies the climate of western Europe, and tends greatly 

 to produce the high state of civilization there. This stream moves 

 with a velocity equal to that of the Amazon, and is in its volume 

 three thousand times larger than the Mississippi. The easterly curve 

 of tlie gulf stream (as sliown on the maps), by which it is made to 

 sweep toward the Azores and around to the shores of Africa, has 

 no existence. There is a current recurring in this direction, but it is 

 a mere drift. This is caused by the southwest winds, which every- 

 where on the globe north of the Tropic of Cancer are the same. The 

 true gulf stream flows on in a mighty and resistless course. Even as 

 far north as Hammerfest, in Korway, the most northerly town in the 

 world, it makes its balmy influence felt. In 1831 the harbor of St. 

 Johns, j^ewfoundland, 1,800 miles south of Hammerfest, had been 

 frozen up as late as the month of June. But the harbor of Hannner- 

 fest has never been known to be closed by ice, even in mid-winter. 

 This great body of water, called tlie gulf stream, has played the most 

 important part of any in the world. This current of warm water, 

 sweeping to the shores of westeirn Europe, has built those gigantic 

 human governments that we look upon with such wonder. It has 

 changed the aspect of countries. This great stream, as it issues 

 through the straits of Florida, has a temperature very near blood- 

 heat, when it 2:)asses through the Gulf of Mexico, and is subject to the 

 rays of the sun. But when it passes further north it has a heat of 

 eighty degrees. To make a single estimate of the thermal power of 

 the gulf stream, it has been demonstrated that if a vessel of any kind, 

 as large as Wales, was filled with ice, that that ice would be melted 

 in a single day. That is, the daily heat of the gulf stream, if utilized, 

 would liquify a vessel of ice as large as Wales. The temperature of 

 the gulf stream is only one element of that mighty water. The color 

 of that water is another important feature of it. Its indigo color is 

 most marked in some places, and the sailor knows the moment his 

 vessel enters it by the color. The color of this stream maintains its 

 specific character and distinction over all surrounding bodies of 

 water. Sir. John Herschel states that the water gets its blue color 

 from the reflection of its bottom. Whetlier this be so or not, is not 

 yet decided. But if this theory be true, there should be a blue and 

 a green color along the line of demarcation. Another important 

 fact is the saltness of the stream itself. It is remarked that the 

 •.water of the Adriatic sea, as it becomes salt and salter, becomes blue 



