80 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society. 



the necessity for the water at the bottom of the sea to move 

 towards the equator, and that at the surface towards the pole. 

 He also illustrated the subject by supposing pipes of equal 

 bore lying along the bottom and surface of the sea, and 

 joined by vertical pipes at the poles and the equator, and 

 showed that the forces formerly proved would cause the water 

 to descend at the pole and ascend at the equator, and thus, 

 with the motion formerly proved, would constitute a continu- 

 ous circular motion. 



He then calculated the amount of velocity the water would 

 acquire towards the equator at a depth of 4000 fathoms, 

 acting without interruption from 46° to 44° of latitude, and 

 found it would acquire a velocity of 15 miles per hour at the 

 bottom, or 7-| miles per hour of the lower half of the water ; 

 then allowing all the forces at other parts to be destroyed by 

 resistances, he concluded that the two forces from opposite 

 poles would produce a westward motion of the waters along 

 the equator of about 84 miles a day, two-thirds of which 

 would be driven into the Gulf of Mexico, from which they 

 could only escape by the Straits of Florida, from which they 

 rush out, forming the origin of the Gulf Stream. This stream 

 would then proceed towards the north by virtue of its original 

 inertia, and the force x acting upon it, and towards the east 

 by means of the decreasing distance between the meridians, 

 and would thus ultimately have a north-easterly direction, 

 which causes it to pass along the west coast of Northern 

 Europe. 



He then ventured to predict that should the North Polar 

 Expedition ever reach the pole, they will find it land, a mass 

 of ice, or a whirlpool. Mr Pryde concluded by saying : " I 

 have purposely avoided any direct attack on any of the 

 theories formerly advanced. I have simply endeavoured to 

 establish my own position by applying w^ell-known physical 

 and mathematical principles to an important problem which 

 has been until now overlooked by physicists ; and should it 

 be the means of settling this much-vexed question, I shall 

 consider myself richly rew^arded for my labour." 



