'296 THE CURRENTS. 



mth the points of "despatch and arrival" of a very large number of these 

 Current Bottles. The practice and the accuracy of the teaching of thesa 

 Bottles led to a long controversy, which, however, did not tend to over- 

 turn their authority, so it need not be longer adverted to here, than to say 

 that the principal objection to them was, that they were rather impelled 

 by the prevailing Wind than drifted in the Current. But this is also a 

 demonstration of what can be otherwise proved, that the Winds and sur- 

 face Currents of the Atlantic and other Oceans obey the same laws, and 

 move very much in the same circuits. These Bottles, then, will form an 

 important part of the subsequent demonstrations of the direction and rate 

 of Currents. Captain Becher's chart bears intrinsic evidence of its trust- 

 worthy character, as in each region the Bottles obey precisely the law 

 which would, a priori, be laid down for them. 



In July, 1891, the United States Hydrographic Office published a chart 

 showing the tracks of a large number of Current Bottles* and Floats which 

 had been recorded during recent years. This, alsOj^confirms the accepted 

 theory of the circulation of the Ocean. 



(244.) Prince Albert of Monaco, assisted by Professor Pouchet, and a grant 

 from the Paris Municipal Council, during the years 1885, 1886, and 1837, 

 made a series of current experiments on board his sailing yacht Hirondelle, 

 the results of which he communicated to the Paris Academy of Sciences, 

 who published them in the " Comptes Rendus." He also furnished a 

 reswnS of them to the meeting of the British Association, at Edinburgh, 

 in 1892, published in the " Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society," 

 September, 1892.t 



The floats used were casks, copper globes, and bottles, weighted to pre- 

 vent their being acted on by wind, and containing the usual document. 

 In 1885, floats numbering 169 were launched along a line of 170 miles in 

 a N. liP W. direction from a position 110 miles N.W. of Corvo, Azores. 

 In the next year, 510 floats were launched nearly along the meridian of 

 170 40' W., between lat. 42° 34' and 50' N. In 1887, floats numbering 

 931 were launched along a line from the Azores to the Banks of Newfound- 

 land, and 63 others in mid-Atlantic, between the Banks and the coast of 

 Ireland. 



Of these floats, 227 had come to hand again, and their tracks, as shown 

 on the chart drawn up by the Prince, appear to confirm the usual theory 

 of the North Atlantic Currents. From them he concludes that the mean 

 daily velocity of the Ocean currents is as follows : — The region comprised 

 between the Azores, Ireland, and Norway, 3*97 miles; between the Azores, 

 France, Portugal, and the Canaries, 5-18 miles ; from the Canaries to the 

 West Indies, the Bahamas, and even to Bermuda, it attains a daily speed 

 of lO'll miles; and in the Eastern portion of the arc, which extends from 

 Bermuda to the Azores, it falls again to 6*42 miles. The mean velocity 

 which the combined results give for the surface circulation of the North 

 Atlantic Ocean is 4-48 nautical miles in twenty-four hours. 



• Bottles used for this purpose should be paiated some conspicuous colonr, weighted 

 90 43 to keep the corks out of the water, and securely sealed. 



t Professor Pouohot published his observations in a book entitled "Conniits de 

 I'Atlantiqua." 



