NOETH-EASTEELY SET TO WESTEEN EUEOPE, ETC. 425 



It will be observed that the velocity of the drift varies greatly, a long 

 course having been performed at a mile an hour and upwards, while in other 

 cases its progress would be inappreciable in the navigation of a ship. 



There is a very marked feature, that of the Eastward, and not North- 

 Eastward tendency, as might be inferred from the prevalence of the S.W. 

 winds. 



(418.) Of this Eastward tendency of the waters on the Eastern side of 

 the North Atlantic Ocean there can be no doubt, and this is the great 

 question to be elucidated, which, from its large extent, cannot be fully dis- 

 cussed here. This fact is manifested by abundant proofs. Besides the 

 greater warmth of the water, which diminishes as we proceed Westward, 

 there are Tropical products, such as seeds (the beans of mimosa scandens, 

 cocoa-nuts, &c.), which are frequently washed ashore at the Fseroe Islands, 

 Iceland, Norway, &c., all proving a South- Westward origin.* 



(419.) The arrangement of the isothermal lines on the Ocean North of 

 46° or 50°, as shown by Dr. Petermann's charts, as well as by all other 

 physicists, shows that a great change occurs in the static condition of the 

 water North of lat. 50° throughout the year. Instead of the lines of equal 

 temperatures running East and West, they have a N.E. and S.W. direc- 

 tion, nearly to Spitzbergen. On referring to the Wind diagrams, given at 

 page 171, it shows that the winds hang generally to W.S.W., or between 

 S.S.W. and W. by N. ; and as these South-Westerly winds have the 

 greatest force, they have the greater effect on the climate of the countries 

 under their influence. But when it is known that the water is warmer 

 than is due to the latitude, to a depth perhaps of 500 or 700 fathoms, it is 

 a manifest impossibility that the Anti-Trade wind can be the transporting 

 agent. 



In the absence, then, of any clearly assignable cause for this elevation 

 of the temperature, it must be considered that the whole body of the upyer 

 strata of the ocean-water, on the Eastern side of the North Atlantic Ocean, is 

 drifting to the Northward. To assign this cause to the Gulf Stream is to 

 ignore the statistics of the Stream ; and it is again affirmed that this very 

 marked stream-current should have a distinct designation.! As the area 

 which is now claimed to be raised in temperature by the Gulf Stream far 

 exceeds 1,500,000 square miles, it follows that the quantity of water which 

 passes along the American coast, which can reach it, cannot cover it to a 

 greater depth than 6 inches per diem, and this after a period of one, two, 

 or perhaps three years, through the fog-banks of N.E. America, and through 

 the Labrador Stream. 



(420.) As Dr, Petermann, by his valuable labours, has helped to throw 



* General Sabine, when at Hammerfest, in 1823, saw some palm-oil barrels drift 

 ashore, supposed to be from a vessel wrecked at Cape Lopez, in the preceding year. 



t Dr. Petermann suggests that the term " Gulf Stream " should be used for thia 

 European current, and that the true stream should be called the "Florida Stream." 

 But this is reversing the argument. The real Gulf Stream has been thus known from 

 the earliest times, and the term has only been applied of late years to the European 

 current. 



N. A.O. 56 



