H. W. Pearson—Changes in the Sea-Level. Lt7 
This amount, if reduced one-half by escaping currents as estimated by 
Ferrel, would still leave deformation of over 10 feet. 
Applying in similar manner Ferrel’s law to other ocean currents, 
we find deformation in sea-level to obtain on every coastline on the 
globe. Nowhere do we find a level surface. For instance, that 
current which in more northern regions becomes the Gulf Stream is 
first recognized somewhere south and west of Cape of Good Hope. At 
‘this latitude the surface of the earth is rotating to the east at a rate of 
about 790 miles per hour. At the Equator the rate of rotation is 
1,040 miles per hour. These waters, therefore, before passing the 
Equator, must undergo an acceleration of some 2450 miles per hour. 
Some of this acceleration will be obtained from impulse of the 
surrounding waters, some possibly from contact with the bottom, but 
‘the final acceleration must certainly be reached by the crowding of 
these waters against the entire eastern shore-line of South America, 
where deformation of level in the surface-waters must necessarily 
‘occur. 
It follows, as a consequence, that a deformed and elevated water- 
surface must exist along the entire coastline of Brazil. Furthermore, 
we might infer that the south-flowing Brazilian current, like its 
prototype on the east coast of England, is an escaping, or secondary, 
-eurrent, impelled by the hydrostatic head in existence on those shores, 
as already suggested by Ferrel. 
In the Gulf of Mexico an elevated surface is necessarily established 
by the united effect of the Equatorial and Gulf Currents. A gradually 
declining surface from Florida to Nova Scotia and Greenland should 
also be expected as we pass to the north, due to the retreat of the 
Gulf Stream from these shores. Some local elevation in the vicinity 
of the continental projections of Nova Scotia should also appear, from 
the uplifting effect of the south-flowing Labrador current. 
On the European coasts a progressive rising gradient should be 
found from Africa northward to the shores of Nova Zembla. 
Ferrel’s law teaches us, therefore, that as long as ocean currents 
flow upon a rotating earth it is impossible to expect that confluent 
seas in differing latitudes, on any one coastline, should have the same 
absolute surface elevation. 
It will now be observed that the magnitude of these deformations 
in oceanic surface as demanded by our law are such as to make their 
‘discovery almost a necessity. We are therefore justified in searching 
the records of levelling operations with the view of learning to 
‘what extent Ferrel’s deductions may be confirmed by actual fact. 
Below we quote a few results arrived at from lines of precise levels, 
extended at different dates through Europe, the United States, and 
‘Canada. This list might be considerably enlarged, but the result 
would be invariably the same. All lines of level confirm Ferrel. 
Precise levels in England indicate that ‘‘The sea-level of the 
northern part of the island generally is Aigher than that of the 
southern part.”” (U.S. Coast Survey Rep., 1874, p. 256.) 
General Tenner found the Baltic Sea to be 0°53 fathom (3-18 feet) 
higher than the Black Sea. (This line through Russia.) (Smithsonian 
Report, 1890, p. 312.) 
