298 Mr. Redfield on the Currents of the Atlantic. 
from the Gulf Stream, to say nothing of the erroneous character 
of the position here noticed. 
From the evidence which is afforded by numerous facts and 
observations, it appears that the current in question is neither 
more nor less than a more sluggish prolongation of the polar or 
Labrador current, which sweeps along the northeastern shores of 
this continent and the island of Newfoundland. And this cur- 
rent, if I mistake not, may be directly traced in its gradations of 
temperature, by the thermometer, from off the southern coasts of 
Newfoundland and Nova Scotia through the entire distance to 
Cape Hatteras, if not to Florida. 
An eddy current offsetting from the Gulf Stream, would no 
where be so likely to be met with as at the point of intersection 
of this stream with the extremity of the Grand Bank of New- 
foundland, and sweeping from thence upon the southern shores 
of the island of that name; and yet, the harbor of St. John’s on 
the southern coast of Newfoundland is known to have continued 
ice-bound in 1831 so late as the month of June, although in the 
latitude of Paris. This fact is a convincing proof of the unim- 
peded continuation of the polar current to the southward, in this 
region, notwithstanding the near proximity of the Gulf Stream. 
That Col. Jonathan Williams and others should have ascribed 
the reduced temperature of the ocean near our shores simply to 
the effect of shoals or shallow soundings, need not excite our 
surprise, as such striking reductions of temperature are found on 
the Great Bank of Newfoundland, and on that of the Lagullas, 
off the Cape of Good Hope, and while so little has been known 
of the system of ocean currents, and the proximate origin and 
courses of the colder streams of this system. And it is well 
known, that the low temperature of the sea on these banks and 
shallows has been ascribed to the effects of radiation. But, if I 
mistake not, it has been shown that a non-luminous body is in- 
capable of radiation through water; and should this be otherwise, 
any possible effect of this kind is wholly overborne by the cold 
of the great polar currents, which constantly traverse the banks 
and shoals referred to. 
If I am correct in this view, it is the reduced temperature of 
the currents from the polar regions, or, from contiguous ocean 
depths, which has led Williams, Davy and others to support the 
erroneous, or at least very questionable generalization, which as- 
