July 26, 1895.] 



SCIENCE. 



93 



not follow tliat its force, added to by the 

 anti-trade wind movement, is expended, 

 but on the contrary, that its force, although 

 imperceptible as a distinct current, is 

 merged in that of the more generally east- 

 wardly movement, and contributes to the 

 general effect. With what vehemence this 

 general movement may act is seen through 

 the report for 1893, of the Fishery Board of 

 Scotland, which, through a scientific explo- 

 ration of the coast of Norway, the North 

 Sea, and the channels between Scotland 

 and Iceland, in which the Orkney, Shet- 

 land and Faroe Islands appear, has discov- 

 ered that a warm drift current from the 

 Atlantic often sweeps in one place towards 

 the North Sea from the Atlantic. Whether 

 or not it is wholly a drift current, that is, 

 one due to wind, the exti'aordinary warmth 

 of the northeast Atlantic is thereby afiirmed, 

 and the correspondence of the fact with the 

 previous statement is clearly perceptible. 



Leaving further discussion of the Gulf 

 Stream at this point, it is proper to con- 

 clude with a brief description of the reflux 

 movement of the waters of the Atlantic, 

 corresponding with their westward move- 

 ment, described in connection with the gen- 

 eration of the Gulf Stream. To speak first 

 of the North Atlantic, the anti-trade winds, 

 and a reflux from the North Equatorial 

 Current, foi-m a current called the Northern 

 Connecting Current, which sweej)s around 

 towards the east, in the North Atlantic, 

 from the shores of North America towards 

 those of Africa, enclosing between itself 

 and the North Equatorial Current the well- 

 known waters covered with floating weed, 

 called the Sargasso Sea. Nearing the coast 

 of Africa it passes towards the southeast, 

 and although a portion of it is drafted ofl' 

 into the Guinea Current, another is swept 

 into the North Equatorial Current to renew 

 its ceaseless round. Turning to the Southern 

 Connecting Current we find that a portion 

 of it, known then as the Brazilian Current, 



passes down along the coast of Brazil, is 

 then deflected towards the east, in a curve 

 corresponding with reference to the equa- 

 tor to the curve of the Northern Connect- 

 ing Current, and that it finally passes to- 

 wards the northeast, off the coast of Africa, 

 where a portion of it is drafted ofl' to form the 

 cool South African Current, while another 

 portion turns into the South Equatorial 

 Current, to continue with reinforcements a 

 round similar to that of the Northern Equa- 

 torial Current. The reflux Equatorial Cur- 

 rent between the North and South Equa- 

 torial Currents flows into the Bight of 

 Biafra, helping with the cool North African 

 Current to compose the Guinea Current. 



The influence of the rotation of the earth 

 is well exhibited bj' these movements. The 

 Brazil Current, in passing southward soon 

 to become a portion of the Southern Con- 

 necting Current, is going towards degrees 

 of latitude where the earth's rotation is 

 less swift than it is in the place whence it 

 started. Hence it gradually assumes a 

 curve towards the east, when, finally, it is 

 deflected in quite an eastwardly direction 

 by the pressure on its flank of the Antarctic 

 Current, crowding up along the shore of 

 South America, and additionally receives 

 the impulse of the anti-trade winds of the 

 region towards speeding it on its journey 

 towards the east. Very nearly the same 

 thing takes place in the northern hemis- 

 phere with reference to the Northern Con- 

 necting Current, the sole difference being 

 that in the latter case the Gulf Stream re- 

 ceives the shock of the Arctic Current on 

 its flank, and thereby shields the North 

 Connecting Current from encroachment on 

 its flank, to which, however, it would be 

 less liable on account of the difference of 

 the lay of the land in North America as 

 compared with its lay in South America. 



As both the Northern Connecting Cur- 

 rent and the Southern Connecting Current 

 run for the greater part of their courses due 



