June 26, 1896,] 



SCIENCE. 



921 



on its present attitude with respect to 

 sea level, some broader parts rising 100 

 meters, others being entirely submerged. 

 The open valleys of the interior, which 

 are abruptly cut by the steep fiord walls, 

 are referred to the same epoch and base- 

 level as the coast plain. The plain was 

 was made in preglacial time, and its uplifted 

 surface is now much dissected. Richter 

 emphasizes what Reusch said as to the im- 

 portant control exerted by the plain on the 

 distribution of population and adds : "I re^ 

 gard this ITorwegian coast plain as the 

 greatest known example of well-proved 

 marine erosion ; perhaps the only one of 

 so great dimensions in the world." The 

 account is illustrated by four good views. 



EQUATORIAL COUNTER CURRENTS. 



A LARGE atlas issued last year by the 

 Dutch Meteorological Institute at Utrecht, 

 entitled ' De Guinea en Equatoriaal Stroo- 

 men,' clearly exhibits the periodic expan- 

 sion of the Atlantic counter current in the 

 northern summer ; but unfortunately the 

 area charted does not reach west far enough 

 to take in the head of the current. From 

 January to March, when the monsoon-like 

 extension of the southeast trade across the 

 equator as a south or southwest wind is prac- 

 tically wanting, the counter current is weak, 

 irregular, and of small area. From Julj' to 

 September, when the southwest monsoon ex- 

 tends to 10° N". Lat. in mid-ocean, and even 

 further north near the African coast, the 

 counter current becomes definitely estab- 

 lished between 4° and 9° or 11° IST. Lat., with 

 normal westward currents on either side. 

 The strong temperature gradient on the 

 northern border of the counter current near 

 the African coast shows that it is not fed 

 there by the North Atlantic eddy, as is 

 represented on certain charts. 



The January and July current charts in 

 the atlas of the Pacific ocean lately issued 

 by the Deutsche Seewarte (following sim- 



ilar atlases of theAtlantic andlndian oceans, 

 with their sailing hand-books already pub- 

 lished) gives additional confirmation of the 

 control of equatorial counter currents by the 

 monsoon-like extension of a trade wind 

 across the equator into the summer hemis- 

 phere ; first, by showing a great increase in 

 the breadth of the counter current north of 

 the equator in the chart for July, this being 

 the only counter current ordinarily shown in 

 the Pacific ; second, by exhibiting in the 

 chart for January a distinct counter current 

 south of the equator in the western part of 

 the ocean, about the Solomon islands, where 

 alone in the Pacific the northeast trades 

 cross the line into the southern hemisphere 

 and blow for a time as north or northwest 

 winds. 



PLANETARY AND TERRESTRIAL CURRENTS. 



The current charts above referred to con- 

 firm the association of the general oceanic 

 surface eddies with the change from day to 

 night, the belt-like arrangement of the 

 zones, the genei'al circulation of the at- 

 mosphere, and the systematic deflections of 

 the annual isotherms, as correlated features 

 of a rotating, sun-lit, ocean- and air-bear- 

 ing planet. Further, they confirm the asso- 

 ciation of faster currents (in temperate 

 latitudes at least) in the winter hemisphere 

 as well as of equatorial counter currents in 

 the summer hemisphere, with the seasons 

 and the migration of the isotherms, as well 

 as marked characteristics of our own tilted- 

 axis planet. Finally, they confirm the asso- 

 ciation of the irregular development of 

 oceanic eddies and counter currents with 

 the irregular outlines of the continents and 

 oceans, and the various exaggerated deflec- 

 tions of the isotherms, as individual, non- 

 geometrical features of the irregularly 

 wrinkled earth. All this suggests a natural 

 order of classification and presentation of 

 these varied but related facts. It is the in- 

 dividual peculiarities of the lands and 



