BY THE REV. R. F. WHEELER, M.A. 259 



TEMPERATURE. 



The remarkably high temperature of the summer of 1868 has 

 naturally lead to many speculations as to the cause. As usual 

 in such cases, the one which seemed to be nearest at hand was 

 that to which everything was attributed, and the popular belief 

 was that some alteration had taken place in the course and di- 

 rection of the Gulf stream, possibly resulting from an alteration 

 effected in the level of the ocean bottom by the effects of the 

 earthquake which devastated the Island of St, Thomas, in the 

 West Indies, in the autumn of 1867. But there does not seem 

 to be the very slightest evidence in proof of any such alteration 

 having taken place at all. The course of the Gulf stream is so 

 clearly defined and so well known that any deviation more than 

 ordinary would at once have been recognized by the intelligent 

 officers of the various Trans-Atlantic steamers, who are daily 

 passing between Europe and America. Many of the captains 

 of those steamers, it must be remembered, are engaged in taking 

 observations of every kind of phenomena v^^hich comes under 

 their notice, and are amply provided with instruments for that 

 purpose. 



But in order to obtain as decisive an opinion on the subject 

 as possible, G. C. Atkinson, Esq., of Wylam Hall, wrote to the 

 authorities of the Smithsonian Institution, at Washington, to 

 ask for any information the American Government might have 

 in their possession, and he received the following reply dated 

 February the 21st, 1869: — "Enquiry has been made as to the 

 reported changes in the Gulf stream during the last year, but 

 we have obtained no trustworthy information on the subject. 

 Nothing has been observed by the officers of the coast survey to 

 warrant the statements which have been made, and the changes, 

 which would necessarily have been of so marked a character as 

 to have attracted the attention of ordinary navigators, would 

 scarcely fail to have been detected by them. The velocity and 

 direction of the Gulf stream must necessarily be much affected 

 by the direction and intensity of the wind. The Avaters are not 

 alone impelled westwardly in the tropical regions by the action 



