THE ATLANTIC STATES. 207 



place by its being a receptacle of the current pro- 

 duced by the trade winds, which blow in such a di- 

 rection as to propel the warm water of the torrid 

 zone into it, causing it to overflow and produce the 

 celebrated Gulf Stream, by the ejection to the north- 

 east, of the excess received from the south-east. 

 This stream runs away to the northward and east- 

 ward of the United States, producing an unnatural 

 warmth in the ocean, as well as an impetus, which, 

 according to Humboldt, is not expended until the 

 current reaches the shores of Africa, and even mixes 

 with the parent flood under the equator. The heat 

 of the Gulf Stream enables mariners to ascertain by 

 the thermometer when they have entered it: and in 

 winter this heat, by increasing the solvent power of 

 the adjoining air, loads it with moisture; which, in a 

 subsequent reduction of temperature, is precipitated 

 in those well known fogs, with which the north- 

 eastern portion of our continent, and the neighbour- 

 ing seas and islands, especially Newfoundland and 

 its banks, are so much infested. An accumulation 

 of warm water in the Gulf of Mexico, adequate thus 

 to influence the ocean at the distance of 2000 miles, 

 may be expected in its vicinity to have effects pro- 

 portionably powerful. The air immediately over the 

 Gulf must be heated, and surcharged with aqueous 

 particles. 



Thus it will become comparatively light ; first, be- 

 cause it is comparatively warm, and in the next 

 place because aqueous vapour, being much lighter 



