1872.] 



( Shearwater 3 Scientific Researches. 



593 



" States ; until, deflected still further to the east by the banks of New- 

 " foundland, it crosses the Atlantic, and casts an abundance of Tropical 

 " seeds on the coasts of Ireland, of the Hebrides, and of Norway. Its 

 " north-easternmost prolongation mitigates the cold of the ocean, and exer- 

 " cises a beneficent influence on the climate of the northernmost point of 

 " Scandinavia. At the point where the stream is deflected to the east by 

 " the banks of Newfoundland, it sends off an arm toward the south, not 

 " far from the Azores." (Sabine's Translation, vol. i. p. 301.) 



88. General Sabine appears to have been the first to suggest, in a valuable 

 Note to the passage just cited (p. 454), that the transport of Tropical pro- 

 ducts, as well as of the warmer water of the Mid-Atlantic, to the North 

 Cape, may be due to other agencies than the propulsive force of the Florida 

 Current. — " It appears to require a further investigation to decide whether 

 " the Stream-current referred to in the text, which flows along the coast of 

 " Norway and round the North Cape of Europe, and is, at least, mainly 

 " supplied from the accumulated waters of the drift propelled by the West 

 " and South-west winds which prevail to the northward of the Trades, de- 

 " rives any portion whatsoever of its force from the original impulse given to 

 " the waters of the Gulf-stream at its outlet from the Gulf of Mexico, in the 

 " Bahama Channel. The transport of West-Indian seeds to the coast of 

 " Norway is undoubted ; and even parts of the cargoes of vessels wrecked on 

 " the coast of Africa have reached the Norwegian coast, after having made the 

 " circuit of the West-Indian Islands : — [such an instance occurred when the 

 " Editor was at Hammerfest, near the North Cape of Europe, in 1823 ; casks 

 " of palm-oil were thrown on shore, belonging to a vessel which had been 

 " wrecked at Cape Lopez, on the African coast, near the Equator, under 

 " circumstances which had made her loss a subject of discussion when the 

 " Editor was in that quarter of the globe, the year preceding his visit to 

 " Hammerfest]. But it is quite conceivable that objects conveyed a certain 

 " distance by the Gulf-stream, and thrown off on its north side into the 

 " w aters which do not participate in its movement, may be subsequently 

 " drifted by the prevailing Westerly and South-westerly winds, in accom- 

 " paniment with the surface-water of the sea, across the remaining portion 

 " of the Atlantic. The stream-current which terminates in ordinary years 

 " at the xlzores, and which in rare instances extends to the coasts of Europe, 

 " is unquestionably traceable the whole way back to the outlet of the Gulf 

 " of Mexico, by a continuous strength of current and warmth of water ; but 

 " with respect to a northern branch of the Gulf-stream, supposed to detach 

 " itself to the N.E., and to convey the waters which have issued through 

 " the Bahama Channel in a continuous stream to the North Cape of Europe, 

 "positive information is greatly wanting " 



89. The elaborate investigations of Prof. Dove on the Temperature of the 

 Earth, embodied in the Isothermal charts which he published in 1847-48, 

 afforded strong confirmation of the doctrine that a N.E. movement of Atlantic 

 water serves to carry a large amount of heat from the Temperate zone 



