53 



er a cause of refrigeration, which is peculiar to 

 each, and the influence of which is permanent** 

 From the bank of Newfoundland, or from the 

 52d degree of longitude to the Azores, the Gulf- 

 stream continues its course towards the east, and 

 the east-south-east. The waters still preserve a 

 part of the impulsion they have received near a 

 thousand leagues distance, in the straits of Flo- 

 rida, between the Isle of Cuba, and the shoals 

 of Tortoise Island. This distance is double the 

 length of the course of the river of the Amazons, 

 from Jaen or the Straits of Manseriche to Grand 

 Para. On the meridian of the Isles of Corvo and 

 Flores, the most western of the group of the 

 Azores, the breadth of the current is 160 leagues. 

 When vessels, on their return from South Ame- 

 rica to Europe, endeavour to make these two 

 islands to rectify their longitude, they constantly 

 perceive the motion of the waters to the south- 

 east. At the 33d degree of latitude the equi- 

 noctial current of the tropics is in the near vici- 

 nity of the Gulf-stream. In this part of the 



* In treating of the temperature of the ocean, we should 

 carefully distinguish four very different phenomena ; — 1st, the 

 temperature of the water at it's surface corresponding to dif- 

 ferent latitudes, the ocean being considered as in repose; 2dly, 

 the decrement of caloric in the successive strata of the water ; 

 3dly, the effect of the deep shoals on the temperature of the 

 ocean; 4thly, the temperature of the currents, which cause 

 the waters of one zone to pass with acquired velocity across 

 the motionless waters of another zone. 



