22 
On  the  Climate  of  the  British  Islands 
ocean  streams,  by  which  one  current  feeds  another,  or  compensates 
for  the  drainage  it  effects.  By  this  current  plants,  seeds,  and 
trees,  which  belong  to  the  torrid  zone  of  America,  are  annually 
cast  on  the  western  coasts  of  Ireland,  Scotland,  and  Norway.  In 
the  Museum  of  the  Highland  Agricultural  Society  there  is  the 
trunk  of  a palm-tree  which,  some  years  ago,  was  cast  on  the  shores 
of  Argyleshire.  In  June,  1819,  the  British  ship  “ Newcastle” 
threw  a sealed  bottle  into  the  gulf  stream  on  the  south  of  Nova 
Scotia  ; it  was  afterwards  found  in  the  Frith  of  Clyde  (Rennell). 
Captain  Sabine  states  that  casks  of  palm-oil,  which  had  been  lost 
by  shipwreck  at  Cape  Lopez,  were  carried  onward  first  by  the 
equatorial  current,  and  then  by  the  gulf  stream  to  the  coast  of 
Scotland.*  The  wreck  of  the  ship  “ Tilbury,”  which  was  burnt 
near  Jamaica,  was  drifted  by  the  stream  from  thence  to  the 
Scottish  coast. 
The  indraught  of  St.  George’s  Channel  is  well  known  to  all 
mariners;  at  the  Scilly  Islands  the  flow  of  the  tide  from  the 
south-west  continues  for  eight  hours,  whilst  the  ebb  in  a contrary 
direction  is  only  about  four.  In  other  words,  the  current  over- 
comes the  tide. 
55.  The  temperature  of  the  sea  on  the  north  of  the  British 
Islands  is  remarkably  high  for  the  latitude.  In  the  month  of 
May  it  is  47D'6  at  the  Faroe  Isles,  whilst  on  the  same  parallel  on 
the  coast  of  Greenland  the  thermometer  falls  to  34°.f 
The  effects  produced  on  the  coast  of  Norway  by  the  warm 
water  of  this  current  are  most  obvious  and  instructive.  The  stream 
strikes  the  coast  about  the  latitude  of  Bergen : on  the  south  of  this 
point  snow  often  lies  along  the  shore,  when  it  has  wholly  disap- 
peared further  north.  It  is  a well  known  fact,  that  during  the 
winter  months  the  heat  increases  as  you  pass  northward  on  part  of 
the  Norwegian  coast ; and  the  general  temperature  is  so  mild  for 
the  latitude,  that  barley  can  be  grown  nearly  up  to  the  North 
Cape.  And  even  as  far  north  as  Bear  Island,  lat.  75°,  south- 
westerly winds  are  accompanied  by  mild  weather ; the  months  of 
November  and  December  usually  bring  rain,  but  no  snow,  and 
the  taking  of  the  walrus  can  be  continued  even  till  Christmas. 
Whilst  Melville  Island,  in  the  same  latitude,  is  one  of  the  coldest 
spots  on  earth,  having  a mean  temperature  31°  below  the  freezing 
point. 
The  curves  in  the  isothermal  line  of  41°  correspond  with  the 
effects  which  these  currents  produce.  This  line  is  bent  to  the 
south  by  the  cold  waters  of  the  Arctic  Ocean  ; and  under  the  in- 
fluence of  the  Gulf-stream  it  is  thrown  up  in  a sharp  curve  far  to 
the  north  of  the  Faroe  Islands. 
* Edin.  Phil.  Jour,,  No.  VIII.,  p.  182.  f Ibid.,  Oct.  1848,  p.  289. 
X Ibid.,  Oct.  1848,  p.  291. 
