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Art. VIII . — Observations on the Florida or Gulf Stream. 
One of the most singular phenomena in hydrography, is that 
perpetual current of water flowing out of the Gulf of Mexico, 
along the coast of Florida, into the Northern Atlantic, common- 
ly, among seamen, called the Florida or Gulf Stream. Various 
attempts have been made to account for this celebrated current, 
and as it is an object of general interest in natural history, we 
conceive it will gratify some of our readers to present them with 
a concise view of those causes which appear the most rational. 
It is known, that the tides in the ocean are produced by the 
combined actions of the sun and moon, causing the waters, in ge- 
neral, when their course is not obstructed by continents, islands, 
&c., to take a westerly direction. The winds in the tropical cli- 
mates, from nearly the same cause, blow generally the same way. 
It is also observed by navigators, that when a wind blows for 
any length of time, in a given direction, the waters of the sea 
move in the same direction, forming a current, at least at the 
surface, more or less strong, according to circumstances, setting 
in that direction,. • 
The whole body of the waters of the Atlantic, then, must have' 
a general tendency to move from the coasts of Europe and Af- 
rica, towards the shores of America, which must be modified iii 
its effects, according to the different conformations of the coasts 
and other combining circumstances. If we examine the coast 
of North America, we shall find, that its direction is nearly that 
of the meridian, or north and south, at least from about New 
York to Cape Sable in East Florida. Therefore, the mass of 
waters coming from the east, will strike it nearly at right angles, 
which, after high water, will gradually retire into the ocean to- 
wards the east, without producing any considerable current 
along the coast, or any accumulation in a particular place, as it 
otherwise would have done, if that coast had been more oblique 
to the direction of the tide, though the Bahama islands, and 
shallov’s, must prove a considerable obstruction to tne flood-tide 
setting directly westerly, near Florida, and will have some ten- 
dency to cause it to flow more to the north. 
Jf we now turn our attention to the northern coast of South 
