658 
OCEAN LIGHT. 
touched, and the lights were immediately extinguished ; 
these marine lights most probably arise from the decomposed 
remains of fish, raised to the surface by the violent motion 
of the water in storms ; in the same way at Kaitaia, lights 
were observed hovering over the graves of several recently- 
interred corpses, especially on one of an unusually large and 
corpulent native. 
Ocean Light. 
The wonderful arrangement of solar light by which each 
part of the earth's surface enjoys its fair share, is only equalled 
by the distribution of heat. The way warm currents are 
directed from the hottest regions to the coldest, whilst the 
frigid ones flow to the equatorial seas as an equalizing medium, 
is also surprising. This of late has been denied, the power 
of the gulf stream has been controverted ; it is said there is 
no sufficient reason assigned for its generation in the gulf, or 
current powerful enough to cause the grand effects attributed 
to it, still a strong one is found running at the rate of four 
knots an hour, and it certainly reaches the western shores of 
the British Isles, moderates the cold which their latitude 
would otherwise cause them to suffer, for even there the cold 
is far less on the side bordering the Atlantic than on that 
adjoining the German Ocean. Tropical seeds are also con- 
stantly drifted up on the western shores which are not found 
on the eastern; the current, commonly called the gulf stream, 
may not take its rise in the place assigned, but further 
south, and the region of gulf weed may be occasioned by 
that current, being in fact its slack water, still the stream 
is certainly there. As in the Mediterranean there is said to 
be an upper and lower stream, the former constantly flowing 
in from the Atlantic, the latter flowing out, so in the entire 
ocean there may be alternate hot and cold currents at various 
depths, as is now found to be the case in the atmosphere at 
different elevations. The equanimity and mildness of the 
New Zealand climate may be in a great measure attributed 
to a similar cause as that of Great Britain ; there are seeds 
