The weekly Portage sentinel. [volume] (Ravenna, Ohio) 1854-1861, 1855-05-23
. MlsttlIanfotrs.
THE GULF STREAM.

Sea-" AS might almost be anticipated, tits
by Lieutenant Maury, Of the National OBJ
seryatory, at Washington; that singularly
close observer, and patient investigator of
facts; whose Science can better answer the
utilitarian question, Cui bono? than that Of
any other man living. Weknow that Great
Britain and Continental Europe can boast Of
their many distinguished philosophers, in all
the departments of science. And we know
that this Republic is justly proud of Henry,
and Bache, and Pierce and 6illiman, and
Dana, and Kirkland, and st. John and Mon
roe, and scores OF others that we might name.
And we know, also, that there are someswho
Gnhesitatingly would place Professor Morse,
facile pr,ncips ofliVing public benefactors. -
But we must remember that the discoveries
of others, for a long series ofyears, had pre-
pared the way for the Electic Telegraph, in
its present form; and that Professor Morse
found the materials all ready to his hand
He did not discover ne,o facts, he simply ap-
piled old Jacts-most happily and successful
ly, we admit; but If he had not done it just
then, some other man would, before The
world would have been many moons older.
But Lieutenant MaurY is harvesting field
that is all his oion. He has, within the last
five years, been public benefactor, to Eu-
rope and America, to the snug little sum of
more than a hundred millions Of dollars
Figures and facts prove it. His " charts
and "sailing directions have lessened one.
third the average time for sailing vessels be-
tween the Atlantic ports and California
The estimate tonnage of the United States,
engaged In trade with the ports in South
America, California, China and the East In
dies, is 100000 tons per annum. On this
amount, Lieutenant Maury's discoveries, in
winds, and sea currents, have effected a saw
ing of fifteen cents day for, say, thirty days
on the trip Of each vessel, in the average;
or $4,5OO,000, as the sum total saved the
United States alone, in those seas, in q sim
gle year. What the aggregate will be,
when these charts are still further perfected,
and when the commerce Of the world is still
further increased, staggers the mind to con-
template. If any man in this country de-
serves a statue of gold, it is that same mod.
est, Industrious, laborous genius, polished
gentleman, and devoted christian, Lieuten-
ant Maury. ....-- ... ...,-.. s....,.g
But it is of the Gulf Stream that we be-
gan to speak; it is not strange, however,
that the mighty Currents" and "wihds' of
the ocean, should have carried us little
away out of our course. . y.~.,.,. ....s-
The physical Geography of the Sea-
treats of humber of interesting subjects,
besides the Gulf Stream, yiz:-The Atmos-
phere, Currents of the Sea, Trade Winds,
Deep-S Sea Sounding, Bed of the 0cean,
Storms, ect., ect. r ia e.E
A number ofyears since twelve; perhaps
we remember to have seen, in the South
ern Literary Messenger, an article on the
"Gulf Stream by Lieutenant Maury;-sub-
stantially the same as the present publica-
ton. though enriched, OF course, this is; by
subsequent Investigations. Strange, isn't
1t! that so very wonderful a body Of water
as the Gulf Stream should have remained
unkhown to the scientific world, till some
seventy years since! And to US now how
strangely sodnds the explanation of the phe-
nomena that were then given. Some Thought
the level of the Pacific Ocean was higher
than the level Of the waters of the Gulf of
Mexico, and through some subterranean,
volcanic passage under Mexico, rushed Into
the Gulf; and out into the Atlantic, round
the capes, of Florida, as the Gulf Stream
Others said, "That is nonsence; the Gulf
Stream is easily enough explained. 1t is
simply the flow out of the Gulf dt one ex-
tremity, of the waters of the Mississippi, that
flow into it at the other extremity:'' The
absurdity of this explanation was easily
seen; and particularly when it was demon
strated that the volume of waters in the
Gulf Stream is thousand times greater than
the volume of waters in the Mississippi at its
food. Then sagacions old Ben Franklin said, |
'This is the explanation: the trade winds,
blowing steadily from the east, pile up the
waters Of the Atlantic in the Caribbean sea;
thence they rush into the Gulf OF Mexico
through the straits between Yucatan and Gu
ba; and thence, round the capes Of Florida, |
they rush out Of the Gulf again into the At
lantic, as the Gulf Stream" But for once,
Mr.. Benjamin FRANKLIN was mistaken. The
Gulf Stream is simply one of many of the
compensating currents of the Ocean. The
heated waters of the tropics flow off toward
the Poles, as surface currents. The cold
water Of :.he Poles, as deep-sea currents,
flow off toward the tropics, to replace what
has been lost. If there were no shores, or
sub-aqueous valleys, and elevations to OBJ
struct the flow of these warm and cold wa
ters, it would be uniform from the equator to
the poles, and from The poles, back to the
equator, all around the globe. But as there
are those distractions, we have cold and
warm water ocean ''streams;" the cold wa
ter ocean streams, can, of course, only be
suspected and detected BY ,deep,sea sound
ings The warm-Kater ocean streams, be-
ing on the surface; may much more readily
be traced. OF all the warm-water ocean
streams; the Gulf Stream is the most remar-
kable. =,
/ P s"Thets 4 h ] river il shs Ocean. IN the