Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1857-08-29

ocean current, issuing from the basin of the
Mexican Gulf and Caribbean Sea, doubling
the Southern Cape of Florida, pressing for
ward to the northeast, in line almost par
alcl to the American coast touching on
the southern borders of the Grand Banks
of Newfoundland, and at some seasons par
TALLY passing over them; thence, with in
creasing width and diffusion, traversing tho
whole breadth of the Atlantic, with a cen
trail direction towards the British Isles;
and finally losing itself, by still wider diffu-
sion, in the Bay of Biscoy, on our shores
and upon the long line of the Norwegian
coast. It's identity in physical characters
is preserved throughout the many thousand
miles of its continuous flow, the only change
undergone is that of degree. AS its waters
gradually commiuglc with those of the sur
rounding sea, their deep blue tint declines,
thcir high temperature diminishcs, the
speed with which they press forward abates
| But taking the stream in its total course,
| it well warrants the vivid description of our
author, and the name he bestows upon it
of "a riverintho ocean," This cpithetis,
in truth, singularly appropriate to this vast
Ecurrent, so constant and continuous i'll it's
course; and so strangely detached from the
great mass of ocean waters; which, while
seemingly cleft asundcr to give path to its
| first impulse, are yet ever pressing upon it,
gradually impairingi's 8 force, and destroy
+ ing its individuality.
The maximum of velocity, where the
stream quits the narrow channel of Bemini,
which congresses its egreSs from the gulf,
is about four miles ain hour off Cape Hat
tcras, in North Carolina, where it has
gained a breadth of seventy-fve miles, the
velocity is reduced to three miles. On the
parallel Of the Newfoundland Banks, it is
Further reduced to one and half miles an
| hour, and this gradual abatement of force
is continued across the Atlantic. The
temperature of the current undcrgoes a
similar change. The highest observed is
about S5 Fab. Between Cape Hatteras
and Newfoundland, though lcssencd in
omount, the warmth of the stream in winter
is still twenty-five or thirty degrees above
that of the ocean through which it flows.
| Nor is this heat wholly lost when it reaches
and is spread over the coasts of Northern
Europe The waters thus constantly flow
ing to us from the tropical regions, bring
warmth, as well as abundant laoisture to
lour islands and Ireland, especially, upon
which they more directly infringe, doubt
less derives much of its popularity of eli
mate, its moisture, its vcrdurc and abun-
dont vegetation, from this source. But the
influence of the Gulf Stream does not stop
even here. The climate it may be said to
convey, is diffused over the whole Nowegi-
an coast, the aspects and produce of which
singularly contrast with those of the CORES
ponding attitudes in North America Green
land, and Siberia Other causes, doubtless, (.
contribute to this effect, but none, we ap-
prchcnd, so largely or increasingly.
..s 4 GEatnD~'gh Rcvie~.
Spectral illusions What Science Teach
| es
The newspapers and periodicals have set
afoat again the story of the apparition,
which was said to have appeared to Lord
| Lyttleton and predicted his death.
Stories of apparitions, or supposed visit
ors from the supernatural world; have been
told in almost every people Its impossi-
iblc, therefore, to deny that they must have
had some ingredients of truth. But as the
appearance of spectres is not only at yari-
ance with the laws Of the physical world,
but is contradieted by the aralogies of the
spiritual, it follows that some explanation
must be sought for these strange phenome-
ma, which will explain them satisfactorily,
ON scientific principles. 9.al&
Such an explanation is affordad by mod
en physiology, All competent students
| of. this science are agreed that what are
called apparitions, originate in diseased
condition of the rctina. From the dark
lspecks, like flies, which often appear to be
! floating before the eyc-sight, when the or
gans of vision have been overstrained, to
the "wierd ghost" which enters the room
and beckons to the victim of cerebral hallu-
| cination, these abnormal spectacles arise
from a disturbed condition of the retina.--
There IL nothing supernatural about them.
They arc. simply the results of disease in
one OF the most, delicate organs of the body.
Tho history of apparitions, as DIR. Dra-
per has aptly remarked, is itself sufficient
to destroy their claims to the supernatural.
For if what was seen was really q disern.
bodied spirit, and not an illusion, ghosts,
in allages, would have been substantially
alike Ia, costume, if indeed they would have
lbeen apparelled at ALL But the history Of
apparitions shows that the supposed spectre
has always worn The. garb. of his times, his
rank and his nation, The pretended sr-
lperteturals appearances of the ancient
| Greelfs and Romans came in the nythoiog-
Eieal gniseof MalB, Venus, Mincrya, or 9TH
Ter gods Oh goddesses, Tie ascetics and
dreainors OF The Middle ages saw pliantoms
LOT the Virgin and che Saints When Lul
ther faneied, I'm a ft Of hallucihation, that
/ - - - - y a".