The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1871-06-22

III very recout editorial the LONDON 1ID16S
grows very uneasy and fdgety over certain
hypothesis advanced in America regarding
the circulation of the Gulf Stream. It seems
that In his celebrated address, delivered a
year ago in st. Louis, the eminent American
photographer, Captain Silas Bent. suggested
to his audience the future possibility of the
Gulf Stream washing through the Isthmus Of
Darien and the consequent failure of this mighty
current to supply to England that warmth and
moisture which, to borrow the words of Pro-
lessor Tyndall. have s'olothed her fields with
verdure and mantled the cheeks Of her maid
ems with roses"
The Times enters into lengthy two column
discussion Of this interesting problem and
considers it mainly in the light of the recent
brilliant but incomplete researches of DR..
Carpenter. 1t says:-
The long accepted belief In the agency OF the Gulf
Stream As a potent carrier of heat from tropical
regions to the shores OF Europe and 10
by the results Of the deep explorations conducted
during the last three years by DR.. Carpenter, r. r,
8 The hypothesis IN question has always presented
to the public certain character OF tnadequacy, and
mas recently been rendered almost luaicrous by the
the Paclnc through Panama canal. ana thus to
leave Europe generally. and England more particu.
larry. "out In the cold" In very literal and unplea-
SAINT sense.
The hypothesis which so much excites the
London editor Is, however, not Of American
origin. 1t emanated first from the fertile brain
Of Sir John Herschel, one Of the most saga
cious of English Swans, and is reiterated in
his published works. Herschel was the first
Enrlioh nhiInconhar RI donoonctrota tLn rro
pulsive agency of the trade winds, in giving
motion to the vast masses of equatorial sur
face water He clearly pointed out that the
northeast trade winds Glowing. from the Tropic
of Cancer toward the Equator), and the
southeast trades Glowing from the Tropic of
Capricorn toward the Equator) necessarily
at play, conspire to roll forward before them
to the west the particles of water in the
tropical seas just as the ball of the billiard
player is rolled before the point of his baton.
Thus he explained the formation of the
great equatorial current, which, by unani-
nous consent of geographers, ever rolls its
pillows toward the west, and out of
whose flowing abundance the fountains of the
Gulf Stream are fed. The English savant
goes further in his hypothesis than did the
American; for Herschel asserts that the Gulf
Stream, by continually impinging on the east
ern coasts of Mexico and Central America,
has excavated the basin of the Gulf, and that,
in the lapse of ages, it must scoop out the
isthmian barriers and burst over them into
the Pacific.
Wo hau M to oIory fri
transatlantic brethren, nor to make them feel
that they are entirely dependent upon the for
bearance of American engineers and capital
lists for their temperate seasons and their
bounteous harvests.
But, as the Times admits, ''the data which
DR.. Carpenter has obtained are not yet suff-
cient for the absolute settlement of the ques-
ton, and his conclusions based upon them
have been disputed"
DR.. Carpenters labors 60 far to show that
the equatorial water necessarily interchanges
with the water Of the Polar ocean, and, as we
have before pointed out his reasoning also
powerfully sustains the theory of an oceanic
circulation as systematic and beautiful as the
circulation of the blood of the human heart.
DR.. Carpenter says, aud says very truly,
that he has by careful and protracted expert
ment established the fact for the Baltic Sound
and for the Strait of Gibraltar, that the sur
face currents running into these Mediterra-
means are balanced by return submarine cur
rents, and then he reasons -
The physical theory which accounts for the double
current In the Strait OF Gibraltar and the Baltic Sound
would justify the prediction that ike surface dow
and reverse undern0w must take place In any
the Pole.
He reasons, therefore, that if the Gulf
Stream were diverted through q canal or gap
at the American Isthmus the equatorial water
would not cease to interchange with Polar
water, and hence the supply of heat and mois-
ture for Great Britain would still be uufailing
and perennial.
In support of his position the learned ex-
plorer even performs an ingenious experiment.
long, narrow glass trough, with glass sides,
is filed with water, on which piece Of ice is
placed at one end. At the other end short
metallic bar is SO fixed that portion of its
water, while the remainder projects beyond
the trough and is heated by spirit lamp.
The ends of the trough represent the polar
and equatorial seas. At the polar end deep
red solution is placed on the surface of the
water, and at the equatorial end blue solu-
ton is carried to the bottom through q tube.
The red coloring matter is seen to sink to the
bottom of the trough and then to creep along
toward the other end, gradually elevating and
displacing the blue, which, in its turn, creeps
over the surface to the ice and then descends
to renew the same course. But this beautiful
experiment establishes nothing more than that
the surface water Of the equatorial ocean, left
to ITSELF naturally flows toward the Pole.