Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1871-04-20
MisrfIIaufons.
The Gulf Sire am-Its origin.

AC o4Rs StlC oAh 4lS
The Gulf stream is nothing isorc nor
less than great thermal spring in the
ocean. and il in every respect similar 10
one on land. To produce this great
oceanic phenomenon VIC have only to
substitute the arctic basin for an elevated
mountain: and. instead of underground
temperature derived from a few spmanc
rods OF the interior. take that afforded bv
l42 .opo. 900 OF square miles 900 feet
nearer the interior, aud the thermal
spring in the ocean is formed. The
difference is only quantitivc.
These currents, which rest on the bot
tom of the sea. are colder and denscr than
ice, and could net he lifted to the surface
We're 1t not for the forces from the inte-
risr. Abstracting that heat from the
crust which underlies the, sea il will nat
urally be suggested that this process must
chill this crust Ia n greater depth than
the atmosphere does terra frIna. and
thus render the effective force OF the in
terror "a feeble ON the bottom OF III. sea
a on the surface oftlic land hemi- phcrc
Fourier, iroia observations made on
terra firma. finds that the lo>s oi heat
which the globe daily sustains j. too fee
bic TO PLAY any important part. II he
be correct, tho temperature oi The ocean
ic waters could never have been obtained
from the amount of heat which passes
through the land hetnispheres. Yet there
il this actual presence of heai--which
we have shown cannot have accumulai-
ell from the solar rav-and the only way
open j. to associate IL with som. law to
which il either now is or has been related.
II will be admitted that when these wa
tiers were of such a high temperature ~
TO produce tropical climate around the
shores OF Greenland, they did not receive
that heat from the sun, but from the in
terror. Seeing that at one time there
was a law which produced 30 high
temperature through this crust, why
should we discredit its present X istence.
when the temperature has only sunk3p5
since: Heat always preserves the CO.
efficient OF expansion. and when matter
j. in a fluid this coefficicnt must exist.
What ever inequalities NAV take place
la the rrlciion at these condensed atoms
on the crust, the form OF hefluid iutcri-
or remains unchanged, inasinuch a, The
expansion continues. As the heat be-
came lost from the interior OF the earth.
and lis huid diameter diminished, thcs,,
water hcmi>pheres, still retaining their
reciprocal relation TO the centre, went
down TO a corresponding depth. The
crust which uuderlies the sea, was, there
fore, ALWAYS distance eqnaliug the
oceans depth nearer the fluid part
How, we would ask, could li5,oU,sJ0
OF square miles OF water, IJ.Uco feet deep.
be kept AT "a temperature OF 100 unless an
igneous fluid world, a. large As the plan
ct Mars, existed directly under them?
This is By no means speculation, when
we have considered the amount of heal
contained i'll "A single cubic iool vi water
at this temperature. The cause which
produced the sinking OF the waller hem
ispherss in the lir-t instance has always
continued. As the solid crust OF the
globe coIiden,.s and contracts its folds,
the crust which underlie- the sea. being
the lower fold, is forced into much
closer relation with the iuid part. The
calculations made by Fourier are. there
fore. uf no value, for they were formed
according To DIR. MAYER, IRON observa-
tons made on terra firma-under clear
misapprshen-ion vi the mode by which
the interior heat was transmitted. T,n-
dali makes ali cxceliant illustration of
the principle for which we have contend
ed. but Tor far different purpose He
fills two kettles with warm water, aud
around one of them wraps u moist bIan-
ket. lie finds that The water in the ket-
tie thus surrounded cools much more
rapidly than the other-demonstrating
that il has the better radiation of the two.
Applying this this demonstration 10 the
earth, let us consider our globe a kettle
of larger proporiions-not filled with
warm water, but with incandescent
fluid matter, around three fourths of
which is placed (n0t blanket merely
an aqueous envelope of icy GOODNESS at
the bottom, with wonderful powers of
radiation at the surface, and we will
then have no difficulty in determining
how the waters OF the ocean have always
received their temperature, and how the
interior loses its heat Harpers Nag
aziae for april.