Bristol news. [volume] (Bristol, Va. & Tenn.) 1867-189?, 1871-05-19
Scientific.
GNDES-CURRENE IN THE
HTEDEE ERRANE4N.

II Las lOilS Dccu. hllOW1l IIlaI Il cur
rent is constantly flowing into the
Mediterranean from the Black Sea and
from the Atlantic, besides the nume-
rous rivers pouring in always abund-
antly, and the question has often been
asked: How is it that the great Mid
land Sea does not become oveT-full ?
The answer is: Because, while sur
face stream flows in through the Strait
of Gibraltar, e stream deep down is
constantly flowing out; and the eXis-
tencc of this under-current is said to
have been proved by a captain, who
sunk basket Of stones, by rope, to
considerable depth, where, being ac-
ted upon by the strong stream, it tow
ed the boat out against the surface
current. Nevertheless, the existence
of the under-current has been often
questioned. DIR. Carpenter, however,
who has recently returned from a
dredging-cruise in the Mediterranean,
states that ne took much pains in in
vestigate this question, and that in a
short time he will publish an account
of the operations by which he ascer-
tanned that the Out-howiDg under-cur-
rent does really eXist.-ApDEetons
Journal.
The results of DR.. Carpenters in
vestigation are triumph for the reas-
Oning of Commodore ". L. Maury in
his Physical Geography of the Sea. "
More than twenty years ago CommO-
dOre Maury demonstrated, on hydro
graphical grounds, the necessary exisA
tence of an under-cuTrent from the
Mediterranean into the Atlantic. Ad-
miral Smyth of the British Navy and
many others entered into Il controver-
sy to disprove the correctness of the
theory.
1t has long been known to all sailors
that there is powerful current NOV
ing on the surface of the Atlantic into
the Mediterranean at the Straits of
Gibraltar, An English ship bound
for a Mediterranean port has no diff
Guilty in passing the Straits. But, re-
turning, she must stem tie in-draught,
and, in some seasons, finds that she
cannot get out of the great inland sea.
In 1865 more than thousand sail were
detained for nearly three months near
Malaga, constantly but vainly essay
ing to get to sea; and some of them,
more lucky than their companions, on
getting into the Straits were driven
back by the strength of the inrushing
waters,
Commodore Maury argued that. as
this surface-current into the Mediter-
ranean was saltwater, and as the sea
was throughout its entire area under
going daily evaporation from the san,
there must be an under-current dis
charging the salt introduced by the
surface-cuTrent, or, in time, the bed of
the sea would become a vast Sdit-6Q1lk,
or be filled up with salt-crystals. The
conclusion To be drawn from this reas-
oning was strongly confirmed by the
records of Dutch brig which in the
seventeenth century encountered a
hostile French COrsair, the Ift0HiC,
near Ceuta (inside the Straits }, and
was sunk by single broadside. The
Dutchman's craft was loaded with oil
and alcohol, and, being comparatively
light, fluated beneath the waves, drift
ing TO the westward, and three days
afterwards wGs washed up on tie Afri-
can shore near Tangier iOutside the
Straits more than twelve miles from
the place where she had been sunk
As She could not have been carried
thither by the winds, the only infe-
renee WAS that she had been drawn by
the action of the under-current NOV
ing in a direction opposite to that OF
the suF1ace-current.
The quantity of saltwater supplied
by the upper current through the
Straits is equal 10 - cubic miles per
annum. while the quantity of fresh
water brought down by the rivers is
equal to cubit miles, and the quantity
lost by evaporation to i cubic miles in
a wear. This would leave an annual
excess of siXty-siX cubic miles, if the
equilibrium was not maintained by an
under-current flowing into the Atlant-
Ic. since the construction of the SueZ
Canal, this excess would be still furth-
er increased by continual northern
flow through the canal into the Medi-
terranean, due 10 the higher level of
the Red Sea.
The Classic Sea" is undergoing
careful research, aud we shall nave
something farther To say when Dr.
Carpenters facts are pubiished.- CHi-
uerSi(y Monthly.