The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1872-02-03
Origin Of tho Calf strsam..

The Gulf Stream is nothing n W. NV
less than great thermal spring Ia tfse
ocean, aud is in every respect similar
TO one on land. To prodace this great
oceanic phenomenon we have only to
substitute the arctic basin for an ele.
vated mountain aud, instead Of undet-as
ground temperature derived from few
square rods Of the interior, take that
afforded BY i45, 900, 600 Of square miles
10000 feet near he iaterioy, and the
thermal spring Id the ocean is formedt
The difference L only quautitatiye. 40
These currents, which rest on the
bottom Of tha sea are colder and depser,
than Ice, and could not be lifted 70 The
surface we're II not for the forces from
the interior. Abstractiag the heat from q
the crust which andeslIes, ne sssa,i IT,
will naturally be snsges.ed that this I,
process must chill this crust 10 great.
or depth than the atmosphere does terra
tirDsa, aud thus render the effective y
force Of the interior as feeble oa. the
bottom Of the sea as on the surface Of
the land hemispheres. Fourier, Jrons
observations made on terra frpaa, finds
that the loss Of heat which the globe
! daily sustains is too feeble to play any
important part. II he be correct, tlIe
temperature Of the ocean waters could )
never have been obtained from the
amount of heat which passes through
the land hemispheres. Yet there Is
this actual presence Of heat-which we
have shown cannot have accumulated
from the solar ray--and the only way
open is 10 associate it with some law I'd
which il either now is or has been re.
lated sat N'i8ta
It will be admitted that when these
waters we're Of such high temperature
as to produce tropical elimate around
the shores Of Greenland, they did not
receive that heat from the sun, but from
the interior. Seeing that at one time
thore was law which produced 20
high temperature through this crust,
why should VIC discredit is present en-.
, istence, when the Temperature has only
sunk 800 since Heat always pre-:
serves the coeficient Of expansion, aud
when matter is in u fluid state this CD:
efficient must exist Whatever ineqnai;
tiles mag take place In the felatiea cf
these condensed atoms on the crust, the
form Of the fluid interior remains uu-
changed, inasmuch as the expansion
continues. As the heat becomes lost
from the interior Of the earth, and its
fuid diameter diminished, these water
hemispheres, still retaining their fecip.
rocal relation to the centre, weut down
to corresponding depth The crust
which underlies the sea was, therefore,
always distance eqdaling the ocsaa,s
depth nearer the fluid part. How, we
: e would ask, could las .00O, 600 Of square
! miles Of water, $4,000 feet deep, be
kept ut temperature Of zoe unless an
! igneous fluid world, as large as the
: planet Mars, existed directly under
them? This is by no means speculA-
! tion, when we have considered the
amount Of heat contained in q single
= cubic foot Of water at this temperature.
The cause which produced the sinking
! Of the water hemispheres Ia the Rrst
instance has always continued. Az Tie
solid crust of the globe eosdenses sud
contracts its folds, the crust which uA-
! derlies the sea, being the loper fold, ID
I, forced into much closer relation with
= the Auid part. The calculations made
: by Fourier are therefore, Of no value,
= for they we're formed, according 70 Dr..
Mayer, from observations made on terra
!, tirn,a-under clear misapprehensioa
: !. Of the mode by which the interior heat
" was transmitted. Tyadall makes an
excellent illustration Of the principle
:, for which we have coutended, bat for
y far different purpose. He flls two
,, kettles with warm water, and around
! one Of them wraps d moist bIaskesl--
. He fnds that the watsr IN stke kettls
thus surrounded cools much more rap
= idly than the other = demonstration
g that it has he better radiation Of the
9 Two. Applying TITS demonstration ID
= the earth, lei W sousideri our elobs {
. kettle Of laree proporticns--snst slAsd
with warm water, but with incapdcseent
q fluid matter--around three -fourtlis Of
: which is placed (not q blauket merely
J, = au aqueous envelope Of icy coldscss al
Z the bottom, with wonderful powers Of
, radiation dt the surface. and We will
e then have no difficulty 10 Determining
!, how the waters OF the ocean have al.
q ways received their temperature, aud
= how the interior loses its hea.. Har.
. Per's Mdgdsiae.