The morning star and Catholic messenger., 1877-11-11

over our own and other countries. where jt is
, 30 much required. Such, in short is the in u
9uCe Oh IDS Gull STREAM upon our climate, that
Ireland is cioIE ted in robes of evergreen grass
#Ale IN the very same latitude, on the Auieri.
can SIDE OF the Atlantic IL the frost bound coast
OF Labrador. In 1881 the hsr Dor of ST. Johns
| Newfoundland. WAS closed with ice SO late in
the season hs Juue; yet the port Of Liverpool,
Two degrees Iurther north, has never been
closed by frost in the seveIett winter The
Lapanuer cultivates barley In latitude
| which in every other part of the world is
! ooomed TO perpetual sterllity. subsidepce
Of The ls.hmas of Panama to the extent OF q
| couple of hundred feet-and such gu ubsidences
| have taken place in geological times all over
! the world-would allow the equatorial current
instead OF being reflected back to the British
coasts. Britain would then become Labra-
dor, and cease to be tho seat of q numerous
and powerful people.
! While the Gulf Stream is covering the east
! ern shores of the Atlantic with ysydure ripen
| ing the hsrvests Of England and the vintage
OF France it's IL rhuence Is equally beneficial at
i its fountain. head in the western world.-The
Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico are en-.
| compassed on one side by the oh aiu of West
India lsanos, and on the other by the Cordll.
| leras OF the Andes, contracting with the 18th
mus of Darien, and again expanding over the
plains of Central America and Mexico On
the extreme summIts of this range the
regions OF eternal snow next in descent is the
t,erra te'rptaiG, or temperate region and 10 W or
still, Is mat the Spaniards truIv aud emphati-
oally have termed terra oafiente. the burning
leno. Descending still lower, is the level of
the see, where, weTeqt not for this wonderful
BY stem of aqueous -eiIeBlatieprthe- -peealiar
| features OF the surrounding country assure Us,
we should find the hottest and most pesti,en-
tial climate in the world. But rs the waters
become heated, they are carried off by the Gulf
Stream, and replaced by cooler currents enter
ing the Caribbean Sea. The surface water
moving out is four degrees warmer hau tie
surface water entering TO supply it's place.
AS In hot-water apparatus for warming o
buildlng-to keep up the simile-the water
cooled IN the hot-air chamber Il ,ws back to
the boiler; so one part OF the waters of the
Gulf Stream. after giving out their heat, how
the polar basin of Spitzbergen. The secrets
OF the Arctic regions are hidden by impene-
trable ice; bnL we know that . return current,
bearing Immense icebergs, comes down from
the dreary north, through Davis's Strait. and
meets the Gulf Stream at the Banks of New
foundland. Scoresby counted at one time six |
Journey by this current, which, pre- essing on the
waters OF the Stream, curves it's channel iu to |
o " bend in shape resem bling a horseshoe, |
and some hundred miles in area. This bend is |
the great receptacle or harbor of the icebergs, !
winch drift down from the north and are here |
melted by the warm waters of the Stream |
Who dare say that, in the course of ages, the |
banks OF Newfoundland have not been formed |
by the earth, stones and gravel carried down
to that spot by these very lcebergsf
Snch ls the distinotness Kept up between the
warm and cold water that, though the north
ern current forms o large bend or indent0tion
In the Gulf Stream, iJ does not commingl |
with it; the former here divides into two parts
ono actually undermining the Stream, the
other flowing southwesterly between it and
the coast of America. II is this last branch of |
the cold current that affords the citizens of the
mer, and an unlimited supply of the 6nest ish.
In all parts of the world the most plentiful
supply and most delicious quality of fish are
round In cold water and it 10 highly probable
that cold currents the great path ways
along which migratory fishes travel frou one
region to another.
he a. |
Gilbert in the sixteenth century, (
We are indebted to the celebrated Dr. Fran Kiln
Tor the trst chart Of its course. Being in Lon
,; ion In !LIo ms attention was called to memo
rial which the Board of Customs at Boston had I
sent to the Lords of the Treasury, stating that
ne Falmouth packets were generally a fort q
aight longer on their voyage to Boston than
common trading vessels were from London to 9
Shode leland. They therefore begged that the
falmouth packets should be sent 10 Providence b
instead of to Boston. This appeared very 6
trange 70 franklin, as the traders were deeply
aoen and badly manned vessels, to say moth
ng of the extra distance between London and {
He accordingly consulted Nan. a
aoket whaling captain named Foiger who n
happened to be in London at the time. Folper n
Immediately explained the mystery by stating n
nat the Rhode leland trading captains were Il
'hlle those of the English packet service were NJ
OF. The latter kept in it, and were set back e,
ON sixty to seventy miles per day. while the 81
primer merely ran across it. At the request gl
franklin, the Nantucket whaler traced the (.
ourse of the Stream, and the Doctor had il "a
ngraved, and Sent copies to the Falmouth nj
'ptains, w ho treated the communication with M
'ntenpt This course of the Stream, ss laid {.
own by FoIger, has been retained in our fo
larts almost to the present dsy. Who we M
light ask, taught this unscisntifc Nantucket h.
haier 20 correct q course of this mighty cur bo
MT, then 80 little knownf 1t was the whales
10 gigantic prev he followed in the ocean
he right whale (Balcrna mysticetus). as seaueo ao
rm 1t, never cutters the warm water of the he
I'LL Stream it, as we'll as the warm waters of T.
g torrid zone, is q wall of FIRE to these crea-
res. Bat they delight to cougregate, GEEK Un
g for food, along the edges of the Stream; -
ID thus Folger, through the experience OF ~ ~
any voyages, was enabled so correctly to GO
note its course. Oy,
Our space warns us TO ccnclude, ere we have Th
ssed the threshold OF ths Interesting snb- tt,
t. Bot we must observe that the Gulf Pa
cam OF the Atlantic has IT'S counterpart in AZ
racine. The latter flows ont of the Strsits of
Msiaeca, Just as the Atlantic current flows ye;
OF the Straits of Florida. The coast of
ina is its United States the Philippines its
rm udas ; the Japanese stands its NaUionnd- ;s,,