The Somerset press. [volume] (Somerset, Ohio) 1873-1977, 1878-10-03

water thus worms it's way in bands |
through the colder liquid. Its greatest
width has been -variously estimated; in
all probability it exceeds two hundred
miles at certain stages of the route. On
its west and north sides its boundary
line is much more sharply defined than
on the other, the transition from the
current to the adjoining waters being so
rapid that thermometers dropped stimuli
taneously from prov and stern have, in
some instances, shown difference of
thirty degrees in temperature. The
banks of this ocean stream are always
more or less foggy, and the contrast be-
tween the green color of the ocean and
the deep blue tint of the stream is ex-
ceedingly marked. 1t is well known
that many local storms on the Atlantic
originate in the collision of the hot at
mosphere above the stream with the
chill breezes of the surrounding sea.
From its starting point in the Gulf until
it strikes the Azores it travels distance
of more than three thousand five hun
dred miles. Within the circuit thus
made lies the vast tract of ocean SO
dreaded by the followers of Columbus,
which is now known as the Sargasso or
Grassy Sea, a region choked in some
places with seaweed and driftwood, and
so beset with calm weather as to jeop-
ardize the safety of ships straying
thither.
One of the most remarkable effects of
the Gulf Stream is the favorable inhu-
ence it exerts on the weather of those
countries along whose shores it glides.
| The moist and genial climate of the
| British Isles is attributed to this cause.
On the western coast of Norway mild
weather prevails and harvests are gath
cred, whereas in corresponding latitudes
! of our own country are regions of per-
petual SLOW. This marvellous influence
of the Gulf Stream has been stoutly de-
4 MED by some, but when we remember
that water is the most powerful reservoir
of heat, and that the great current, as
Maury shows, emits heat enough on a
winters day to raise the atmosphere of
France and the British Isles from the
freezing poirt to summer heat, it is not
difficult to conceive the beneficent effects
it must have on the northern climes of
Europe. Natives of Spitzbergen are
often amused to find drifting to their
land the products of tropical forests
borne by the Stream from South Amer
lean climes to their own shores This
drifting shows how well-defned is the
progress of the current in that locality.
Unquestionably the principal cause of
this phenomenon is to be found in the
constant westward movement of the
trade-winds. These breezes, it will be
remembered, blow steadily in the neigh
borhood of the equator. They drive
| bo x.,o ,,oa, xroct-ar1 or1 tho oa,,,+ g ~
pile up the waters on the American coast
The waves so driven strike Cape St
Rogue, where they are broken into sep.
arate streams, one of which is thrown
southwark, the other northward and
westward, along the coast, until it enter>
the Caribbean Sea. This westward
rushing of the waters is called the equa
torlal current, which, at its primary
stage, off the African coast, is one hun
dred and fifty miles in width, and, ir
the heart of the Atlantic, approximate
three hundred miles. Thus an immense
, quantity of water is constantly stream
ing into the Caribbean Sea, tending tx
, overflow it. The flood naturally seek
, an outlet. Its most natural and eas,
passage turns the point of Yucatan, anc
: thence around through the Gulf o
. Mexico in a direction corresponding
: with the motion of the hands of
, watch, until it reaches the Florida Strai
1 once again. Contributing to the vol
q ume of the current are the currents o
the Mississippi, the Rio Grande and tn,
e other great rivers which empty into tn,
: gulf. The great heat which the water
acquire in these tropical regions can b.
!. readily understood. The tenacity will
!. which water retains it's heat and refuse
v to mix with colder water is familiar t
n many who have seen the experimen
q made artifcially. Nay, it is frequentl
r found that while there is surface cul
i rent in one direction, there is an under
i current in the opposite direction.
/ For many years the Gulf Stream ws
!. source of wonder and dismay. 1t ws
a thought by some to be subterranean i
m its origin. Others who did not go SO fs
10 as this, failed to divine the true caus
A. 1t was only when analogous curren
st were discovered in the Pacific, in tt
20 Indian and in the Polar Oceans that tt
m necessity arose for theory based @
w broad grounds. The rotation of tt
,r earth was known to produce trade-wint
ry westward round the globe. The equ
H. torial currents of all the oceans a
n driven in the same direction. II
is- equilibrium of the seas being thus di
he turbed, the effort to regain it give ri
of to the network of oceanic currents tn
has in later years been unfolded. II
or general effect of those mighty stream
no. which are vastly, greater than all Il
he rivers of the world combined, is to car
he tropical heat into cold seas and land
ed and to induce corresponding currents
tx cool waters from the frozen regions
i. the earth toward the burning shores
ds the tropics. Thus they aid in mitig
h. ting the rigors of extreme heat and col
he and in equalizing the distribution
, q navigators make close study of Il
ng within them or keep clear, according
hss the direction of their VOYAGES. L
he passage from this country to Europe
he faster than the contrary one, owing
ir. the assistance rendered by the eastwa
.ce movement of the Gulf Stream. I
of necessity that exists for correct know
a edge of the geography of the CT
m Stream is deepened by the fact that &C
oh current calculations must be made as
na the location of favorable wind-bel
n Should the mariner be baffied in locati
nd the stream, his speculations as to t
w. wind would be CORRESPONDENCE ups
Irdj jHence the profound interest that
III taches to every discovery, howe,
mo- slight, concerning the correctness of t
asf location of the oceanic current.
,ar Should the views Of Captain Cot
hes prove to be correct, an immedi.
ras change in the chart of the stream "
We become necessary. We must not Il
i've sight of the fact, however, that lot
at hurricane could divert the great c.
ain rent from its accustomed route. 1t
the not improbable that belt of northel
nd, wind might send the stream ash
ing Again, there is the probability that I