St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1878-08-24
GULF STREAM STUDIES.
The Return Of an American Ship After Observas
tons in +he Gslf--. Curious Discoveries.

The Return Of an American Ship After ObserVas
tons in The Gulf. Curious Discoveries. |
The United States coast surTey steam
er Blake, which returned to Washington
thrse weeks ago from dredging operations
in the gulf of Mesico is now reftting
for another expedition in November.
Capt. Patterson, of the coast survey,
says that the extensive and accurate
soundjngs of the gulf, taken by improved
scientific methods in the recent expedi
ton, do not tend 20 confirm the belief,
long held, that the equatorial current,
after rushing from the Caribbean sea
through the channel formed by the West
India islands and the northern projection
of Yucatan, makes tbs whole tortuous
circuit of the gulf close by the shores of
central America, Mexico and the south
ern coast of the United States before
emerging into the Atlantic between the
point of Florida and the Bahamas. The
observations tend rather to prove that
the force of the incoming equatorial
stream expends itself in one direction
against the mass of the gulf before it
reaches the Texas coast, and then turns
directly toward and reissues into the
ocean. The former theory, however, is
that elaborated in the very latest maps of
the German geographers, who have
hitherto been the highest authority on
this subject.
The pet theory in regard to the cur
rent Being unsettled, the expedition now
to be made will proceed to repeat certain
experiments and to make others, with
the view of either confirming or destroy
ing the latter hypothesis. Exhaustive
observations will be made of the region
OF ocean in and around the eastward
islands of the Caribbean sea, through
which the equatorial current makes its
entrance, as through sieve, from the
Atlantic into the long channel, one thou
sand five hundred miles long, formed by
the West Indies on the one side, and
Central and South America on the other
and leading to thegulf of Mexico. From
the experiments and observations of the
expedition, Capt. Patterson hopes fol
results which will 60 far toward laying
at rest all merely speculative theories
relating to the gulf stream. The trouble
with European scientists in dealing with
this subject is, he asserts, that they have
all speculated with too few data, assum
ing the problem to be one which coulc
be solved by hypothesis. He assumes
that the question of the direction ane
influence of the gulf stream in its whole
extent is one which can only be an
swered by the most minute and exhaust
i've observations of facts, and, further
more, that it is a question which pecu
liarly belongs to the American govern
ment and to American science to an
swer.
In connection with the Investigation
hitherto conducted by the coast surve,
expeditions in the gulf of Mexico. i
has been ascertained that the vast cur
rent of water pouring from the gulf int.
the Atlantic, through the Florida ant
Bahama gate, has neither the same We
locity nor the same temperature. 1t i
believed by Capt. Patterson and his as
sociates that further attention to thi
curious fact may develop results having
an important bearing upon the science o
climate and meteorology, making pre-
dictions possible as to changes in the sea
sons of the European countries affected
by the gulf stream from the Observer
quantity and temperature of the floV
through the Florida straits.