The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1881-12-03


separated from the sea through which they
flow, that ship may be seen at times half
in the one and half in the, other. -r.
As rule, the hottest water of the Gulf
Stream is at or near the surface; and as
the -deep-sea thermometer is sent down. IT
shows that these waters, though still much
warmer than the water on either side at
corresponding depths, gradually become less
and less warm until the bottom OF the
current is reached. There is reason to be-
lieve that the warm waters of the Gulf
Stream are nowhere permitted, in the
oceanic economy. to touch the bottom OF
the sea There is everywhere a cushion OF
cool water between them and the solid
parts of the earth crust This arrangement
is suggestive, and strikingly beautiful. One
of the benign offices of the Gulf Stream
is to convey heat from the Gulf of Mexico,
/ where otherwise it would become exces-
sive,-and to dispense it in regions beyond
the Atlantic, for the amelioration of the
climates of the British Islands and of all
Western Europe. Now, cold water is one
If the best non-cond ductors of heat, but II
i the warm water of the Gulf Stream were
sent across the Atlantic in contact with the
/ solid crust of the earth, comparatively a
good conductor of heat, instead of being
sent across, as it is in contact with a non
conducting cushion of cool water to fend
| it from the bottom all its heat would be
lost in the first part of the way, and the
soft climates Of both France and England
would be as that of Labrador, severe in the
extreme, and ice-bound.
1t has been estimated that the quantity
of heat discharged over the Atlantic from
the waters of the Gulf Stream. in win
ters's day. would be sufficient to raise the
whole column of atmosphere that rests
upon France and the British Islands from
the freezing point to summer heat
Every west wind that blows crosses the
stream on its way to Europe, and carries
/ with it portion Of this heat to temper
there the northern winds Of winter. 1t is
! the influence of this stream that makes
Erin the :. Emerald Isle of the Sea- and
/ that clothes the shores Of Albion in ever
green robes; while, in the same latitude,
| the coasts of Labrador are fast bound in
| fetters of ice.
As the Gulf Stream proceeds on its
course, it gradually increases in width. 1t
flows along the coast of North America to
! Newfoundland where it turns to the east,
one branch setting towards the British
/ Islands. and away to the coasts Of Norway
and the Arctic Ocean. Another branch
reaches the Azores, from which it bends
round to the south, and, after running
along the African coast, it rejOins the great
equatorial flow, leaving a vast space Of
nearly motionless water between the Azores,
the Canaries. and Cape de Verd Islands.
4 This great area is the Grassy or Sargasso
/ Sea. covering a space many times larger
than the British Islands. 1t is so thickly
matted over with gulf weeds that the speed
of vessels passing through it is often much
retarded. When the companions OF Co.
lumbus saw it, they thought it marked the
limits of navigation, and became alarmed.
| To the eve, at little distance, it seems
substantial enough to walk upon. Patches
of the weed are always to be seen floating
along the outer edge of the Gulf Stream.
! Now, if bits of cork or chaff, or any t1oat-
ing substance, be put into basin, and a
circular motion be given to the water, all
the Hoht substances will be found crowding
together near the centre of the pool where
there is the least motion. Just such a
basin is the Atlantic Ocean to the Gulf
! Stream; and the Sargasso Sea is the centre
of the whirl Columbus first found this
weedy sea, in his voyage of discovery ;
there it has remained to this day, moving
up and down, and changing its position
like the calms of Cancer, according to the
seasons the storms, and the winds. Exact
observations as to its limits and their range,
extending back for fifty years, assure us
that its mean position has not been altered
since that time,
The Air and Sea.
We have already said that the atmos-
phere forms spherical shell, surrounding
the earth to a depth which is unknown to
us, by reason of its growing tenuity, as 1t
is released from the pressure of its own
superincumbent mass. Its upper surface
cannot be nearer to us than fifty, and can
scarcely be more remote than five hundred
miles. 1t surrounds us on all sides, yet we
see it not it presses on us with load OF
fifteen pounds on every square inch OF sur
face of our bodies, or from seventy to one
hundred tons on us in all, yet we do not Sc
much as feel it's weight. Softer than the
finest down, more impalpable than the
finest gossamer, it leaves the cobweb undis-
turbed, and scarcely stirs the lightest flower
that feeds on the dew it supplies; yet ii
bears the fleets of nations on its wings
around the world, and crushes the most re-
factory substances with its weight. When
in notion it's force is sufficient to level with
the earth the most stately forests and sta
BILE buildings, to raise the waters Of the
ocean into ridges like mountains, and dash
the strongest ships to pieces like toys. Ii
warns and cools by turns the earth and the
living creatures that inhabit it. 1t draws
up vapors from the sea and land, retains
them dissolved in itself or suspended in
cisterns of clouds, and throws them down
again as rain or dew, when they are re
ouired. 1t bends the rays of the sun from
their path to give us the aurora Of the
morning and twilight of evening it dis
perses and refracts their various tints tC
beautify the approach and the retreat Of
the orb of day. But for the atmosphere
sunshine would burst on us in a moment
and fail us in the twinkling of an eye re-
moving us in an instant from midnight
darkness to the blaze of noon. We should
have no twilight to soften and beautify the
landscaps, no clouds to shade us from the
scorching heat; but the bald earth, as il
revolves on its axis, would turn its tanned
and weakened front to the full unmitigated
rays of the lord of day.
The atmosphere affords the gas which
WHITES and warns our frames; it receives
into itself that which has been polluted by
use, and is thrown off as noxious. 1t feeds
the fame of life exactly as it does that Of
fire. 1t is in both cases consumed, in both
cases it affords the food of consumption
. L ad