The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-07-24
ANNUAL AUCTION CYCLONES CAUSE |OF WRECKACE IS BIG CHANGES IN EVENT IN DIEPPE THE GULF STREAM

Washington, July 24.-Has the Gulf Stream changed its course recently! Expert opinion Is inclined to answer the question in the affirmative. But according to this same expert opinion, there is nothing unusual tn dehec- ton in the course of the great warm current that has such a marked inf1u- ence on climate.
 Whatever truth there may be in the reports that the Gulf Stream is not following its usual channel but has approached nearer the coast of the United States, the fact remains that the Reflection is merely temporary and the stream will resume its flow, within its normal limits when temporary conditions that apear to have affected it are overcome by the steady, con- stant rotation of the earth.
 Mariners have reported that the Gulf R+ream is all awry. They found that it had shifted nearer to the coast. Some persons. have attributed the i'm vasion of Atlantic coast waters by sharks to this shifting. One theory advanced for the defiectdon of the stream was the influence of the firing of the big guns of American battle ships in target practice, but this seems to have few Supporters. Experts of the Photographic Office of the United States Navy, while not committing themselves to any suggestion or the- ory, appear to be of the opinion that recent cyclonic disturbances off the Atlantic coast have served to check the result of the Gulf Streams flow with the result that the eastward TO- tation of the earth Is 1eesened, thus permitting the warm stream to spread toward the coast.
 In order to get an expert opinion an the mater Secretary Daniels was asked to have the Photographic Office make a statement that would either set at rest the reports that the course of the Gulf Stream had been defected or ex- plain what measure of truth there was in these reports. At the instance of Secretary Daniels the following state ment, signed by Captain Thomas Snowden, U.' s. N, hydrographer of the navy, was furnished through the secretary's office: /&
 There is nothing unusual in reports of alterations in the position and course of the Gulf Stream, but these are mere ephemeraT variations of the circulatory system of the Atlantic ocean The Gulf Stream Is assigned
  forces which cause it's existence, and the relatively small changes that are relatively small changes that are ob- served in its place and extent and rate Eof flow occur in response to changes in the resultant of such of its con- stituent causes as the winds of the globe and the distribution of temper ature, salinity, and barometric pres sure. As long 9s tho rate of rotation of the earth remains unchanged and these remain within the came limits of variation from year to year and from century to century, the Gulf Stream will assume its normal place under normal circumstances, and w4If vary from its normal. place, be it ever so little. upon each interference with those conddtdions which prevail in the lonS run.
 ''In illustration of this meaning, mention may be made of the effects of the passage of a cyclonic storm, such as hos been passing along our coast during the last few days, in, disturb ing the normal interplay upon the Gulf Stream of the influence of the