The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1919-12-02

Recent reports of seamen concern
ing the present excessive tempera-
ture of the Gulf stream, to which
some experts attribute the hea wave
along the Atlantic coast, prompted
the National Geographic Society to
issue bulletin concerning this nigh
ty currenet.
! The bulletin, based on commun-
ication from Rear-Admiral John L.
Pillsbury, U. S. NJ, president of the
National Geographic Society, and the
worlds foremost authority on the
Gulf stream, follows:
"The Gulf stream is probaly the
grandest and most mighty of any ter
restial phenomenon. Its waters are
characterized by deep indigo blue
color of great clearness and high TEN.
perature. 1t can be penetrated by
the eye to considerable depths, and
generally its meeting with the less
saline polar waters can be at once
distinguished.
1T is difficult for the mind to
grasp the immensely of this great
ocean river. The Straits of Florida
at it's narrowest point is about forty
miles wide. A calculation of the av-
erage volume of water passing in one
!, hour gives the enormous sum of &c.,
00O,O0O,O00 tons. If this one single
hours flow Of water could be evapor
; ated the remaining salts would re-
, quire many times more than all the
! ships in the world to carry it.
| when one is on board a vessel,
: floating upon its waters, one is not
= as much impressed at the power and
/, gradeur of this wonder of nature as
. he is when he stands before tow
e ering mountain, an immense iceberg,
: or fall of water such as Niagara
Q but when one remembers that the
: mighty torrent, speeding on hour by
S hour and day by day in volume
g equal to all the largest rivers in the
world combined, carrying it's benefi
cent heat to temper the climate Of
continents, one begins to realize thai
IS of all the forces of the physical worlt
none can equal this one river of the
ID ocean.
Ponce de Leon while on his fam
Gus search for the Fountain of YOUTH
ar made the discovery of this grea
stream. After his failure to find, OF
d. the coast of upper Florida, the means
:. of cheating death, he turned to tn,
southwark and skirted the shore TO
hundreds of miles, thus stemming tn
current.
The name of Gulf Stream wa
first suggested by Benjamin Frank
ly lin because it issues from the Gulf O
at Mexico While it is only part @
mt the grand scheme of ocean circuls
a ton land the Gulf of Mexico is i
IN, reality only stopping place, as
ey were. for its waters, this name
ire generally applied to the current no'
he as it was given by Franklin-that il
alt the current coming from the Gulf {
Tor Mexico and spreading abroad owe
the north Atlantic.
1.-The theories as to the cause {
ocean currents have been many.
"Franklins theory which has man
advocates at the present day, wa
I that the winds produce the currer
| by the air moving over the surface {
the water, and he illustrated tn
theory by the following 1t is know
that large piece of water, ten mile
= broad and generally only three fe,
deep, has strong wind had its watt
driven to one side and sustained s
as to become six feet deep while tn
windward side was laid dry AS wi
be seen later, this is well-taken e
ample of the force of the wind
causing the Gulf stream, but it doe
not quite show the whole Of ii
truth.
In the tropical regions there is
steady movement of the air from ca
to west known as the trade wind
South of certain line situated ne;
the equator these winds flow from
southwesterly direction, while mort
Of the equator they come from MOI
northeasterly direction. The wine
are not always strong, nor are the
constant in direction, but they
not vary much, and then only for
brief period,
winds blowing over the surfat
of the water induce a current in Il
latter due to friction. AT first it
only the merest skim that moves b.
gradually the motion is communica
ed from layer to layer until at las
If the wind is long continued as