The New York herald., 1922-10-29
Character
ICES Popular Be-
lief in the Flow Of
Warm w a tie r
Across the Allan
tic as an Unscien-
tific Myth
By HARVEY M. WATTS.

ESPITE the efforts of compe-
tent scientific authorities In
this country and Europe to
head of new lease Of life for the old
exploded myth that the cause and con-
ditions Of climatic variations which
affect northwestern Europe is due en-
tirely to the Gulf Stream and its va
garies it is apparent from the numer-
GUS articles and dispatches appearing
In THE NEW YORK HERALD. beginning
with last spring. that the world is IN
for new era of superstiious regard
for this extremely unimportant cur
rent of the ocean. climatically speak
Ing. by reason of the greedily accepted
new belief that the building of the
Flagler Railways on the Florida Keys
from the mainland to Key West has
done something" to the Gulf Stream,
and that this something" in turn has
done something else to tie climate Of
northwestern Europe. to say nothing
Of America. Africa and the world In
general.
With John Harrison OF the Clap
ham Observatory. England, starting
the ball rolling last spring and with
Prof. Barget Of the Prince of Monaco's
bureau Of oceanography more or less
coming to his aid, and with hydrog-
raphers that seem to know q good
deal about water movements but moth
ing about meteorology helping on the
delusion. innocently. perhaps, and with
the latest European authority, M. le
Danois. referring to the subject as II
the filing in the Key West Railway
was accepted as playing some part in
the new belief, though he denies the
value Of the Gulf Stream as a climate
maker, the average person Is again
Z confirmed in the gross delusion that
the Gulf Stream and the Gulf Stream
alone gives northwestern Europe it's
mild climate; a belief that whole
generation Of meteorologists stating
the true facts as to climate and
weather causations has been unable to
overcome.
This persistence In the myth Of the
Gulf Stream as a determining climatic
factor, the stream being represented
as an enormous river Of warm water
originating in the tropics that crosses
the ocean and carries it's heat as If 1t
were a colossal hot water bottle to the
remotest shores of northwestern Eu-
rope and even to nearby Arctic lands
one excited navigator reporting to
THE New York HERALD that on dipping
water out OF the Gulf Stream recently
1t scalded the hands of the sailor man
--fc rf tho szfv, 1,i tr,
modern science. And now 1t would
seem. as If to the old picturesqueness
that made the Gulf Stream myth an
easy one to believe, the dramatic ad-
dition Of the serried concrete masses
of the Flagler viaducts would put off
the clearing up of this all potent myth
for another generation.
Belief in the Gulf Stream
An Article of Blind Faith
For in view of the fact that in
casual conversation on liners crossing
the ocean, in the school and the home,
and in the elevator every morning. the
belief in the universal efficacy Of the
Gulf Stream as conditioner of spe-
cial climates has become an article o.
bind faith, nothing that the Flagler
engineers or American photographers
may prove as to the Gulf Stream
the Straits of Florida not being inter
fered with by the Keys or by any co,
Meeting railroad viaduct. since it flow
through the straits in the deep chan
mel formed by the outer edges OF tn
Continental ridge on which the Key
themselves rest, will have any effect
Nor will that more important fac;
that permanent climatic effects are IL
nowise the result of water borne con
ditions set up by any Of the well
known ocean currents, and. above all,
t,at so far as the Gulf Stream goes
It does not carry current of hot