Year: 1867

This contrast ~ so marked, IN certain
places. that wble the temperature Of
the water around ship outSide the
Stream may be sixty degrees Of Fahren-
heit, that around ship inside the
Stream is not unfrequeutly as high MS
eighty degrees The mean difference
OF temperature between the ordinary
water of the ocean and that Of the Gull
Stream viii average from ten to fifteen
degrees the Stream always and every
where averaging that much warmer.


As it travels from the south to the
north, the heat of the water gradually
Lessons; but the proportion Of its
warmth to the surrounding waters of
the Atlantic confines the same. In
spite Of the steady withdrawal from its
surface Of the southern sun, in defiance
OF the northeast winds, in the faceAof
which it marches in that direction, and
notwithstanding that it encounters the
wild deserts and mountains of ice that
are for ever drifting down to its melt
ing waves from the Arctic Seas, the
temperature Of the Gulf stream is pro
portionately maintained, with an even
and unchanging glow, from the time it
appears in the south and is lost, as yet,
to human view, in the north. Whence,
then, is this heat?


There are known chemical properties
in the waters ofthe Gulf Stream, which
are not found in like proportion in any
other. They contain sulphate of cop
per, held in solution, mixed with nitrate
Of silver and salt, and rendered dense
by heat and ammonia. Whether in sun
shine or in storm, whether in the south
or in the north, this combination is con
stantly going on wherever. the waters
Of the Gulf Stream are flowing They
exibit the'same chemical affinities that
are to be found in other navigable
waters Of our planet. On the coast OF
Japan there is stream in the sea which
the japanese call the Kuro Siwo, or
Black Stream It's waves are SO deeply
blue, so distinctly visible from all the
ocean around them, that they seem to
be black. Why then is the waters Of
the Gulf Stream an invariable blue2


We are next struck, in passing, with
the sedges Of the Stream. They are
quite as remarkable us any Of its other
peculiarities. They are frequently seen
in certain portions Of the waters in
floating masses, sometimes in the form
of wedged grass, bulbs, flowers, roots,
sprigs, and splinters OF sugar cane and
bamboo. Hundreds of miles out to sea
by night and by day in all states ofthe
atmosphere, these solitary voyagers
suddenly rise to the snrface and float
around the ships. They are so numer-
ous and SO dense in some parts Of the
ocean through which the Gulf Stream
so steadily flows, as actually to impede
navigation. As long ago as the glori-
GUS voyage Of Christopher Columbus,
the bows Of his Spanish galleons were
so resisted by the encountering masses
Of sedges, that he thought he had reach
ed a region like his own, and named it
the Sea of Saragossa They were found
upon examination, however, to be plants
that did not grow on the nearest tropi-
cal shores; and the same fact has been
frequently proved since. 1t was for a
long time supposed and taught in the
schools that most Of the plants and
weeds, with the animalcule attached,
grew on the island Of Andres, bat sub
sequent Investigations have proved the
idea to be erroneous. Whence do they
come?


There are eddies and yapors in the
Gulf Stream that are TO be found, in
similar proportions. in no other waters.
They present some Of the most extraor-
binary phenomena Of the sea Certain
portions Of tue Stream are so disturbed
by eddies, in pleasant weather as well
as foul, as to break against the side OF
ships passing through them. They are
seen in the midst Of violent gales. In
the ordinary surface ofthe ocean, much
as the waves may be broken by the
winds, they are regular in their mo-
tions, and more or less distinct; but in
the Gulf Stream the CLASSY water is
changed into curves and circles, the
whirlings and eddyings being clearly
perceptible, as almost wholly indepen-
dent Of the winds. They seem TO rise
Ike boiling waters Of a huge ealdron,
as driven to the surface by resistless
pressure from beneath They are not
universal. in all parts Of the Stream;
they are not visible at some time as
they are az others; but their existence