Year: 1872

A sensible article in the GALAXY for Jan.
uary treats of the gulf stream. The gulf
stream is famous source of all kinds of
theories, and in its day has had the credit
OF doing great many wonderful things
With weather-wise people it is made the
cause of every popularity of climate and
OF weather; and were the heated term"
OF Florida suddenly to appear in Massa-
chusetts in the month of January, there Il
little doubt but that some one Of the three
wise men of Boston would come out next
day with an article on the 'ISser, showing
that this unnatural state of temperature
was due to some passing eccentricity Of
the gulf stream. DIR. /. l. Hayes, the
writer of the article in the Gulazy, en-
deavors to show that such speculations
and assertions are mere nonsense.


The precise limits of the gulf stream are
yet to be determined. Wherever the par.
ticular point of its beginning may be. how
ever, it is pretty certainly ascertained that
the steam itself Is produced by current of
air formed from the northeast and south.
east trade winds. This current "heaps
up" the waters in the gulf Of Mexico. to
use Franklin's phrase, and because il
comes from tropical regions, warns them.
current of water, of warmer tempera-
ture than the average temperature of the
waters of the Gulf of Mexico, Is thus
formed. This current flows eastward and
northward along the coast of North Amer
lea under the continued influence of the
wind. Its rate Of speed diminishes as the
power OF the wind diminishes, and its tenn.
perature lowers, though less rapidly, as
its waters mingle with the colder waters
below and on either side of il.


The point where the gulf stream ends is
as uncertain as the point where it begins.
1t is popularity supposed to divide at the
northern point, one branch running north
into the Arctic ocean, and the other going
eastward toward the coast of Europe.
There are no facts known, however, to
sustain this belief. Whatever currents of
water may flow in these directions can be
accounted for by the force of the winds
which prevail in those parts. 1t is thought
that the gulf stream disappears at The
northern point in the waters Of the sur
rounding ocean, gradually losing its
peculiarities in its nOrthward course.


As to the effects produced upon the cli-
mate OF North America by the gulf stream,
DIR. Hayes denies that there is q single
fact to show that it exerts any influence at
all. Its current is to the waters of the At

lantic ocean as tiny rivulet is to the
broad acres through which it finds it's way.
and the effects produced In the two cases
are about alike. At Newport. for exam
pie. whose delicious climate is popularity
thought to be due to the benign influence
of the gulf stream, its waters are one
hundred and fifty miles distant, while the
prevalent winds are westerly, and how
temperature can "beat to windward" for
that distance is a question not yet satisfac-
torily answered. The fact appears to be
that air, when unconfned, receives no
perceptible accession of heat from water.
Numerous experiments have been made,
confirmatory of this proposition, and a
negative proof is found in the slight in
fluence produced upon the temperature by
the presence Of icebergs. The mild eli.
mate of Norway and the British Isles is
produced by currents of air laden with
warmth and moisture, and not by the in
fuence of the gulf stream.