Vol. 1 No.6 - Pg.3 - Col.3

THE GULF STEAM.—The current of the Gulf Stream has generally been attributed to the waters of the Mississippi, especially as it was observed that the water of the stream was several degrees warmer than that of the ocean in its vicinity; and although this reason was very unsatisfactory to every geography-reading schoolboy, yet no better or more rational theory was discovered till recently. It has been often shown, and satisfactorily proved that the waters of the Pacific Ocean were several feet higher than those of the Atlantic; and this circumstance has been mentioned as an objection to cutting a ship canal across the Isthmus of Darien. But it now appears evident that the water of the Pacific flows by a subterranean channel to the Atlantic, and that to this current is to be attributed the phenomenon of the Gulf Stream. Since this theory was broached—which was first suggested by Capt. Tillou, an old and experienced ship master of this city,—the idea that the Mississippi should produce such a current in the ocean, appears decidedly ridiculous. The high temperature of the water of the Gulf Stream is now readily accounted for by a knowledge of the fact that the temperature of the earth is much higher at a distance below, than at its surface; and if this subterranean channel is three or four thousand feet deep, it must pass through earth, the temperature of which is far above the boiling point of water. This theory will probably be confirmed by future observations.