It is first noticed that, as the Gulf current must reach the neighbourhood of Newfoundland with a north-easterly motion, and, if it ever reached the shores of the British Isles, would have to travel thither with an almost due easterly motion, there is a change of direction to be accounted for. This, however, is an old, and I had supposed exploded, fallacy. The course of the Gulf Stream from the Bemini Straits to the British Isles corresponds exactly with that which is due to the combined effects of the motion of the water and that of the earth upon its axis. Florida being much nearer than Ireland to the equator, has a much more rapid easterly motion. Therefore, as the current gets farther and farther north, the effect of the easterly motion thus imparted to it begins to show itself more and more, until the current is gradually changed from a north-easterly to an almost easterly stream. The process is the exact converse of that by which the air-currents from the north gradually change into the north-westerly trade-winds as they get farther south. But it is further remarked that as the current passes out beyond the shelter of Newfoundland, it is impinged upon by those cold currents from the arctic seas which are known to be continually flowing out of Baffin’s Bay and down the eastern shores of Greenland; and it is contended that these currents suffice, not merely to break up the Gulf current, but so to cool its waters that these could produce no effect upon the climate of Great Britain if they ever reached its neighbourhood. Here, again, I must remark that we are dealing with no new discovery. Captain Maury has already remarked upon this peculiarity. ‘At the very season of the year,’ he says, ‘when the Gulf Stream is rushing in greatest volume through the Straits of Florida, and hastening to the north with the greatest rapidity, there is a cold stream from Baffin’s Bay, Labrador, and the coasts of the north, running south with equal velocity.... One part of it underruns the Gulf Stream, as is shown by the icebergs, which are carried in a direction tending across its course.’ There can be no doubt, in fact, that this last circumstance indicates the manner in which the main contest between the two currents is settled. A portion of the arctic current finds its way between the Gulf Stream and the continent of America; and this portion, though narrow, has a very remarkable effect in increasing the coldness of the American winters. But the main part, (heavier, by reason of its coldness, than the surrounding water,) sinks beneath the surface. And the well-known fact mentioned by Maury, that icebergs have been seen stemming the Gulf Stream, suffices to show how comparatively shallow that current is at this distance from its source, and thus aids to remove a difficulty which we have already had occasion to deal with.