Note 96 — Chapter XIII · THE WIND THEORY OF OCEANIC CIRCULATION.
Reading edition
Dr. Carpenter (Proc. of Roy. Geog. Soc., vol. xviii., p. 334) misapprehends me in supposing that I attribute the Gibraltar current wholly to the Gulf-stream. In the very page from which he derives or could derive his opinion as to my views on the subject (Phil. Mag. for March, 1874, p. 182), I distinctly state that “the excess of evaporation over that of precipitation within the Mediterranean area would of itself produce a considerable current through the Strait.” That the Gibraltar current is due to two causes, (1) the pressure of the Gulf-stream, and (2) excess of evaporation over precipitation in the Mediterranean, has always appeared to me so perfectly obvious, that I never held nor could have held any other opinion on the subject.