CURRENCY

(Lat. curro, I run.) In Political Economy,aterm sometimes used to expre the collective amount of the money, and of the bills, checques, and other substitutes for money, employed in selling or buying, or in the distribution of the commodiiies and services among the different ranks and orders of the community. CURRENT (Lat. curro), denotes in its most general sense the progre ive movement of any object; but it is applied chiefly to the progre ive movement of fluids, especially of air, electricity, and water. Currents in the ocean arise from various causes, either occasional or constant. They may be occasioned by an external impulsion, for example a gale of wind; from a difference in*the temperature of different parts of the sea; from the inequality of evaporation, the melting of the polar ice, or in short any cause tending to disturb the hydrostatic equilibrium. It is difficult in many cases to trace their causes, or to give any satisfactory theory of their existence; but on account of their importance to navigation they have been observed, especially of late years, with great care. Among those which have a permanent or general character, there are two which are very remarkable. The first is that of the tropical waters westward round the globe, and the second that which constantly flows from each pole towards the equator. The tropical or westerly current is chiefly confined within the zone extending to about 30° on each side of the equator, and its velocity is estimated by Humboldt at about nine or ten mile3 a day. In the Atlantic it separates into two branches: one of which forms the gulf stream; and the other flows along the coast of Brazil, [s. 323]