excellent work, for the author's mathematical knowledge and varied acquirements eminently qualified him for such an undertaking. Moreover, the foundation of it was laid when he was under my command in the "Adventure," as stated in the necrological memoir of him, published by the Royal Astronomical Society. The success of the book has fully verified my predictions, and justified my strong recommendation of it to all practical navigators.

Voyages of the "Adventure" and "Beagle.' -It was impossible to resist reviewing the narrative of these important, useful, and interesting voyages, seeing that the commanders were my friends, many of the officers and men had sailed with me, and my old ship, the "Adventure," was recommissioned at my instance by the Admiralty, for the pendant of Captain King. Not the least part of the value of these volumes is owing to the magnificent views of Mr. Charles Darwin, on the phænomena and dynamics of the geology of the regions visited

Quench'd volcanoes, rifted mountains,

Oceans driven from the land,
Isles submerg'd and dried-up fountains,
Potent empires whelm'd in sand.

Anson's Expedition. This remarkable cruise, undertaken a century before the voyages of King and Fitzroy, shows so great a difference in essentials and object, that it was deemed proper to give this detailed reminder; and it is moreover a stirring narrative that will ever interest the true sailor.

1842.

The Sovereignty of the Seas. A salute for 1842.-About this time, the inane murmurs of the "peace-at-any-price" school, had induced our chapmenpoliticians so far to carp at the expense of self-preservation, as to obtain concessions from government which imperilled the safety of the kingdom.

This paper was pretty widely read, and freely commented on; but in quoting it, an observant writer-perhaps from its being imperfectly expressed-appears to have mistaken our view of the operation of the National Debt; which, though morally an evil incubus, has politically wrought good. The existence of this "mill-stone," in its present magnitude, is undoubtedly to be ascribed to the influence of the same cause which conduced to the development of our industrial

energies, on the mighty scale that was witnessed during our struggle with the first Napoleon; when Europe was shaken to her centre.

On Telluric Magnetism. The observations of Arago at Paris, and Kuppfer at Kasan, confirmed the fact that magnetic disturbances occur simultaneously at places widely separated from each other; the perturbations in this instance being noticed at two stations differing in longitude above forty-seven degrees. Hence arose the organisation of the magnetic observatories mentioned herein; and their progress is still steadily advancing, insomuch that posterity will most probably erect the edifice of which we have only laid the foundations.

This paper was published in March 1842, and was hardly in circulation when I received a letter from Johann Lamont, of Munich, dated on the ninth of the preceding February. Had it arrived in time, the following extract would have been added, on account of its importance :

It is a curious fact that those who have been so diligently employed in comparing magnetic observations, made at distant stations, never thought of comparing two magnetometers in the same room, or in the same house, to see whether they agreed perfectly in their indications. On making the experiment, I found that in general they do not agree; this led to the discovery of a defect in the instruments usually employed, and to the construction of a new system of magnetic instruments. Further details are to be found in the description of the magnetic observatory of Munic (Ueber das magn. Observatorium der K. Stern warte bey Munichen), which I shall send with first opportunity.

I have compared the observations made during the magnetic disturbance of Sept. 25, 1811, at Toronto, St. Helena, Trevandrum, and the Cape, Greenwich, Munic, and Hohen-Peissenberg. I find that in the whole phenomenon there is no agreement between distant stations; even in Greenwich and Munic the motions are not simultaneous. There is, however, one great oscillation of horizontal force forming a minimum about noon, and a maximum in the evening, which may be considered as common to all stations, supposing that a maximum in northern latitudes corresponds with a minimum on the south of the equator.

On comparing the perturbations observed at different places, I think one remarkable result may be deduced, viz., that there is a proportion between the ranges; for instance, in declination the range at Toronto is thrice as great as at Munic, in St. Helena only one-third of the range at Munic. The range at Greenwich, I suspect, is more than thrice that of Munic.

LAMONT.

On Oceanic Surf.-In treating of the action and reverberatory motion of the South Atlantic rollers, and narrating the case of a sloop-of-war, there is an error in the commander's name, owing to the statement made by an officer on the Cape Station. The "Julia" was under the command of the late Captain Jenkin Jones, who, with four men, had landed when the fatal roller set in. Poor Robert Hay wore his pendant in a 10-gun brig called the "Delight," on the same station, and

when last seen was caught in a terrible squall off the Mauritius. There could be no doubt but that she foundered with her gallant chief and crew, for not a vestige of her ever turned up. O those Tennies!

A Yarn about Sharks.-Professor Henslow, of Cambridge, having enunciated that every story about the young of vipers, or other creatures, getting into their dam's mouth when danger threatens is the result of optical fallacy-a mere deceptio visús, I told him a fact relative to a shark we had caught at the Seychelles Islands. This led to other tales of the Squalida-those enemigos de los Christianos, as Spanish sailors call them-as to their celerity, retention of life, powerful dental machinery, penchant for human cates, their mermaid purses, and the like; which ended in a promise to write this paper, which I hope will confirm the opinions of Plutarch, Ælian, and Oppian. It happened that Mr. H. E. St. Quintin -a retired naval surgeon who was assistant-surgeon in the "Marquis Cornwallis" at the time we pounced upon the shark in question-read the statement, and thus commented upon it in a letter from Thorpe-Hamlet, near Norwich :

I perfectly remember the incident, but can add little to the story so well and so accurately told. I may, however, say that the animal having fairly run out the original small line attached to the hook by which she was caught, the lead-line was bent on to it, by which means probably the capture was effected; for in getting the fish alongside, it was discovered that in its struggle it had twisted the line in numerous circumvolutions round its body, thereby impeding resistance. It required twelve men to hoist it on board, the Captain having ordered that no more hands should clap on the tackle-fall than were quite sufficient to the task. As stated, thirty-eight young ones were collected on the deck, but a scramble having taken place on their first appearance, some six or seven were kept back by the sailors, perhaps unintentionally. A sucking-fish was found adhering to one of them, a full evidence of its having been "out to sea.” The head, tail, and almost all the flesh being cut away, the spine continued for a long time to make very strong convulsive moveWhen Greenway (a grown midshipman) and myself were placed breast to breast, the expanded jaws passed easily over us both.*

ments.

* A few months after my paper was published, and in the same year, a most grievous incident occurred. Having entered Captain William Cornwallis Symonds as a candidate for the Athenæum Club, when the time for his election approached, I was served with the usual announcement by the Secretary. Not having seen him for some time, I wrote to his father, Sir W. Symonds, then Surveyor of the Navy, to ask about him. The reply was truly afflicting; that fine and energetic young man had proceeded to New Zealand, and was swimming near the shore, when a shark suddenly pulled him down. The monster was soon afterwards taken, and a portion of the remains was found in its stomach.

Hygeia's Visit to the British Fleet.-On the ocean, the unavoidable detriments of sea-life in night-watches, broken rest, exposure to atmospheric changes, and promiscuous crowding of berths, are perhaps balanced by regularity, cleanliness, and discipline. And when sickness prevails, the naval "doctors" unremittingly stick to their patients till they obtain—

With mind in good order, of health such a stock,

That their pulses beat seconds as true as a clock.

Although we are not at all disposed to advocate the institution of Sumptuary Laws, we cannot but congratulate the Service on the march of temperance in our Fleet. Part of this movement is owing to individual exertion; but much is undoubtedly due to the spirit of the age, in which we have seen duelling, swearing, card-playing, wine-bibbing, and some minor blemishes, become fainter and fainter. Under the influence of certain pernicious though authorised customs, vitiated habits had obtained in our ships, as well as over society at large, and vice, under intoxicating agents, was endowed with sufficient energy to induce crime, misery, and social degradation. But what an onus dwells with the Government which directly forwarded intemperance, by the administration of large spirituous potations! From habituating both men and boys to a quart of grog per diem, ought not some of the State purveyors to have shared in the punishment, which followed all the consequent disorders?

Nelson vindicated from Vanity in his last moments.-When once a falsehood has obtained, it is difficult to expunge. The authors of Knight's "Pictorial History of England" (vol. iv. page 190,) allude to this letter as of “ very little consequence, it being quite certain that Nelson disregarded the precaution suggested to him, and that the stars on the embroidery of his coat attracted the bullet which killed him." I differ toto cœlo from these gentlemen, since it is not the mere killing of the hero which is the great point of the question, but the clearing his character from the bombastic fustian so falsely attributed to him. The idea of a British Admiral going below to dress, when standing towards an enemy's fleet! There was no available precaution suggested, for, as stated, the firing had commenced when Sir Thomas Hardy made the remark about the coat to which the star, or stars,* were stitched: nor was it the embroidery which was aimed at, but the epaulette, part of which was actually driven in by the bullet.

*Two or three years after this had been published, Sir Harris Nicolas told me he had recently seen the coat in which Nelson was shot, and that four stars were sown on it; adding-" Hardy ought to have

The Last of the Pandoras.-The death of Mr. D. T. Renouard, formerly of the Pandora, and the loan of his papers from my valued and learned friend the Rev. George Cecil Renouard, his brother-Vicar of Swanscombe-led to this further intelligence in the eventful tale of the Bounty Mutiny.

The recent Operations in Lycia.-The beginning of strife is like the letting out of waters, and these waters being troubled I made an attempt to pour oil over them. It was matter of regret to me, that two such zealous and competent men as Graves and Fellows-both my friends-should have had any disagreement to ruffle them, since their object tended to the same end, whatever was the medium through which they severally viewed it: they had obtained some very valuable relics for the British Museum, and it was scarcely worth while to quarrel as to the precise mode of getting them away. The animus of contention was, as to whether Fellows was to blame for the destruction of perhaps the finest monument in Xanthus, or the seamen of the Beacon, who acted under his orders. The late Edward Forbes, then naturalist of the Beacon, made a sketch of the Lycian hero mourning over the fragments of his sepulchre, and ejaculating—

Middle-age fellows first disturb'd my ashes,

Then modern Fellows knock'd my tomb to smashes.

1843.

The Advance of Steam-Navigation.-This dissertation was translated into French, and made its appearance in the March number of the Revue Britannique, 1843. The whole-despite of technicalities—is very fairly transfused from one language into the other; but Mons. Amédée Pichot, in a note, shews that he was at sea respecting its parentage-" Nous pensons que l'auteur de l'article qu'on vient de lire doit être le capitaine Basil Hall lui-même."

The Pandora again!-Shortly after the appearance of my lucubration on the "Last of the Pandoras," Mr. W. B. Edwards, of Stamford, nephew of the commander of the unfortunate ship, very kindly sent his uncle's papers for me to overhaul at my leisure. Justice, therefore, demanded a few more words in order to arrive at an ultimatum conducting to truth.

been more particular, but your account is confirmed." It will be recollected that this relic was purchased by Prince Albert, at the instance of Sir Harris, and presented to Greenwich Hospital.