ART. I. King Coal's Levee, or Geological Etiquette; &c. with the Council of Metals; and Baron Ba- 2. Geological Primer in Verse; &c. 3. Court News, or the Peers of King Coal, &c. ART. II. Anastasius; or Memoirs of a Greek, written in the 18th century. (From the Edinb. Rev.) ART. III. On Dancing. (From the New Monthly Mag.) ART. V. Sunday. (From the same.) ART. VI. [National Education.] 1. Foster on Popular Ignorance. (From the Edinburgh Review.) 2. Observations on Mr. Brougham's Educa- 3. Letter to H. Brougham, M. P. &c. by S. 4. Defence of the British and Foreign School Society, against the remarks (in the preceding article) of the Edinburgh Review. 5. Plain Thoughts on Mr. B.'s Education Bill. 6. An Appeal to the Legislature and the pub- lic, more especially to Dissenters, against Mr. ART. I.-An Account of the Arctic Regions, description of the northern whale fishery. Jun. F. R. S. E. 2 vols. 8vo. pp. 1207. with a history and By W. SCORESBY, Edinburgh, 1820. The appearance of these volumes has certainly been well timed. Since the restoration of peace to Europe, the attention of her scientific world has been strongly attracted towards the long forgotten questions of a north-west passage, and the probability of reaching the Arctic Pole. All national attempts at discovery, in those high northern latitudes, are entitled to the most unqualified thanks from the lovers of knowledge, for they are obviously undertaken without any expectation of benefiting commerce, could there exist hopes of complete success. The chimerical idea of shortening the passage to India, by making a thoroughfare of the polar basin, has long since been abandoned, and it is questionable whether the whaling vessels do not already penetrate farther through the ice than prudence will at all times justify. It is a pleasant spectacle to see the spirits of the men who direct the energies of great nations, infusing themselves in this manner into the public measures they control, and it is some consolation to know that, in this age of selfish policy, when all the barriers that were raised against political wrongs, in days that are gone by, have fallen before the arm of the strongest, the very men who might be supposed to feel themselves beyond the reach of public opinion, are anxious to distinguish the period of their power by measures that may add something to the credit of their minds, as well as to that of their policy. It is to this great corrective, which has grown VOL. III. 1 up with the march of knowledge, that the world is indebted for most of the discoveries that have been made, since the cupidity of the navigators tempted them to explore unknown seas in search of the treasures of an unknown world. The circumnavigation of the globe, with the general diffusion of commerce, has left no reason to expect that any continents or islands of much importance, have escaped the eyes of the seamen of this age; and the expeditions, which have been sent out within the last thirty years, are chiefly undertaken with a view to the advancement of learning. To Geographical knowledge there must necessarily be limits, but to the elementary part of the study belong facts that are more or less connected with the whole sisterhood of the sciences. Although we cannot be ignorant of any nations that, like the ancient Mexicans, can add millions to the known numbers of the human race; or of islands that, like NewHolland, may aspire to the name of continents; yet we are gradually filling up the picture whose outlines were drawn by Columbus, Magelhaen, de Gama, and Van Dieman. Some of its rudest lineaments are within the Arctic Circle, but there are facts connected with the knowledge of these inhospitable regions, which are thought to be of more importance to the advancement of Geographical science, than those which depend on an acquaintance with all the rest of the world. Without including any of the interesting experiments connected with the extremes of cold, and its effects on animal and vegetable life, we have the position of the magnetic pole-the principle of magnetic attraction-the cause of the variation of the needle, and the beautiful phenomenon of the Aurora Borealis. These are all mysteries which the eye of theory has never been able to penetrate, and which will probably continue concealed until the hands of enterprise and perseverance have enabled us to remove their veil. The late voyage of Captain Parry promises to aid us greatly in the undertaking, and we wait impatiently for the moment when an authentic relation of his progress may enable us to build up something of a theory, whose foundation can be laid on the results of his experience. We have devoured the gleanings of information that have already found their way into the pages of the periodical works of his country, and have learnt enough to justify our hopes, that the time is approaching when we are to prevail over the frozen barriers which have so long hidden ten degrees of latitude from our investigation. In following the hardy mariners in their dangerous voyage, the heart of the scholar warms in proportion as the bodies of the adventurers freeze.-This interesting expedition has determined Greenland to be a large island, and created a strong probability that there is a communication between Hudson's Bay and the polar sea, by an inlet detaching also the country of the Esquimaux from the main. But we are doing injustice to our author. Mr. William Scoresby, jun. has, for many years, been the master of a Greenland whaler, from the port of Whitby, in the north of England. In this work he does not confine himself to the incidents of any one voyage in particular, but relates such facts as he has collected in the course of sixteen years' experience in the business. The first volume is confined to the more scientific part of the subject, and contains various experiments, which, if not of any great moment to the learned world, are extremely creditable to the author, and might serve as incentives to others, in similar situations, to employ their leisure hours in a similar way. The second treats more particularly on the affairs of the fishery. In anticipation of the official report of Mr. Parry, we will defer the examination of the matter of the former, until we are enabled to compare the experiments of the two; and as the work is very rare in this country, shall make large extracts from that which dwells on the incidents of a life that is so little known to the mass of our readers. In justice, however, to Mr. Scoresby, we must give a sample of his manner of treating the graver parts of his subject. The Fisheries at the north are carried on in seas of vast depth, and the whale is supposed to seek the bottom of the ocean when running under the impulse of affright from the first blow of a harpoon. At such moments he sometimes takes from the boats between one and two miles of "line," and the state of exhaustion in which he rises is thought by our author to be as much produced by the vast pressure he undergoes, as by his animal exertions. Under this impression, Mr. Scoresby made a variety of experiments, at various depths, and with different sorts of wood, until he succeeded in inventing a kind of barometer [or bathometer] to determine the depth of the water; the result is curious, although it will not prove very useful to the mariner. At great depths, the effect of the pressure of the sea is not a little curious. My father met with the following singular instance, in the year 1794, which I have taken from his log-book : 'On the 31st of May, the chief mate of the Henrietta of Whitby, the ship my father then commanded, struck a whale, which "ran" all the lines out of a boat, before assistance arrived, and then dragged the boat under water, the men mean while escaping to a piece of ice. When the fish returned to the surface to "blow," it was struck a second time, and soon afterwards killed. The moment it expired, it began to sink, which not being a usual circumstance, excited some surprise. My father, who was himself assisting at the capture, observing the circumstance, seized a grapnel, fastened a rope to it, threw it over the tail of the fish, and fortunately hooked it. It continued to sink; but the line being held fast in the boat, at length 2. Review of the Trade and Commerce of 3. Thoughts on Political Economy; &c. By ART. 10. Hydro-Pneumatic Apparatus.nonite SELECT. ART. I. King Coal's Levee, or Geological Etiquette ; &c. with the Council of Metals; and Baron Basalt's Tour. 2. Geological Primer in Verse; &c. 3. Court News, or the Peers of King Coal, &c. ART. II. Anastasius; or Memoirs of a Greek, written in 138 157 158 159* 161 ART. III. On Dancing. (From the New Monthly Mag.) 2." Le Cavalier Seul." (From the same.) ART. IV. The Poetry of the Troubadours. (From the 166 same.) 170 ART. V. Sunday. (From the same.) 183 190 ART. VI. [National Education.] 1. Foster on Popular 3. Letter to H. Brougham, M. P. &c. by S. 4. Defence of the British and Foreign School 5. Plain Thoughts on Mr. B.'s Education Bill. 7. Christian Remembrancer, &c. 200 The same subject. (From the Monthly Rev.) 209 8. Inquiry into the Operation of Mr. B.'s Education Bill, by a Non-conformist, &c. &c. (From the Edinburgh Review.) ART. VII. Foster on the Evils of Popular Ignorance. (Extracts.) ART. VIII. Messrs. Perkins and Fairman's inventions. (From the Joof Science, &c. London.) List of Late Publi 214 221 238 250 |