show the complex and wonderful nature of that ocean-fluid, which wraps round so large a part of the solid globe.

In treating of the various ocean temperature, and its influence in producing currents, we do not observe any notice of that singular and important discovery which we owe to Sir James Ross; viz., the existence of a stratum of invariable temperature, 391° Fahrenheit, pervading the ocean from north to south, and represented on each side the equator by a similar and very curious curve, depending on the superficial heat or cold in different latitudes. At the equator the depth of this level of constant temperature is 7,200 feet in latitude 56° it is at the surface in the Arctic regions it descends again to 4,500 feet; the temperature in each case being invariably the same, that is 391, below the level of these several depths. The value of such observations to every theory of submarine currents will readily be perceived.

In a chapter on Ocean Routes,' Lieut. Maury gives some graphic narratives of that racing on the high seas, which, if it be the pride and profit of modern navigation, is also oftentimes to be accounted its folly and peril. The struggle for superiority, whether by sail or steam, is still almost exclusively between England and the posterity of England in America — the two great commercial communities of the world. Though the Indian and Pacific Oceans form part of the scene of contest, the Atlantic is the arena where science and skill, aided by abundant capital, and incited by emulation, have achieved results, which half or even a quarter of a century ago would have been deemed impossible. These results are too well known to need relation here; but we may notice briefly one or two facts, illustrating and explaining the wonderful changes now in progress in commercial navigation. We should scarcely err in stating the average duration of long ocean voyages as those to or from China, Australia and India, performed by the best sailing ships-at barely half what it was at the first period just named. Among the causes concerned in this great result must first be noted, the improved construction and fitting of ships, and more especially in regard to what Mr. Russell has called the wave principle of construction; or, in other words, the form of

man of Toronto, as to the comparative rate of evaporation from salt and fresh water. They show that the greater the proportion of salt, the slower the evaporation; and that water containing the same percentage as that of the sea, loses, in 24 hours, not quite half as much as fresh water. This fact gives some support to Mr. Chapman's theory, that one great use of the salt in the ocean is that of regulating and controlling the evaporation ever going on over its vast surface.

least resistance of a solid moving through water. Connected with this, and in practice now applied to the same end, is the direct relation ascertained to exist between the length of the vessel and the speed it is capable of attaining. But beyond these altered conditions of the vessel itself, comes in the enlarged and more exact knowledge of the seas it traverses; of the winds and currents, the shoals and depths, and the various other physical phenomena of the ocean, which have been brought to the aid of practical navigation, and to which we have already so copiously referred. To the combination of these causes, and the record of the tracks and times of many hundred voyages, upon methods which Lieut. Maury has done much to enforce, we owe those feats of seamanship which have brought Australia within ten weeks of England, and made the circumnavigation of the globe as frequent and familiar as was once the passage across the Atlantic.

We have here been speaking of sailing vessels: - Steam navigation has its own peculiar history, including not only these several improvements, but others also, which depend on more perfect machinery and a higher class of engineers. Though steam has now spread its dominion over the globe, the Atlantic is still the sea where it puts forth its greatest powers. The several lines of Mail Steamers across this Ocean, and more especially those familiarly known as the Cunard and Collins lines, have reached a degree of speed and regularity, which it would be hazardous to say may not hereafter be surpassed, but which will ever be a monument and mark of human progress, in applying the physical elements to the uses and demands of man. It is no serious disparagement to the second of these lines, to say that it has lost the superiority for a short time gained in speed over the Cunard line of English steamers. According to an American statement now before us, we find that, during the last year, the average of twenty-five passages from Liverpool to New York, by the American steamers, was 12 days 161 hours by the English steamers, 11 days 22 hours of passages from New York to Liverpool, by the American vessels, 12 days 8 hours,-by the English, 11 days 3 hours. Many circumstances concur to this result; chiefly, perhaps, the consummate discipline of the English vessels in their every department of service. But the rivalry we regard as an honourable one, and it may yet be maintained, advantageously to the interest of both nations.

It is not, however, a rivalry without risk. In seeking for the maximum of speed, safety is jeopardized in all these great lines of mail steamers. Winter storms, icebergs, fogs, tropical hurricanes, and collisions with other vessels, are all encountered at

high rates of velocity. Experience and discipline have done much to protect against these dangers, but serious hazards still exist; and especially those of collision, which are constantly augmenting in an ocean every year more crowded with ships, seeking to find the shortest passage across it. In these days, however, of bold design and prompt execution, there are few ills which do not bring with them the suggestion of remedy. Lieut. Maury, and others in sequel to him, have urged the adoption of steam lanes' across the Atlantic; that is, definite lines of navigation of a certain width, and distinct from others throughout; so appropriated severally to vessels going east or west, that the chances of collision may be greatly lessened, if not actually removed. The width of the zone of ocean now traversed by the mail steamers is about 250 miles. It is proposed to mark off lanes, 20 or 25 miles in width, on the northern and southern borders of this zone, as the routes respectively to be followed and adhered to, by all steam vessels crossing in one direction or the other. The scheme, or some one equivalent to it, we doubt not to be practicable; and such is its obvious utility, that we as little doubt its being eventually carried into effect. The phrase of a Steam lane may somewhat startle those who are wont to associate with this word the cross roads of a midland rural district the high hedges, deep ditches, and straggling cart ruts; the bushes of blackberry, hazel-nut and hawthorn, and the hundred sweet flowers and weeds which luxuriate on the hedge banks. We cannot quarrel, however, with this new use of the term, if the object be fulfilled to which it is applied;-if long lanes of ocean, which have no turning,' be really laid out for the safer navigation of the seas. The very simplicity and familiarity of the name is a tribute to that prowess of man, which has taught him thus to mark out and pursue a fixed path through the wide wilderness of waters.

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Though not having exhausted the subject of the Atlantic, either in its physical features, or in its relations to human industry and power, we stop here, only to refer our readers to Lieut. Maury's own observations on these subjects. The points we have touched upon will show how copious and interesting a topic, under both these aspects, is the Physical Geography of the Sea;' and how worthy to be embodied with the other great natural sciences, which at this time enlighten and animate the world. Every year enlarges its domain; and we may fairly predict that the history of the Atlantic, written twenty years hence, will be a record of numerous physical facts, now either wholly unknown, or dimly and doubtfully understood.

TH

ART. IV. The Life and Correspondence of Major-General Sir John Malcolm, G. C. B., late Envoy to Persia and Governor of Bombay, from unpublished Letters and Journals. By JOHN WILLIAM KAYE. 2 vols. 8vo. London: 1856. HE traveller who descends into Eskdale from that bleak range of hills, in which several of the classic streams of the Scottish Lowlands take their source, sees, as the fertile and wooded valley opens before him, a column or monument raised on Langholm Hill to the memory of one whose fame is connected with the remotest parts of the British Empire, but who drew breath on this spot, and who never ceased, through the vicissitudes and the triumphs of an active and successful career, to turn with the affection of youth to Burnfoot of Esk. The name of Sir John Malcolm, and of that gallant band of brothers who, like him, were reared among the burns and braes of this border glen, is fitly commemorated by this trophy of their achievements. Confidentially employed in the East from his youth,' to borrow the language of the inscription on that obelisk, 'in the highest political and 'military affairs, by the indefatigable exertion of those extraordinary mental and physical powers with which Providence 'had endowed him, he became alike distinguished in the arts "of war and of government, in letters and in arms.' The narrative of his life, and of the energetic efforts for the service of his country and of India which marked every part of it, is a conspicuous and encouraging example to those who, like him, may be the architects of their own fortunes in the service of this great empire; and the public are indebted to Mr. Kaye for a contribution to our biographical literature which is not only a pleasing and instructive record of Sir John Malcolm's career, but which portrays the growth of a manly and self-relying character, and throws some additional light on the history of British policy in India.

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This book deserves to participate in the popularity which it was the good fortune of Sir John Malcolm to enjoy to a very remarkable extent in his lifetime. No man ever united political talents, lofty enterprise, and an indomitable perseverance in the transaction of business, with a more buoyant, fresh, and amiable disposition. His affectionate regard for all who were connected with him by the ties of blood or of friendship was neither chilled by the gifts of fortune, nor repressed by the cares of active life. Burnfoot and Eskdale were ever associated with the passionate tenderness of his home affections. As Warren Hastings had

longed to regain the possession of Daylesford amidst the cares and contests of the government of Bengal; as Munro forgot the earnest duties of his sober and severe life when he thought of his father's tulip beds and his mother's myrtles; Malcolm, from the earliest days of his military boyhood till the time when he sat as Governor of Bombay, never ceased to long for what he called another paddle in the burn.' In all his dealings he was governed by the nicest sense of honour, and such was his open-handed liberality, that he not unfrequently alarmed the authorities in Leadenhall Street by his munificence: yet though he had filled a variety of high offices in India, at a time when Indian servants were supposed to be enriched by the treasures of Asia, his personal fortune remained modest, and, indeed, was barely equal to meet the generous impulses of his nature. His lofty physical stature, his cheerful manly countenance, his commanding presence, his power of supporting immense fatigue, his excellent horsemanship which won the admiration of the Court of Persia, his love of field sports, especially of those in which courage must be combined with skill, and his eager participation in every incident or amusement of the hour, gave a chivalrous and sometimes romantic air to a man who had learned, from early experience and natural elasticity of character, to play his part with grace in all the scenes of life. It was his peculiar good fortune to win, almost at the outset of his career in India, the friendship and confidence of the two illustrious brothers-Marquis Wellesley and the Duke of Wellington, who left the stamp of their genius not less indelibly impressed on the government of Asia than on the subsequent destinies of Europe. Educated in that great school of statesmen and of soldiers, he retained through life their good opinion; and amongst the valuable unpublished documents which Mr. Kaye has extracted from the Malcolm papers, the correspondence of Lord Wellesley and the Duke forms the most remarkable and valuable feature. At the dinner given to Malcolm by the East India Company, in 1827, before he started to assume the government of Bombay, the Duke of Wellington said, in the presence of Mr. Canning, then Prime Minister of England:

"A nomination such as this," said the Duke of Wellington, operates throughout the whole Indian service. The youngest cadet sees in it an example he may imitate a success he may attain. The good which the country derives from the excitement of such feelings is incalculable. It is now thirty years since I formed an intimate friendship with Sir John Malcolm; during that eventful period, there has been no operation of consequence, no diplomatic measure,