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perished. All that is wanting, is time. In hundreds of millions of generations there is not only opportunity of developing all the feathered tribes from a single species, or form, as he terms it; but to develop fishes from birds, and beasts from fish, and man from the highest of the three-not only is this possible, but special organs, as the eye, may be so far developed by "natural selection," as to convert the simple apparatus of an optic nerve, merely coated with pigment and invested by transparent membrane, into an optical instrument as perfect as, "for example, the eye of the eagle." The same mode of reasoning would also apply to the development and transmission of instincts. But when did all these transitions take place? Of course in the long ages which are called the geological periods. But do we find any fossil records of these intermediate varieties through which our present existing races must have been developed from the primeval forms or form? Certainly not. Unfortunately, they have all perished; but if they had not perished, analogy teaches that we ought to find them, and therefore we may believe that they did exist. This very convenient use of the geologic plants and animals reminds us of the way in which a professed artist executed the order to paint on a wall the Israelites and Egyptians crossing the Red Sea. He simply covered the wall with a coating of red. When asked, where are the Israelites? he replied, they are gone over the sea. But where are the Egyptians? Surely, they are all drowned; and if the sea were not so red, you could see them all at the bottom. Dr. Darwin's mode of reasoning from analogy is also somewhat like that of the Irishman who said he had heard that feathers made a soft bed, but he had tried one upon the floor and did not find that his bed was at all improved. He concluded, therefore, by analogy, that many feathers would make a very hard bed, forgetting, as Dr. Darwin, that the relations of more or less apply even to analogy. We admit all Dr. Darwin's facts. We do not question that it was nature's design to provide for many varieties by culture, and that many of the so-considered species may have originated from an original pair. But there is a limit beyond which analogy, pliable as it is, will not carry us.

But we did not design to go into the argument. The Naturalists will have a pretty fight of it among themselves, and the discussions which will be evolved may perhaps tend to bring us all at last to think with Mrs. Browning, that "a larger metaphysics might help our physics."

We have only to propound one question, which may help to a solu

tion of many particular questions which will arise. What is this analogy on which these extraordinary theories are reared? Does it imply a rational as well as a creating mind? If so, is it fair to introduce as an element to determine the origin of species, any reference to the probable plans or design of the Creator? If so, which theory would such a reference favor, the old or the new? Moreover, if Dr. Darwin's theory be true, by what processes and intervals of transitional gradation, and from what primitive form of fish, or beast, or fowl, was this faculty of interpreting the past history of nature for millions of years, by analogies drawn from the rearing of domestic pigeons, developed in Dr. Darwin, to its sublimest attainment of sagacity?

WELLS'S ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY."-The volume for 1860 of this useful and convenient repository of the leading discoveries and improvements in the various departments of science and the arts, is the eleventh of the series, and like its predecessors shows commendable diligence on the part of its compiler in gathering from many diverse sources the materials of which it is composed. It contains very much that is interesting and important to the general reader, as well as to the man of science; and its copious index renders it valuable as a book of reference. It is embellished with a portrait of Isaac Lea, Esq, of Philadelphia, the President of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, for the present year.

VOYAGES AND TRAVELS.

AN ARCTIC BOAT JOURNEY.-The readers of Dr. Kane's narrative of Arctic exploration will remember that in the autumn of 1854 a party of eight persons made an attempt to go by boat from Rensselaer

* Annual of Scientific Discovery; or, Year Book of Facts in Science and Arts, for 1860, exhibiting the most important discoveries and improvements in Mechanics, Useful Arts, Natural Philosophy, Chemistry, Astronomy, Geology, Zoology, Botany, Mineralogy, Meteorology, Geography, Antiquities, etc. Together with notes on the progress of science during the year 1859; a list of recent scientific publications; obituaries of eminent scientific men, etc. Edited by DAVID A. WELLS, A. M., Author of "Principles of Natural Philosophy," etc., etc. Boston: Gould & Lincoln. 1860. pp. 430.

An Arctic Boat Journey, in the Autumn of 1854. By ISAAC I. HAYES, Surgeon of the second Grinnell Expedition. Boston: Brown, Taggard & Chase. 1860. pp. 375.

Harbor, where the Advance lay frozen in, to Upernavik, in North Greenland, the nearest outpost of civilization; and that after pushing their way some three hundred miles, or nearly half the distance, they were compelled to return to the vessel, which they reached in midwinter, after an absence of four months. In the volume before us we have in detail a narrative of the thrilling incidents of this journey, by Dr. Hayes, the leader of the party, whose illness after his return home prevented his preparation of it in season to be incorporated with the volumes of Dr. Kane. It is not, therefore, a repetition of Dr. Kane, but an entirely fresh narrative, full of interest and possessing that peculiar fascination which so naturally attaches to stories of personal adventure amid the wild and unique desolations of the Arctic Terra Incognita. What courage, what perseverance, what powers of physical endurance these men possessed; and with what intense interest do we follow them in their heroic career of discouragement, peril, and personal suffering! After reading such a narrative it is difficult for us to understand, at first thought, how a man who has once escaped from these perils should ever be willing to encounter them again. And knowing what Dr. Hayes has already passed through, it gives us a lively impression of his indomitable zeal and courage, to hear that he stands ready to throw himself once more into the jaws of danger, in hopes of penetrating to the pole itself, and settling forever the question of an open polar sea.

Most of the Arctic expeditions heretofore undertaken have been prosecuted in the interest of commerce, or of humanity-to find a northwest passage, or to relieve, or learn the fate of preceding explorers. The one which Dr. Hayes now so nobly proposes to conduct is purely in the interest of science. The first thought of many, who have shed tears over Arctic narratives, will be, that humanity forbids such a project that while life might be exposed in the hope of rescuing Sir John Franklin and his companions, science is not entitled to such perilous service. But there is scarcely a stronger moving force in man than scientific curiosity; and while this is leading him to brave heat and pestilence in exploring Central Africa, why may it not as well lay open to us the secrets of the icy North? Besides, Dr. Hayes explains very clearly that our common ideas of the necessary perils attending Arctic exploration are to a great extent exaggerated; that the suffering is more apparent than real; and his statement is confirmed by the fact that very few deaths usually occur in Arctic voyages, except in such rare cases as that of Sir John Franklin, where unexpected disaster be

falls the whole company. At all events, Dr. Hayes knows from abun dant experience just what the perils are, and his readiness to engage in a new expedition is the best proof possible that in his judgment the obstacles to be encountered are only such as skill and perseverance may readily overcome.

Dr. Hayes is firmly persuaded that there exists an open polar sea beyond the point where Morton, of Dr. Kane's expedition, is confident he saw it stretching off to the northward, in 1854; and by passing up the western side of Smith's Strait, and Kennedy Channel, instead of the eastern, where Dr. Kane got hemmed in by the drift ice borne down by currents setting from the north, he hopes to escape the disasters of the Grinnell Expedition, and reach a safe winter harbor already known to him, on the opposite coast of Grinnell Land; from which point a boat and sledge party can proceed under the most favorable circumstances to the supposed open ocean a hundred and fifty miles, or so, further north, and thence by boat straight to the North Pole, if no new continent or icebarrier intervene. That such an open sea exists, notwithstanding there is much weight of opinion the other way, seems probable, not only from the testimony of several explorers who say that they have seen it, but from many concurrent circumstances- -as the migration of marine birds to the northward in spring-the indicated directions of known isothermal lines in high latitudes-the temperature of Arctic waters, observed by Morton in 1854 as only 36° Fahr. in June-the rise of temperature in winter, when the north wind sets in, with an increase of dampness-the traditions of the Esquimaux respecting the migration of their race from the north-and many other considerations of greater or less importance. Besides the settlement of this question, many indirect results of great importance to science will readily be obtained by such an expedition, in regard to the magnetism, tides, currents, meteorology, geology, and natural history of the Arctic regions, and also the peculiar phenomena of glaciers and icebergs. The leading scientific bodies of the country have interested themselves in the proposed expedition, and will coöperate with Dr. Hayes in endeavoring to render it in the highest degree beneficial to science. Funds for the outfit, it is understood, have already been pledged, and the bold adventurer, with his party, fully equipped for the enterprise, will set sail the present season. They will be followed in their perilous career with the sympathies and best wishes of their countrymen.

DISCOVERY OF THE FATE OF SIR JOHN FRANKLIN.*-The public have been for some time aware that the honor of having solved the mystery which so long hung over the fate of Sir John Franklin, belongs to Captain McClintock. The narrative of his successful voyage in the "Fox" is now before the world, and we have at last all the details respecting the fate of the "Erebus" and "Terror," and his gallant companions, that will ever be known.

Before giving any details of Capt. McClintock's expedition, we will go back thirty years. In 1830, Sir James Ross having reached the farthest point in his explorations, named two headlands, then in sight, Cape Franklin, and Cape Jane Franklin. Eighteen years from that date, Sir John Franklin, after a voyage which for novelty, courage, rapidity and boldness, has never been surpassed, arrived in sight of these very capes. There, in the winter of 1846-7, he was beset in the ice. There he died, June 11th, 1847; and there, in April, 1848, his ships were deserted by their crews, and not very far away, one after another of those poor fellows "fell down and died as they walked on the ice," till not one was left to tell the story of their fate. The history of the search that was made for them is in the memories of all. Expedition after expedition was sent from England, the interest of the brave and generous of our own land was awakened, and Americans contended with Englishmen who should first carry them succor. But all was in vain; and at last hope died in the hearts of all save in the devoted wife of Franklin. Unable to interest the English government in another voyage of search, she expended all her available means, already exhausted in four other independent expeditions, and with the assistance of a few friends chartered the little yacht, Fox," 170 tons burthen, of which Capt. McClintock of the Royal Navy offered to take the command. The Fox set sail, and many were the misgivings with which the friends of the expedition followed the little vessel as she took her way alone and unassisted, to encounter all the dangers and difficulties of an Arctic voyage. The first season she accomplished absolutely nothing, being frozen in near Melville Bay, on the coast of Greenland, before she had even crossed Baffin's Bay, and then at the

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*The Voyage of the Fox in the Arctic Seas. A Narrative of the Discovery of the Fate of Sir John Franklin and his Companions. By Capt. M'CLINTOCK, R. N., LL. D. With maps and illustrations. Boston: Ticknor & Fields. 1859. 12mo. pp. 375. For sale by Judd, New Haven.

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