320 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 



In Newfoundland, the survey of the coast, with its innu- 

 merable bays and its irregular banks and shoals, has been 

 energetically prosecuted. The discoveries of rich copper de- 

 posits on the shores of Notre Dame Bay vastly increase the 

 importance of this region. 



At the island of Jamaica, Lieutenant Pullen, R.N., has con- 

 tinued the survey of the south coast beyond St. John's Point, 

 and has made excellent harbor-charts of Blewfields and Sa- 

 vanna-la-Mar. 



The Admiralty surveys on the coast of Australia are being 

 vigorously pressed on. The charts of South Australia and 

 Victoria are nearly completed. No less than six complete 

 surveying parties, under experienced officers, are engaged in 

 this work. In addition to the superintendence of these nu- 

 merous surveys, the English Hydrographic Office has, during 

 the year, published 54 new charts, corrected 1940 old ones, 

 and has printed 182,000 charts for the use of public vessels, 

 and for sale. 



The general results of the famous cruise of the Challenger, 

 so far as relates to the Atlantic Ocean, have been given to 

 the public by Sir Wyville Thomson. As regards the phys- 

 ical geography of the sea, the results may be briefly summa- 

 rized as follows: The mean depth of the Atlantic Ocean is a 

 little over 2000 fathoms. An elevated ridge rising to an 

 average height of about 1900 fathoms below the surface 

 traverses the basins of the North and South Atlantic in a 

 meridional direction from Cape Farewell, probably as far 

 south as Gongh Island, lying to the southward of the Tris- 

 tan d'Acunha group. With its two branches, which join the 

 continents of South America and Africa, this ridge divides 

 the Atlantic into two basins: an eastern, extending from 

 Ireland to the Cape of Good Hope, with an average depth of 

 2500 fathoms ; a northwestern basin, occupying the great 

 bight of the American continent, with an average depth of 

 .3000 fathoms, and a gulf running up the coast of South Amer- 

 ica as far as Cape Orange, with a mean depth of 3000 fath- 

 oms. The greatest depth found in the Atlantic was 3875 

 fathoms, a little north of the Virgin Islands, confirmed bv a 

 sounding made by the U.S.S. Gettysburg in 1870 in the same 

 place. 



The bottom everywhere at depths between 400 and 2000 



