18 NOTES BY THE EDITOR 



and the barometric profile of the country. Being desirous to complete his 

 work, he volunteered to retrace his ground, and left the United States for 

 this purpose some months since, taking with him a declinometer and dip- 

 circle, two Bunten's barometers, and apparatus for determining altitudes 

 from the boiling point, and some smaller instruments. Should the Argen- 

 tine Provinces have become sufficiently quiet, Lieut. Mackai will first cross 

 the Andes at the Planclan Pass (lat. 35 20'), next at the Portillo Pass, 

 which is the most elevated (lat. 33 40 r ), and finally at the Cumbre and 

 Uspalata Pass (in lat. 32 50') ; from whence he will return to the United 

 States. 



A full chart of Lake Erie has been compiled from surveys made under 

 the direction of the U. S. Government, by officers of the corps of Topo- 

 graphical Engineers. This chart shows Lake Erie divided into three sec- 

 tions; the first extending downward from the head of the Lake to Point 

 Pellee Island; the second from that island to the base of Long Point; and 

 the third below that point to the Niagara River. The first section is the 

 shallowest, and presents a general plat or level, with an average depth of 

 thirty feet water. The second division presents another and much more 

 extensive plat or level, with no obstructions to navigation, with a depth of 

 water from sixty to seventy feet. The third section is the deepest, as well 

 as the most uneven portion of the Lake, ranging from 60 ft. to 204 in depth. 



At a recent meeting of the Royal Geographical Society of Berlin, M. 

 Msedler, of Dorpat, announced that the Russian Government is about to 

 have measured the degrees of the meridian from the North Cape, in 72^ 

 North latitude, to the mouth of the Danube, in 45 of the same lat- 

 itude : that is, on a line which traverses Europe in its whole length, and 

 forms about a fourteenth part of the entire circumferenee of the earth. 

 This measurement will exceed by three degrees the largest ever before exe- 

 cuted, that which the English carried from the Himalaya to the southern 

 point of British India. 



A new company, under the title of the Mediterranean Electric Tele- 

 graph Company, destined to unite England with Africa, the East Indies, 

 and Australia, by way of France, Corsica, Sardinia, and Algeria, has been 

 formed in France and England. The capital stock is 300,000, divided 

 into 30,000 shares. The work is to be immediately commenced. 



The construction of a sub-marine telegraph between England and Bel- 

 gium, and also between England and Ireland, has been successfully accom- 

 plished during the past season, and both lines are now in constant opera- 

 tion. The length of the sub-marine wire across the Irish Channel, is 

 sixty miles. 



The subject of connecting England and America by a trans-atlantic com- 

 munication, has been agitated to some extent during the past season in 



