LITERARY NOTICES. 



2 45 



determine the difference of longitude be- 

 tween their respective stations and the me- 

 ridian of Paris. At that time, the present 

 wide extension of submarine cables could 

 not be foreseen. This commission fixed 

 several points in the West Indies, and from 

 these longitudes were counted by French 

 and other navigators. Other points in this 

 region were established by other nations ; 

 and frequent discrepancies arose, for which 

 there was no remedy, except an entirely 

 new and independent determination by the 

 accurate method of telegraphic longitudes. 



In view of the importance of the com- 

 merce of the United States with the West 

 Indies, the Hydrographer of the IT. S. Navy 

 determined to undertake this task, and ac- 

 cordingly a plan for its completion was pre- 

 pared and the execution of this plan was 

 confided to Lieutenant-Commander Green. 

 This plan was very comprehensive, and in- 

 cluded the determination of the latitude of 

 each of the following stations, together with 

 its longitude from the U. S. Naval observa- 

 tory of Washington, which was already tele- 

 graphically connected with Greenwich. 



The stations selected were : 1. Key West; 

 2. Havana ; 3. Santiago de Cuba ; 4. Kings- 

 ton (Jamaica) ; 5. Aspinwall ; 6. Panama ; 

 7. San Juan (Porto Rico) ; 8. St. Thomas ; 

 9. St. Croix; 10. St. Johns (Antigua); 11. 

 St. Pierre (Martinique) ; 12. Bridgetown (Bar- 

 bados) ; 13. Port Spain (Trinidad). 



Station 1 was already connected with 

 Washington through the labors of the Coast 

 Survey. It is to be noted that stations 2 

 and 3 furnish a basis for an accurate sur- 

 vey of Cuba, that 5 and 6 furnish starting- 

 points for the whole sea-coast of Mexico and 

 Central America, and that 6, in connection 

 with the longitude of Santiago de Chile (al- 

 ready determined in position by two Amer- 

 ican astronomers, Gilliss and Gould), will 

 furnish a basis for the survey of the west 

 coast of South America. The north coast 

 of South America is fixed by the stations 

 5 and 13 (already the Hydrographic Office 

 has published the results of chronometer 

 expeditions, between these points, made un- 

 der its direction by Commander Ryan, U. 

 S. N., in 1877). On station 8 many longi- 

 tudes, previously determined, depend ; and 

 the other stations amply suffice to fix the 

 Windward and Virgin Islands. Thus the 

 comprehensive plan of the expedition, to- 



gether with that of the expedition sent out 

 by the Hydrographic Office in 1877, under 

 the same distinguished officer, will practi- 

 cally suffice to fix nearly the whole eastern 

 and northern sea-coast of South America, 

 and will furnish bases for the establishment 

 of the coast-line of Mexico and much of the 

 West coast of the Southern Continent. The 

 expedition of 1877 contemplates the junc- 

 tion of station 13 with Lisbon, Madeira, 

 Cape Verd, Para, Rio, Montevideo, and 

 Buenos Ayres. 



The work necessary to the final fixing of 

 the positions of these thirteen stations was 

 done in 1874-70, and is described in detail 

 in the report before us. 



Full descriptions of the instruments (with 

 plates), the methods of observation and re- 

 duction, etc., are given in this volume, to 

 which we refer for particulars which would 

 be out of place here. Suffice it to say that 

 the results are of the same grade of excel- 

 lence as those attained in similar work of 

 the highest class all over the world. A 

 special point of excellence is the absolute 

 uniformity of programme at each of the sta- 

 tions in each of the expeditions, and this con- 

 tributed in no small degree to the excellence 

 of the results. This expedition reflects great 

 credit upon the navy and upon all concerned 

 in its planning and execution, and is espe^ 

 cially noteworthy as being the first expedi- 

 tion of the kind undertaken by naval offi- 

 cers of any country in foreign ports. It is 

 to be hoped that this important service to 

 navigation and geography will be followed 

 by other similar work hardly less needed. 



Influence or Civilization on Duration oh 

 Life. By Charlton I. Lewis. A Dis- 

 course at the Annual Meeting of the 

 American Public Health Association, 

 October, 1876. Cambridge: Riverside 

 Press. 



The doctrine of the survival of the fit- 

 test is now widely recognized as the key to 

 all progress toward the perpetuation and 

 perfection of the species, at least so far as 

 the lower orders are concerned, and up to 

 a certain point in the development of hu- 

 manity. 



But with the foundation of societies an 

 opposite doctrine has been introduced. In- 

 stead of the pitiless destruction of the weak 

 and the infirm, which marks the operations 



