294 Captain Sir W. Parry on the 



of. When we have nearly decided by the rational means the 

 general relations we wish to determine, we may arrive at 

 the genus, by comparing, in a tentative manner, the bones 

 we are endeavouring to dispose of, with the skeletons of 

 animals most nearly allied to it. The teeth, in particular, 

 are very important in this point of view; and there are 

 very few genera, which the inspection of a well-preserved 

 jaw does not enable us to determine ; many bones of the 

 skeleton will likewise furnish very certain data. The em- 

 ployment of the empirical means likewise requires great 

 practice, and particularly the possession of osteological col- 

 lections, and well-executed plates. It is necessary, in order 

 to make rigorous deductions, that very numerous compari- 

 sons should be instituted. 



The application of the empirical means is especially im- 

 portant in regard to species referable to genera now exist- 

 ing, and for those which deviate but little from them. If, 

 on the contrary, we have to reconstruct species belonging to 

 lost genera, and of forms really different from those of the 

 actual world, the rational means are of the greatest import- 

 ance. We may witness, as I have already said, a model of 

 their application in that part of Cuvier's work which treats 

 of the fossils of Paris. — F. J. Pictet, Faleontologie. 



1. On the practicability of reaching by Sea the North Pole. 

 By Captain Sir W. E. Parry, and Sir John Barrow, 

 Bart., late Secretary of the Admiralty. — 2. What a 

 Visitor to the Pole of the North might obtain in the way of 

 Science. By Sir John Barrow, Bart. 



1 . On the practibility of reaching by Sea the North Pole. 



Admiralty, 25th November I8i5. 

 " It is evident," says Captain Sir W. Parry, in a letter to 

 Sir John Barrow, Bart., " that the causes of failure in our 

 former attempt in the year 1827, were principally two : first, 

 and chiefly, the broken, rugged, and soft state of the surface 

 of the ice over which we travelled ; and, secondly, the drifting 



