152 Scientific Notices — Miscellaneous, [Aug. 



or after, certain northern powers will make some stir in the 

 waters/ 



" I have had no fly fishing for want of proper tackle. The 

 gigantic trout of this lake would disdain such a mosquito as we 

 were wont to tish with, and I see no pleasure in bobbing for 

 them with a cod-hook and cable. One of the monsters might 

 take a fancy to drag the fisherman to his sublacustrine abodes. 



" Captain Franklin and Mr. Kendal have been to the sea, 

 which they found in lat. 69° 29', quite clear of ice, on the ICith 

 of August. Mackenzie was very near it in his voyage down 

 the river which bears his name, but did not reach the salt water 

 by about thirty miles. They left letters for Captain Parry and 

 his officers from their friends in England, buried at the foot of a 

 pole, on which they suspended a flag. They returned only yes- 

 terday, and the despatch by which 1 send this, sets out to- 

 morrow, with intelligence of their proceedings to government. 



*' Mr., or at all events, Mrs. H., will rejoice to hear that we 

 have a Highland piper, and a crew, hardy and hearty, sons of 

 the mist, who foot it every night, after the labours of the day, to 

 the sound of their native music. We lack only a little of the 

 mountain dew to invigorate the dance. For my part I think 

 water a more wholesome beverage ; but there is a great deal in 

 the name, and prejudices are difficult to be overcome." ^ 



To the preceding very gratifying intelligence the Scotch 

 editor adds the following remarks : " Franklin has thus, in our 

 opinion, succeeded in realizing, to a certain extent, the views 

 of the learned and distinguished secretary Barrow. We ar- 

 dently hope and trust, that the honour of eftecting the north- 

 west passage will not be allowed to pass from us, and that Cap- 

 tain Parry will be again dispatched to finish this grand nautical 

 enterprise. The Congress of the United States, we are informed, 

 at this moment are considering a proposal laid before them for 

 the discovery of the north-west passage, which, from the known 

 activity of that body, may be agreed to, and thus, in all proba- 

 bility, we shall hear of the American flag traversing the Polar 

 Sea, and doubling Icy Cape. The Americans, by this atchieve- 

 ment,would secure to themselves,and deservedly, a splendid name 

 in the annals of geograpliical discovery — a name that ought to 

 be ours, and which would add another and enduring laurel to 

 the wreath of glory which surrounds the maritime honour of 

 this nation." — (Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal.) 



6. Stereotype Printing. 



A new and, as it is said, improved method of stereotyping, 

 has been announced in the Gazette de Munich. It is the in- 

 vention of M. Senefelder, to whom the world is indebted for 

 the art of lithography, and is as follows : a sheet of common 

 printing paper is covered with a layer of earthy matter (query, 



