OF ARTS AND SCIENCES. 229 



direction. They are easily understood by a reference to tlie chart. It 

 must be observed that the meridian of greatest danger is that of 50° 

 west of Greenwich. Tliis is the meridian of the Banks of Newfound- 

 land, with its dense fogs, its squadrons of fishing-smacks, and its stranded 

 icebergs. It is of the first importance to decide at what point this 

 meridian shall be crossed ; and, this point decided, it may not be neces- 

 sary to impose any other restrictions as to the route to be pursued. 

 All the western passages of the German routes cross the meridian of 

 50°, between the latitudes of 46° north and 43° 42' north. The aver- 

 age length of these routes is only about six miles longer than the 

 shortest route which could be pursued, but they cross the Great Banks 

 near their widest and most dangerous jjart. The eastern German 

 passages are of two classes for the three winter months of October, 

 November, and December, which hardly differ from the shortest 

 possible route, which is exactly the route for October, In the nine 

 remaining months the passages are north of the western routes, cross- 

 ing the meridian 50° between the latitudes of 44° 36' north and 42° 30' 

 north. The two routes of May and June are included within the limits 

 actually adopted for tlie western routes of the Cunard Line, and are 

 thereby exposed to peculiar risk in the two months where there is the 

 greatest danger from fog and ice. These lanes of the German astron- 

 omer are at present propositions, and have not been adopted by either 

 of the lines. The objections to them are that they occupy too great a 

 breadth of the ocean, and especially the whole extent of the Great 

 Banks ; that they are different in different months, thus losing the 

 advantage of a single well-defined tract, and introducing perplexity and 

 confusion as to which month each steamer properly belongs ; that the 

 opposing routes of different months overlap each other ; and especially 

 that the more southern of the eastern routes lie exactly in the track of 

 the Cunard Line on their western passages. 



The tracks which have actually been adopted by the Cunard Line 

 are defined with extreme simplicity, and are in a very few words pub- 

 lished in all the advertisements. " With the view of diminishins: the 

 chances of collision, the steamers of this line will henceforth take a 

 specified course for all seasons of the year. On the outward passage, 

 from Queenstown to New York or Boston, crossing the meridian of 53° 

 at 43° latitude, or nothing to the north of 43° ; on the homeward pas- 

 sage, crossing the meridian of 50° at 42° latitude, or nothing to the 

 north of 42°." The singular brevity, conciseness, and completeness of 

 these directions mark their author as a man of genius. They are dic- 

 tated by a regard to that security of life which is the first duty of the 



