462 THE CANADAIAN NATURALIST. [Dec. 



for explaining the nature of force and lieat, and the intense tem- 

 perature which would be developed by collision among the celes- 

 tial bodies, sufficient as has been calculated to reduce them once 

 more to the vaporous state, ready, as may be supposed, to pass 

 again through the various phases of condensation, thus perpetu- 

 ally renewing the miracle of the universe. The thought of a cool- 

 ing globe, a frozen moon and a gradually dying-out sun, is lost in 

 the contemplation of the fact that these are but phases in the life 

 of the Cosmos, and of its evolution in obedience to the laws im- 

 pressed upon it by the Great First Cause, creating from the luin 

 of the present order of things a new heavens and a new 

 earth. 



Dredging of the Gulf Stream. — We are much gratified to 

 learn from Harper's Weekly that preparations are now being made, 

 under the direction of the Superintendent of the Coast Survey, 

 for a very complete and thorough investigation of the deep-sea 

 bottom, and especially of the channel of the Gulf Stream off the 

 eastern coast of America, with an examination also of the Straits 

 of Magellan and of a part of the Pacific Ocean. A steamer is 

 now being built, which will shortly be launched, with the special 

 object of continuing the deep-sea dredgings which, under the 

 direction of Count Pourtales, have given the Survey so much 

 reputation. 



It is expected that the arrangements will be completed by the 

 end of August, and that the whole matter will be specially in 

 charge of Prof. Agassiz, assisted by Count Pourtales, whose 

 experience eminently qualifies him for the post. 



The plan of operations is, first, to run a line of dredging across 

 the Gulf Stream between New York and Bermuda, and, if 

 necessary, far enough eastward to completely cross the Gulf 

 Stream current. The course will be thence to Trinidad, where a 

 careful examination will be entered into to ascertain whether there 

 is any difference in the deep-sea fauna of the adjacent waters and 

 that of the coast of Florida. The expedition will then probably 

 proceed to San Paulo for the purpose of examining the deepest 

 known portion of the Atlantic, reaching to, at least, five thousand 

 fathoms. From San Paulo it will again cut across the Brazilian 

 current, and after possibly spending some time on the coast 

 between Buenos Ayres and the Straits of Magellan will proceed 

 by a zigzag course to the Falkland Islands, in the neighbourhood 



