288 THE NORTHERN SEAS. 



The short voyage of Prince Napoleon stands first perhaps in importance 

 for facts collected on our polar seas. Claude has said that not to be born 

 a kinji' is to be a fool. It is at least a great mistake for an explorer not 

 to be a prince. The working force, intellectual and personal, of the great 

 astronomical observatories isspoken of as thatof a fall of wateror a steam- 

 engine ; may we not in a like manner calculate how many facts, observa- 

 tions, drawings, and specimens of all kinds could be collected in a short 

 time by an intelligent leader, with a select corps of seamen and scientists, 

 aided by every desirable means and commanding circumstances, rather 

 than being controlled by them ? An immense volume of eight hundred 

 l)ages in which there is nothing superfluous, scarcely suffices to contain 

 tlie results of the rapid excursion of 1850. The archeological, descrip- 

 tive, political and economical parts of the observations find no place in 

 this volume, although they should have been included in its records. If 

 to this already very voluminous record could be added an accurate de- 

 scription of the rich collections brought back by the expedition, a num- 

 ber of curious facts might still be drained from it, and valuable samples 

 given of the harvests ready to be reaped by local collectors or future 

 travelers. 



The i)ublication describing the expedition of La Reine Hortense to 

 •the noithern seas is divided into two distinct parts. The first consists 

 of a rapid and sprightly narration of the events of the voyage from the 

 oil mines of England to the country of Scottish clans; then to Iceland, 

 Jan Mayen and Si)ifzbergen, to Greenland, the Faroe and Shetland Is- 

 lands, and lastly to the Scandinavian shores. A distance of twelve thou- 

 sand miles, accomplished in three or four months, is reviewed by the 

 reader in six hundred pages. Then follow some scientific notices, in small 

 text, Avhich I think may be considered very valuable acquisitions to the 

 knowledge of the globe. The nautical record of M. Du Buissou, and the 

 geological reports of MM. Chaucourtois and Ferri-Pisqani, are especially 

 remarkable for the number and interest of the scientific observations 

 they contain. I observe with pleasure that the last mentioned of the 

 three authors named has not fallen short of the estimate I formed of his 

 capacity, as we discussed together the future labors of the expedition, 

 and when he was not yet before the public. With the mention of MM. 

 De La Ronciere, Laroche-Poncie, and others who have not contributed to 

 this volume, but whose observations are not less valuable than those of 

 the authors of the scientific notices, it is evident that with a minimum 

 of time the members of this expedition have accomplished a maximum 

 of useful labor. It is a matter of regret that an especial article, among 

 these excellent notices, had not been devoted to the magnetical observa- 

 tions, but they undoubtedly will be publighed hereafter. It is hardly neces- 

 sary to say, that I will adhere to these scientific notices in what I am 

 about to say concerning the voyage of La Reine Hortense in the north- 

 ern seas, and two English publications relative to those regions. 



In regard to the currents of the ocean, several facts i)reviously indi- 

 cated have been confirmed by this expedition, but in a question so com- 

 plicated and so debated very definite information is required. We see 

 the warm current leave America, pass below Newfoundland, and arrive 

 at Norway, after coasting along the south of Ireland, and passing through 

 the groups of the Faroe and Shetland Islands. This benevolent dispen- 

 sation of the tropical seas then proceeds northward, and at the latitude 

 of Upper Scandinavia divides into two parts. One half we shall not fol- 

 low far ; it passes into the glacial seas of Europe and Siberia, of which 

 it somewhat modifies the climate. The other ascends, or did ascend two 

 centuries ago, to Spitzbergen, and renders that region habitable by bears, 



