618 CANAL TO LIBYAN DESERT. 
trical condition of its atmosphere modified. The present 
organic life of the valley would be extinguished, and many 
tribes of plants and animals would emigrate from the Medi- 
terranean to the new home which human art had prepared 
for them. It is possible, too, that the addition of 1,300 feet, 
or forty atmospheres, of hydrostatic pressure upon the bottom 
of the basin might disturb the equilibrium between the inter- 
nal and the external forces of the crust of the earth at this 
point of abnormal configuration, and thus produce geological 
convulsions the intensity of which cannot be even conjectured. 
It is now established by the observations of Rohlf and others 
that Strabo was right in asserting that a considerable part of 
the Libyan desert, or Sahara, lay below the level of the Medi- 
terranean. At some points the depression exceeds 325 feet, 
and at Siwah, in the oasis of Jupiter Ammon, it is not less 
than 130 feet. It has been proposed to cut a canal through 
the coast dunes, on the shore south of the Syrtis Major, or 
Dschun el Kebrit of the Arabs, and another project is to re- 
open the communication which appears to have once existed 
between the Palus Tritonis, or Sebcha el Nandid, and the 
Syrtis Parva. As we do not know the southern or eastern 
limits of this depression, we cannot determine the area which 
would thus be covered with water, but it would certainly be 
many thousands of square miles in extent, and the climatic 
effects would doubtless be sensible through a considerable part 
of Northern Africa, and possibly even in Europe. The rapid 
evaporation would require a constant influx of water from 
the Mediterranean, which might perhaps perceptibly influence 
the current through the Straits of Gibraltar. 
Maritime Canals in Europe. 
A great navigable cut across the peninsula of Jutland, form- 
ing a new and short route between the North Sea and the 
Baltic, if not actually commenced, is determined upon. The 
motives for opening such a communication are perhaps rather to 
