1823.] 



Literary and Philosophical Intelligence. 



259 



Whitting ham's Pocket Novelists, 

 Vol. XII. containing the Romance of 

 the Forest, by Mrs. RadcliflF, will bo 

 published in April. 



The Cambridge Tart, intended as a 

 companion to the " Oxford Sausage," 

 is ill the press, consisting of epigram- 

 matic and satiric poetical effusions, 

 &c. dainty morsels served up by 

 Cautabs on various occasions : dedi- 

 cated to the members of tlie University 

 of Cambridge, by Socius. 



Shortly will be publislied, by sub- 

 scription, an Original and Comprehen- 

 sive System of Celestial Philosophy, or 

 Geuethliacal Astronomy, in twenty 

 numbers, octavo. The primitive ele- 

 ments of calculating nativities, and the 

 true method of delivering judgment, 

 will be proved, in the calculations of 

 thirty remarkable modern nativities, 

 never before published: by John 

 WoRSDALE, sen. astronomer. 



The following observations, with 

 inferences deduced from them, occur 

 in the French Maritime Journal, on 

 the novel facts advanced, and effects 

 produced, by the British voyages of 

 discovery in the Arctic Seas: — 



Whatever success may attend Captain 

 Parry's futuie attempts, the geographical 

 knowled;£e that we have already acquired, 

 proves, iiicontestibly, that his name is 

 justly entitled to a considerable share of 

 nautical repcitafion. The discovery of 

 lancaster Passage, by which he pene- 

 trated into a part of the ocean which no 

 vessel had ever before explored, leads to 

 some general conclusions that may be 

 deemed consequences of it. 1. That the 

 continent of Ameiica is not so extensive 

 as has been commonly supposed; towards 

 the North Pole. 2. That its noriliein 

 coasts, though at present inaccessible, He 

 under parallels less elevated than those of 

 the Asiatic coasts in general, and exceed 

 only by a few degrees the latitudes in 

 the north of Europe. 3. That Baffin's 

 Bay, as it is called, is not properly a bay, 

 but forms a part of the Arctic Ocean, 

 communicating with it, by Lancaster 

 Streiglit, in tlie same manner as Behring's 

 Streiglitg communicate with the sea of the 

 Same name. 4. That Greenland is not 

 conjoined with the Arctic countries of 

 North America, as the general opinion on 

 the subject lias been, but forms aii im- 

 mense island, or rather a continent, which 

 may be deemed a sixth part of the jjlohn, 

 ag from the extremity of the great head- 

 land which it projects, between Europe 

 and America, to New Siberia, which aj)- 

 pears to be its furthest limit, under the 

 opposite nicridiau, is not less than from 

 eleven to twelve hundred leagues. 5. That 



admitting this, as it is highly probable 

 from various testimonies, direct and in- 

 direct, it must be frozen land, and not, as 

 has been thought, the Hyperborean Ocean 

 thai fills the space included between the 

 80th degree of latitude and tlie North 

 Pole. 6. That, if we combine the results 

 of the Polar expcilitious with information 

 to be collected fioin the Russian disco- 

 veries, we shall have reason to conclude 

 that this Arctic continent has been ori- 

 ginally subjected to the same geological 

 laws as the other great divisions of the 

 globe; its configuration is similar; its 

 greatest breadth is in the northern part, 

 as in the five other continents; like them, 

 it terminates, in its southern part, by a 

 vast promontory, the extremity whereof is 

 Cape Farewell; and the seas which sur- 

 round it are, like theirs, partly confined 

 by streights, that are, in like manner, in- 

 terspersed with islands and volcanic archi- 

 pelagos, projected in the midst of the 

 Polar ices, just a^ under the equator. It 

 is evident that Baffin's Bay should change 

 its name to Baffin's Sea; Lancaster 

 iStreights should replace Lancaster Passage 

 or Entrance; and the names of Greenland 

 and New Siberia should designate only 

 parts of the Arctic continent, the total of 

 which should have a new and collective 

 denomination, analagous to that of Au- 

 stralasia, which comprehends New Hol- 

 land, with the countries and islands cir- 

 cumjacent. Such a name would obviate 

 ambiguities that may arise from the want 

 of a general appellation, especially in 

 treating of the currents in the Hyperbo- 

 rean Ocean. No matter what the appel- 

 lation be, if short, significant, sonorous, 

 and one that will incorporate with the 

 languages of Einope. If it were not in- 

 fringing on the right of the British navi- 

 gator, justly due to liis courage and per- 

 severance, we should incline to give the 

 name of Boreasia to the whole of the 

 Arctic continent. One advantage to na- 

 vigation has already resulted from certain 

 passages discovered by Captain Parry ; 

 the whale-fishers that have ventured as 

 far as Lancaster Streights, have returned 

 with rich car<;oes. Two reasons aie as- 

 signed for this : one is that the whalers, 

 every year, advance more northerly, 

 where the whales are in greatest abun- 

 dance; the second is that the ships, in- 

 stead of returning in June or July, as 

 formerly, lay in a stock of provisions for 

 :<evL'ral months, so as not to intermit their 

 labours, though at the hazard of being 

 shut in by the ice. For three or four 

 years, latterly, their return has been in 

 September or October. The voyages of 

 discovery to the north-west cannot (ail of 

 having the best eftects on the fishery, and 

 on the whole body of those whom a spirit 

 of enterprise engages in it. 



To 



