On the Use of minimal Empyretimatic Oil. 44S 



southward, that would enahle them to reach the continent (of 

 North America) ; but finding none, and the ice having led them 

 back into Lancaster's Sound, it was determined to return to 

 England. During tiie eleven days the ships were off Melville Is- 

 land, they vvere in the most critical situation, being ol)liged to 

 dodge the ice round a point of land the whole time, to avoid being 

 nipped : the beach was formed of ice, which projected under wa- 

 ter more than thirty yards, having about two fathoms water on 

 the outer edge of it, against which the ships lay in nine fathoms ; 

 so that had they been stove, they would have sunk deeper than 

 their masts down, and nothing could have been saved. 



[We make the following extract from a scarce work, entitled " Obser- 

 vations on a Xoith-Western Passa<i;e, by William Goldson, Esq. of Ports- 

 mouth, published in the year 1793."] 



If the authority stated be not questionable, the passage from 

 Lancaster'.s Sound to the Pacific Ocean has been made : — " A 

 voyage is said to have been made in the )ear 1598. The only 

 account we have of it is from a memoir read at a meeting of the 

 Academy of Sciences at Paris, Nov. 13, 1/20, by Mr. Buachi, 

 geographer to the French king. The substance of this memoir 

 is, that M. De Mendoza, a captain in the Spanish navy, em- 

 ployed to form a collection for the use of that service, having 

 searched various archives, found an account of this voyage, 

 which was made under the command of Lorenzo Ferrer de Mal- 

 donado. From an inspection of this jomnal it appears that 

 when he arrived in latitude 60 degrees North, and longitude 325 

 degrees East from Ferro, he steered to the Weslward, leaving 

 Hudson's-bay to the South, and Baffin's-I)ay to the North ; and 

 in the latitude 65 deg. North, and longitude 297 degrees East 

 from Ferro (from which meridian the longitude is reckoned 

 through the whole journal), he altered his course to the North- 

 ward, sailing through what he calls the Straits of Labrador, until 

 he found himself in latitude 76 deg. North, and longitude 278 

 deg. East, in the Frozen Ocean ; he then held his course South- 

 VVest, and passed through the Strait which separates Asia from 

 America. In latitude 60 deg. North, and longitude 235 East, 

 he entered the South Sea, namiiig the Strait through which he 

 had passed Anian, but which M. Ruachi would have called 

 Ferrer's Straits, in memory of its discoverer." 



LXXIV. Onlhe AdvanlfiQ^es of using ylidmal Empyrenmatic Oil 

 in the Maiiufucture of Pru.'Si(i7t Blue. By Dr. Makm.e. 



Among the accessory products of the fal)rication of tnuriate of 



ammonia, cmjjyicuiriutic oil is that of which hitherto the least 



3 K 2 use 



