North--x'est Expedition. 73 



of Vesuvius, and M. Pepe has discovered in it the following 

 ingredients : sulphate of potash, sulphate of soda, sub-sulphate 

 of aluinine, of chalk, and of magnesia ; hydro-chlorate of pot- 

 ash, that of soda, a good deal of oxid of aluminium, calcium, 

 silicium, and magnesium ; much trioxid of iron, antimonj^, 

 and a little gold and silver. The chemist who has contented 

 himself with announcing the existence of these different sub- 

 stances in the ashes of the eruption, promises to investigate and 

 publish their respective proportions. Other substances, which 

 the mountain continues to throw out, are very different from 

 the preceding. This eruption appears to favour the hypo- 

 thesis that the volcanic fire may be produced by the infiltra- 

 tion of the sea-water, in the masses of potassium, sodium, &c., 

 which are not yet oxidated ; and the production of electrical 

 fluid in such great abundance may arise from the same source, 

 since the effects of the voltaic pile {auge) are obtained by the 

 oxidation of metals. 



THE NORTH-WEST EXPEDITION. 



At the Monthly Meeting, on Tuesday last, the 7th instant, 

 an interesting Paper was read to the Literary and Philosophi- 

 cal Society, on the probable situation, condition, and prospects 

 of Captain Parry and his brave fellow-adventurers, an inquiry 

 surely not ill-timed at a season to us of joy and festivity, to 

 them of dreariness and darkness. It showed the probability of 

 their having succeeded in getting a passage through some inlet 

 in the north-west of Hudson's Bay; since, if this had not been 

 the case, they would have returned, or at leayt been heard of. 

 If they should have got beyond the Copper Mine River the first 

 summer, it is a subject of hope, rather than expectation, that 

 they may have passed Mackenzie's, and pushed through Beh- 

 ring's Straits, in which case we may expect intelligence very 

 soon. But in this case probably Franklin would have heard 

 of them. Or they may have been taken short by the climate 

 before reaching the Pacific, and are now passing a second 

 winter on this side of Behring's Straits : still a fair hope may 

 be entertained of their ultimate safety ; but it may be the end 

 of this year, or the spring of the next, before we hear of them. 

 Or, thii-dly, they may not have been able to find a passage to 

 the Pacific; and then the question is. Can they get back to the 

 Atlantic before the open weather closes, or have they the means 

 of passing a third Polar winter ? Various presumptions are 

 in favour of this. But on a fourth, not improbable, supposi- 

 tion, of damage to the ships, or deficiency of, or injury to, 

 their resources, or sickness, disabUng from exertion, their si- 



Vol. Gl. No. 297. J(in. 1823. K tuation 



