446 Analyses of Books. [Dec. 



— Mr. Seppings begins his paper by assuring the society that the 

 principle of applying a diagonal frame-work to ships of war had, 

 as far as he knows, never been so applied either theoretically or 

 practically either in this or any other maritime country till he 

 introduced it in the year 1805. The object of the paper is to 

 state an experiment upon the Justitia, an old Danish 74, which 

 was ordered to be broken up in 1817 on account of her defective 

 state. Mr. Seppings got a certain number of trusses to be placed 

 in the hold and the port-holes of this old ship, in order to ascer- 

 tain what the effect of these trusses would be when the vessel 

 was again floated. The experiment was successful. The report 

 of the committee of Portsmouth officers, which is given in the 

 paper, is exceedingly favourable to the trussing system. The 

 Howe, of 120 guns, which was built according to this system, 

 when launched was found to have altered only 3-| inches from 

 her original sheer ; while the Nelson and the St. Vincent, both of 

 the same size, but built according to the old system, altered, the 

 first 9^ inches, and the last 9± inches. The report of the ship 

 Albion (built on the new plan), after the battle of Algiers, was 

 equally favourable. The Northumberland of 80 guns was laid 

 on one side fore and aft, on the other side diagonally. After she 

 conveyed Bonaparte to St. Helena, the fore and aft side required 

 caulking, the diagonal side did not. 



II. A Memoir on the Geography of the north-eastern Part of 

 Asia, and on the Question nhether Asia and America are conti- 



f uons, or are separated by the Sea. By Capt. James Bumey, 

 .R.S. — The object of this memoir is to show that there is no 

 evidence that Asia and America are separated from each other 

 by the sea ; but that all the facts at present known concur to 

 prove that the two continents are united together. It was Mul- 

 ler, it seems, who first affirmed that the two continents were 

 separated bv a narrow sea, and his opinion has been universally 

 adopted. Capt. Bumey shows that no person has hitherto sailed 

 round the north-east coast of Asia. According to him, the 

 Russian navigators had never been able to double the promon- 

 tory called on that account swiato noss {sacred promontory). But 

 they were accustomed to construct vessels in such a manner that 

 they could be with ease taken to pieces ; they were carried 

 across the land till they came to the sea, and then put together 

 again. I do not see, however, any evidence which Capt. Burney 

 has actually produced that Deschnew, upon whose voyage Mid- 

 ler's opinion is founded, really transported his ships or boats over 

 land to the sea of Kamschatka. Capt. Burney's own opinion 

 was founded upon two facts which he observed when he accom- 

 panied Capt. Cook in his last voyage to Behring's Straits. These 

 were, the disappearing of the tides and the sea becoming shal- 

 lower. These twcrfacts indicated, he thinks, that the vessel had 

 got into an inland sea. But, perhaps, it would be rather hazar- 

 dous to consider these facts as decisive of the point. If the 

 whole surface of the sea to the north of Behring's Straits was 



