DR. SCOflESBY. 207 



Being who feeds the young ravens when they cry, 

 and caters for the sparrow/ 



But Dr. Scoresby, in his work on the Arctic Regions, 

 by aid of figures conveys the most vivid idea of the 

 myriads of these creatures that float in the bosom of 

 the ocean. This writer discovered that the olive- 

 green colour of the waters of the Greenland sea was 

 caused by the multitudes of jelly-fish contained 

 therein. On examination he found that ' they were 

 about one-fourth of an inch asunder. In this pro- 

 portion a cubic inch of water must contain 64 ; a 

 cubic foot, 110,592 ; a cubic fathom, 23,887,872 ; 

 and a cubical mile, 23,888,000,000,000,000 ! From 

 soundings made in the situation where these animals 

 were found, it is probable the sea is upwards of a 

 mile in depth ; but whether these substances occupy 

 the whole depth is uncertain. Provided, however, 

 the depth which they extend be but 250 fathoms, 

 the above immense number of one species may occur 

 in a space of two miles square. It may give a better 

 conception of the amount of Medusae in this extent, 

 if we calculate the length of time that would be 

 requisite with a certain number of persons for count- 

 ing this number. Allowing that one person could 

 count 1,000,000 in seven days, which is barely 

 possible, it would have required that 80,000 persons 

 should have started at the creation of the world to 

 complete the enumeration at the present time ! 

 What a prodigious idea this fact gives of the im- 



