August 9, 1877] 



NATURE 



285 



was the finding of the islands of Porto Santo and 

 Madeira, in 1418-20, by two squires of his own house- 

 hold, who were driven thither by a storm off Cape St. 

 Vincent. Mr. Major has, however, proved satisfactorily, 

 we think, that the Madeira group were discovered about 

 the end of the previous century by an adventurous 

 Englishman named Robert Machin. 



For long had Cape Bojader proved an obstacle which 

 the Portuguese sailors sent out by the Prince attempted 

 in vain to pass ; Cap Nun had been passed, but the in- 

 creasing violence of the waves that broke upon the 

 dangerous northern bank of Cape Bojader proved too 

 much for the cockle-shells in which Prince Henr/s ex- 

 plorers were hardy enough to risk their lives. It was 

 only in 1434 that Gil Eannes, a native of Lagos, managed 

 to pass this fancied terrible obstacle to progress, by 

 putting well out to sea. Next year another fifty leagues 

 were added to the stretch of coast discovered, and thus 

 year after year, league upon league was added, and 

 specimens of the people and products brought home, the 

 former to be Christianised and sent back to convert 

 their brethren. By the time of Prince Henry's death in 

 1460, the west coast of Africa had been explored under 

 his auspices as far south as the Rio Grande, the Canaries, 

 Cape Verde Islands, and Madeira discovered or redis- 

 covered, and a large amount of substantial information 

 obtained about the people, the products, and the country 

 far into the interior of Northern Africa. 



Mr. Major justly designates Prince Henry the originator 

 of continuous modern discovery, for Portuguese enterprise 

 in this direction was not stopped by his death. It was 

 not, however, till 1471 that the equinoctial line was crossed 

 lor the first time within the memory of man, probably by 

 an explorer named Lopo Gonsalvez. The equator was 

 not much surpassed till Diego Cam set out in 1484 and 

 discovered the mouth of the Congo ; the celebrated Mar- 

 tin Behaim, the inventor of the application of the astro- 

 labe to navigation, was with Diego Cam in this eventful 

 voyage. In his next voyage Diego got as far south as 

 Cape Cross in 22° south latitude, where the cross he 

 planted is still to be seen in almost complete preservation. 

 In i486 Bartholomew Diaz was sent out by King Joao, of 

 Portugal, to carry out the discovery of the African" coast, 

 and, without knowing it, passed the southernmost part of 

 Africa and came to anchor in what is novv known as 

 Flesh Bay, near Guaritz river, to the east of Cape Agul- 

 has. He turned back after reaching the mouth of the 

 Great Fish river, and it was on this return voyage that he 

 discovered what he called Cape Tormentoso, but which Kini; 

 Joao on his return, "foreseeing the realisation of the long- 

 coveted passage to India," named Cape of Good Hope. 

 It was not till ten years after this that a practical test was 

 made of the utility of this passage to India. Vasco da 

 Gama left Lisbon with four vessels, the largest not ex- 

 ceeding 120 tons, in July, 1497, and coasted south the west 

 coast, and north the east coast of Africa, as far as Melinda, 

 to the north of Mombassa, which was reached in April of 

 the following year. On April 20, 1498, he sailed for 

 Calicut, before which he anchored on May 20, thus dis- 

 covering the famous " Cape route" to India. 



Such are a few of the results which are directly or 

 indirectly due to the far-seeing enterprise and noble- 

 mindedness of Prince Henry the navigator. But these are 



not all. But for his initiative in the beginning of the 

 century, it is doubtful if America would have been dis- 

 covered at the end of it, and had Prince Henry been alive 

 when Columbus began his memorable agitation, that 

 greatest of explorers would doubtless have been saved much 

 humiliation and misery. Magellan's circumnavigations 

 fall also within this most eventful of eras, and not far 

 beyond it, Mr. Major has proved, the discovery of Aus- 

 tralia. "The coasts of Africa visited, the Cape of Good 

 Hope rounded, the New World disclosed, the sea-way to 

 India, the Moluccas, and China laid open, the globe cir- 

 cumnavigated, and Australia discovered within one cen- 

 tury of continuous and connected exploration," begun and 

 to a great extent carried out by the prince the story of 

 whose life Mr. Major has told so well. We can only again 

 commend his work and that of Peschel to our readers 

 as not only full of interest but of much valuable informa- 

 tion. 



OUR BOOK SHELb 



Chemical Handicraft. A Classified and Descriptive Cata- 

 logue of Chemical Apparatus suitable for the perform- 

 ance of Class Experiments, Research, and Chemical 

 Testing. Second Edition. By J. J. Griffin, F.C.S. 

 (Published by the Author, Garrick Street.) 



Mr. Griffin, the well-known manufacturer of scientific 

 apparatus, earned the thanks of all students of science 

 in this country by the publication of his first catalogue, 

 now some eleven years ago, when the condition of things 

 was much less far advanced than it is now. He has 

 earned still greater thanks for his last edition, which is 

 much more complete, more copiously illustrated, and 

 more carefully brought up to the present needs of the 

 student and the present possibilities of the maker. Those 

 who noticed the many collections of such apparatus at 

 South Kensington, last year, among which was one sent 

 m by the Messrs. Griffin, cannot have failed to have been 

 struck by the complication of the apparatus now required 

 for chemical researches, and the skill, both in glass and 

 brass, required to produce them. Mr. Griffin is evidently 

 doing his best to uphold English manufactures against 

 his continental rivals, and we wish him and his book 

 every success. As the madman said of the dictionary, 

 it is not light reading, and the plot is feeble ; but, never- 

 theless, the book will be of use in every laboratory. 



LETTERS TO THE EDITOR 



{The Editor does not hold himself responsible for opinions expressed 

 by his correspondents. Neither can he undertaJit to return, 

 or to correipond with the -writers of, rejected manuscripts. 

 No notice is taken of anonymous communuatiotis. 



The Editor urgently requests correspondents to keep their letters as 

 short as possible. The pressure on his space is so great that it 

 is impossible otherwise to ensure the appearance even of com- 

 jnunicatiotu containing interesting and novel facts. ] 



The Cretaceous Flora of America 

 I AM extremely obliged to Dr. Newberry for pointing out 

 in a very kind manner what is the actual state of our 

 knowledge at the present time respecting the American cretaceous 

 beds. Never having travelled in America, nor having had the 

 honour of conversing with any of the American savants who 

 have invastigated the remains in these beds, I am scarcely in a 

 position to discuss with them the value of the evidence on which 

 they have been considered cretaceous. 1 have, however, endea- 

 voured to make myself acquainted with the literature of the 

 subject, and had read most of the works mentioned by Prof. 

 Newberry in his letter to Nature. I in no way dispute that 

 dicotyledonous leaves have or may be found in cretaceous strata. 



