112 Miscellaneous Notices. 
density equal or superior to that of rock? For, if this be conceivable, 
so is it that pelagian boulders are now floating about at great depths, 
in all latitudes, and, if now, then formerly; an admission which 
would much lessen the difficulty of accounting for their presence in 
all climes, and almost all postures ? Thus masses of rock, when once 
detached from, or reaching the depths of the ocean, might float to 
the antipodes of the spot where they first commenced their journey, 
and indeed, continue to float, until driven by upward currents, or 
other operative causes upon the sides and summits of submarine 
hills and mountains, where they might become deposited, in conse- 
quence of their superior relative density compared with that of the 
water they are now in, after having undergone the rounding which 
they would be likely to meet with, in the interim, from erosion and 
attrition. 
This conjecture, (for it is nothing more,) will not be considered 
absurd, I think, when it is recollected that the compressibility of sea 
water has been proved by Perkins, and others, and is now generally 
admitted, and that the mean depth of the ocean, although unknown, 
must be considerable, some writers making it between two and three 
miles, while one of them, (La Place*,) considers it to be as high as 
twenty five. In short, it appears to me, that although much is wan- 
ted in the way of experiment, to determine this interesting question, 
what is positively known respecting it, favors the conjecture now 
submitted. Should you be of the same opinion, perhaps the well 
earned influence you possess in the scientific world, will be exerted 
to impress upon those, having the opportunity, the importance of as- 
certaining the relative temperature, density, and saltness of the ocean 
at various but measured depths, with the view of obtaining data suf- 
ficient to give an appropriate answer to the following question. 
Given the Sp. gr. of a boulder (2.6) at the level of the ocean, 
what would be its Sp. gr. in relation to the water it is immediately 
surrounded by, if five miles below the surface? and what is its ratio 
of decrease ? , 
2.—Discovery of Gold in Lower Canada. 
3.—Water Lime made from the rock of Quebec. 
Goxtp.—I have to inform you of two interesting facts, which have 
been lately ascertained respecting Quebec and its vicinity. The 
first is that native gold has been picked up, about thirty miles to the 
* “Not exceeding ten miles—more generally admitted not to be over five.”— 
Bakewell, 2nd Am. Edit. pa. 4. 
