Miscellanies, 407 



A star A.R. 5h. 2m. 51s.; N.P.D. 71° 43', whose occultation by the 

 moon was observed by Mayer, 1758, September 15. (See Mr. Baily's 

 edition of Catalogue, Mem. Astron. Soc. Vol. iv.) 



9. Ice formed at the bottom of a river. — In the Journal for April, 1839, 

 page 186, is a letter from Mr. Slieffey on the subject of ice found at the 

 bottom of rivers and seas. The explanation of this perhaps, is, that the ra- 

 pidity of the current prevents ice forming on the surface; but at the bot- 

 tom where friction makes the current much less rapid, it becomes possible 

 for the water to turn into ice. If I remember ri^rhtly, this is an explana- 

 tion I heard in Prof. Jameson's Nat. Hist, class, Univ. Edinb. The same 

 reason will apply to seas, where the agitation on the surface prevents 

 freezing; but at the bottom where the water is still, ice is found. 



Kingston, U. C, Nov. 5, 1840. T. Stratton. 



10. Depth of the Ocean. — The sea was recently sounded by lead and 

 line, in lat. 57" south, and long. 85^ 7' west from Paris, by the officers of 

 the French ship Venus, during her voyage of discovery ; at a depth of 

 3470 yards, or 21 miles, nu bottom was found. The weather was very 

 serene, and it is said that the hauling in of the lead occupied sixty sailors 

 more than two hours. In another place in the Pacific Ocean, no bottom 

 was found at the depth of 4140 yards. — N. Y. Jour, of Com. Nov. 17, 

 1840. 



1 1 . Ohiiuary of Ehenczer P. 3Iason. — Died at Richmond, Va., on the 

 26th of December, 1840, Mr. Ebenezer P. Mason, in the 22d year of his 

 age. His last work, the conclusion of an Introduction to Practical As- 

 ironomy, (8vo. pp. 141,) was finished only three weeks before his death. 

 From the biographical sketch prefixed to this work by Prof. Olmsted, we 

 make the following extracts, in the expectation that an extended memoir 

 will appear in some future number. 



"Immediately after completing this treatise, (which he could not be 

 persuaded to leave unfinished,) Mr. Mason yielded to the solicitations of 

 his relatives at Richmond, Va., who had for some time been urging him 

 to hasten to that milder climate, with the hope of preserving, or at least of 

 prolonging, his valuable life. In less than two weeks after he reached 

 his friends, he experienced a sudden prostration, and quietly sunk into the 

 arms of death. 



" The present treatise on Practical Astronomy was chiefly written in 

 the spring of 1840, before his health failed. Early the ensuing summer 

 symptoms of consumption began to develop themselves ; and hoping to 

 receive benefit from the invigorating climate of Maine, and eager to em- 

 brace every opportunity for making astronomical observations, he obtained 

 the post of assistant in the Commission under Prof Renwick, which ex- 



