162 Miscellaneous Intelligence. 



Along a line from the Sandwich Islands to the Bonin Islands, 

 south of Japan, the shoalest part is near 1^7° east longitude, 

 where the depth is 6,650 feet. 



Between longitude 177° E. and the Sandwich Islands the mean 

 depth is about 16,000 feet; maximum depth, 19,140 feet ; depth 

 within eighty miles of the Sandwich Islands south of Kauai, over 

 14,000 feet. 



Between longitude 177° E. and the Bonin Islands, the mean 

 depth is nearly 16,900 feet; maximum, 19,720 feet. 



On a line running north from the Sandwich Islands, between 

 latitude 22° and 38° N., mean depth about 17,000 feet; and 

 between this northern point and Japan, mean depth about 16,000 

 feet ; maximum, 22,800 feet, within 180 miles of Japan, and mini- 

 mum near 178° E., 12,300 feet. 



The region of the minimum on this last route is nearly north of 

 that on the route from the Sandwich Islands to the Bonin Islands ; 

 but the depth is greatei-, being 12,300 feet against 6,660 feet on 

 the latter. 



The mean depth for the north Pacific as deduced from all the 

 deep-sea soundings is about 16,200 feet. 



6. An Iceland chain of elevations in the North Atlantic— The 

 ship " Valorous," which took out stores to Disco for the British 

 Polar Expedition, made deep-sea soundings on its return. Among 

 the discoveries, as mentioned in a Report to the Royal Society 

 (Proc. No. 164), was an elevation of the ocean's bottom in latitude 

 56° N. and longitude 34° 42' W., to the southwest of Iceland, over 

 which soundings of 690 fathoms were obtained between depths of 

 1450 fathoms on one side and 1230 on the other. Directly 

 between this spot and Iceland, in latitude 59** 40' N., and 29° 30' 

 W., H. M. S. " Bull-dog" found a similar elevation. In about the 

 same direction, northeast of Iceland, there lies the island of Jan 

 Mayen. This line is parallel to the Greenland coast, and the whole 

 length thus indicated is over 1300 miles. Iceland and Jan Mayen 

 being volcanic, it may be that the whole range is volcanic in 

 nature or origin — an off-shore volcanic range. The line of this 

 chain of elevations, moreover, if continued southwestward, passes 

 just outside of Newfoundland and the Atlantic border of the 

 United States. 



7. Journal of the American Electrical Society, including Orig- 

 inal and selected papers oti Telegraph^/ and Electrical Science. 

 Vol. I, No. 1. 100 pp. 8vo, with several wood-cuts. Chicago: 

 1875. Published for the American Electrical Society.— A new, 

 handsomely printed journal, devoted to electrical discoveries, and 

 the various practical applications ol electricity. The first paper 

 is on the transmission of musical notes telegraphically, bv Elisha 

 Gray. The author closes with the statement that, "'by this 

 method, not only may different messages be sent siraultaneously, 

 but a tune with all its parts can be distinctly audible at the re- 



