346 Reviews. [April, 



driving the waters northward are here combined with those carrying 

 them eastward, and on the resulting motion the form of the coast 

 exercises a powerful influence. The general effect is to produce a 

 cross section, similar to that of a river which is bent from the straight 

 course by a bank with a continuous curve. 



Notwithstanding the continuance of the war, the Coast Survey is 

 not, we believe, abandoned ; but is prosecuting its labours along the 

 New England Coast. No later Report than that we are now reviewing 

 has come into our hands. Since the outbreak of hostilities, the 

 Federal Government has taken good care that documents of such value 

 as coast charts shall not fall into other hands than those for whom 

 they are intended. Consequently, the distribution of copies, which, 

 as authorized by a resolution of the Senate, had amounted to the 

 liberal number of 6,200 up to the year 1860, has been greatly cur- 

 tailed. For ourselves we need scarcely remark, that whatever our 

 private leanings may be in reference to the two great parties in the 

 struggle, any documents entrusted to our care shall be scrupulously 

 guarded, and the confidence placed in us will not be abused ; with 

 this assurance, we hope to be favoured with cojnes of the later 

 Reports, which will receive the notice they so well deserve. 



THE PLURALITY OF WORLDS.* 



Amongst our Original Articles in the present Number will be found 

 a Review of the chief scientific facts upon which the believers in the 

 plurality of the habitable worlds base their creed ; and if any of our 

 readers should be induced by a perusal of the essay to devote them- 

 selves to the study of that important subject, we recommend to their 

 notice the book by M. Flammarion, editor of the Paris journal, ' Cos- 

 mos,' of which the title is given at the foot. 



We shall presently speak of the merits of this work ; but it is 

 partly in consequence of its chief defect that our article has appea»ed. 

 That defect is the introduction into the argument of an amount of 

 extraneous and, as it appears to us, irrelevant matter, which must 

 materially weaken its force with thinking men accustomed to reason 

 only from well-established scientific data. 



To the historical portion of the subject the author devotes nearly 

 sixty pages, citing, it is true, the opinions of many observers whose 

 views may fairly be employed as evidence ; but in his anxiety to plead 

 his cause fully, he has given weight to the opinions of heathen writers, 

 which, from their fabulous character, might just as fairly be thrown 

 into the scale of his opponents. Next to this imperfection comes 

 another ; namely, the large amount of space which is occupied by 



* 'La Plurality des Mondes Habite's, Etude ou Ton expose les Conditions 

 d'Habitabilite des Terres Celestes, discutees au point de vue de l'Astronomie, de la 

 Physiologie et de la Philosophic Naturelle.' Par Camille Flammarion, Ancien 

 eleve-Astronome a l'Observatoire Imp. de Paris, &c., redacteur du ' Cosmos,' &c. 

 Paris : Didier & Co. 



