and the Outlines of its Bottom. 153 



we have only to vary the reading, as Dr Whewell suggests, 

 to 



" Half the broad Pacific's tideless pool."* 



But the point for us is not merely to occupy ourselves with 

 finding that the ocean, as the ancients imagined, does " wind 

 its extended arms" like those of a river. However we may 

 regard this as a flight of imagination, or admire it as the 

 foreknowledge of our ancestors, our duty is more stern, and 

 we must pass from the myth, to ascertain what arms this 

 jealous ocean has, how far they extend, where they wind, 

 and where they end in " l steep fall ;" which last words, 

 brought down to our geographical prose, means merely an 

 accelerated current. Now, although we have had many ad- 

 mirable contributions to answer these questions, and above 

 all comparison those of the illustrious Kennel, who led the 

 way in all these inquiries, there still remained a vast deal 

 to be accomplished. The memoir of Mr Findlay, recently 

 read before the Society, illustrated as it was by a series of 

 admirably constructed large charts, in which all the cold or 

 polar currents were marked in a blue colour, and the warm 

 currents in a red tint, is certainly the most complete general 

 view which has been taken in our day of this grand subject 

 — a full and accurate acquaintance with which is of such im- 

 portance in the intercourse between distant nations. In 

 these valuable documents, and particularly in the work of 

 the same author to which I called your attention last year, 

 we not only see the extent of our present knowledge as to 

 the nature and distinction of upper and under currents, but 

 also the desiderata which remain to be filled up. I cannot 

 here, indeed, attempt to convey to you an adequate view of 

 Mr Findlay's labours of compilation and deduction, and must 

 restrict myself to saying that, taking into account the known 

 currents of the Atlantic and Pacific, and having regard to 



* Though there are many tides in the Pacific, this idea of a tideless pool may 

 be correctly applied to the central Pacific around Tahiti. Geographers will do 

 well to refer to the Appendix to Captain Fitzroy's second volume of the Sur- 

 veying Voyages of the Adventure and Beagle, to see the value attached by that 

 successful navigator to the essays of Dr Whewell, and also to appreciate the 

 importance of the views of so experienced and scientific a seaman. 



