29 



nents ; and the naturalists, who have examined 

 different parts of the globe, are struck with the 

 extreme resemblance observed in the rents on 

 coasts, in the sinuosities of the vallies, in the 

 aspect of the mountains, and in their distribu- 

 tion by groups. The accidental concurrence of 

 the same causes must have every where produced 

 the same effects ; and amidst the variety of na- 

 ture, an analogy of structure and form is ob- 

 served in the arrangement of brute matter, as 

 well as in the internal organization of plants and 

 of animals. 



Crossing from Corunna to Ferrol, in shallow 

 water, near the White Signal, in the bay, which 

 according to d'Anville is the Portus Magnus of 

 the Ancients, we made several experiments by 

 means of a valved thermometrieal sounding lead, 

 on the temperature of the ocean, and on the de- 

 crement of caloric in the successive strata of wa- 

 ter. The thermometer on the bank, and near the 

 surface, was from 12*5° to 13*3° centigrades, 

 while in deep water it constantly marked 15° or 

 15*3°, the air being at 12-8°. The celebrated 

 Franklin, and Mr. Jonathan Williams, author of 

 the work which appeared at Philadelphia under 

 the title of Thermometrieal Navigation, were 

 the first to invite the attention of naturalists to 

 the phenomena of the temperature of the ocean 

 over shoals, and in that zone of tepid and flow- 

 ing waters, which runs from the Gulf of Mexico 



