II. A memoir on the geography of the north-eastern part of 
Asia, and on the question whether Asia and America are con- 
tiguous, or are separated by the sea . By Captain James 
Burney, F. R . S . 
Read December 11, 1817. 
A belief has prevailed for nearly a century, that the sepa- 
ration of America and Asia has been demonstrated by an 
actual navigation performed ; and it is distinctly so admitted 
in the charts. It is proposed to show in this memoir, in the 
first place, that there does not exist satisfactory proof of such 
a separation ; and secondly, that from peculiarities which 
have been observed, there is cause to suppose the fact to be 
otherwise ; that is to say, that A^ia and America are conti- 
guous, and parts of one and the same continent. This is not 
an opinion newly formed, but one which many years ago 
was impressed on other persons as well as on myself, by 
circumstances witnessed when in the sea to the north of 
Bering’s Strait with Captain Cook, in his last voyage. 
America, from its first discovery by the people of Europe, 
was regarded by them as a land wholly distinct from their 
own native continent, till the failure of many attempts to 
discover a northern passage to India at length suggested the 
possibility that the Old and New World (as they were then 
called) formed but one continent. The solution of this 
problem, so far as regards a north-eastern navigation to 
India, has been more naturally the business of the Russians 
MDCCCXVIII. C 
