330 
SIR RODERICK I. MURCHISON’S ADDRESS. [May 24, 1858. 
United States between Cape Hatteras and Cape Fear. These, as 
Mr. Findlay has suggested to me, may be the result of the con- 
flicting hot and cold currents there neutralising each other, and 
producing those long sand ridges projecting transversely to the 
direction of the two streams from Cape Hatteras, Cape Fear, and 
Cape Lookout, which promontories are separated by long sweeps 
of low diluvial shores. This reasoning is indeed sustained by an- 
other fact, evident on a close examination of Maury’s thermal charts, 
viz., that the Arctic current, or other very cold water, flows to the 
south-east from off these capes to the southward of the Bermuda 
Isles. 
Deep-Sea Soundings — Geological Analogies — Atlantic Telegraph. — At our 
last Anniversary your attention was riveted to the great project 
of establishing a communication between Britain and America, and 
the preparations for carrying out that noble project. Among these 
I announced that the paddle-wheel steam-frigate the Cyclops 
had preceded the Agamemnon , and that steps had been taken by 
the Admiralty to secure for naturalists all the materials, whether 
animal or vegetable, which might be brought up from the sea 
bottom. This object has been efficiently carried out across the 
North Atlantic, between Yalentia in Ireland and the coast of New- 
foundland, the methods employed, and the results, having been 
clearly reported by the commander of the vessel, Lieut. Dayman. 
The apparatus employed was a modification of that invented by 
Mr. Brooke, of the United States Navy, and the results have un- 
questionably given us a much more extended knowledge of the bed 
of the Atlantic, and of the temperatures and densities of its waters, 
than were ever before obtained, thanks to the excellent conduct of 
the officers and men employed. 
Referring to the printed Report for many instructive data re- 
specting the meteorology of the ocean, I will now briefly allude to 
the support which has been given to geological science by the ope- 
rations of the officers of the Cyclops. The submarine section, 
which is given at the bottom of Plate 1 of the Report, teaches us, 
as before said, that, in the 15° of W. long., or about 180 miles from 
the shore of Ireland, the plumb-line suddenly descends from 550 to 
1 750 fathoms. This wall of 1200 fathoms in height suggests the idea 
of one of those former movements by which the crust of the earth has 
been broken through by a long and deep fissure or sudden disruption. 
Another feature of great geological interest is, that having once 
quitted the comparatively shallow water on the coast of Ireland, 
