[COMMUNICATED] 
New-York, May £3,18lf. 
John C. Sy mines, Esq, 
Bear Sir, 
I sieve my pen for the purpose of in¬ 
forming you that jour ingenious and in¬ 
teresting paper, entitled "Arctic Me- 
incur,” was read before the Lyceum of Na¬ 
tural History here, at the last meeting, on 
tne 17th inst. and heard with great atten¬ 
tion. It remains on file for future consi¬ 
deration. i 
Captain Ross has, it.appears, fallen un¬ 
der tne displeasure of the British govern- 
tnerit, for abandoning the northern expe¬ 
dition entrusted to him, before he had suf¬ 
ficiently exerted himself. I own I was 
disappointed in the result. Had Symmes 
been the commander, I think he would 
have pushed further and given a betterac- 
count of the region near the pole. 
An enlarged and new edition of my 
Essay on the Ice-islands of the Northern 
Atlantic Ocean, has, within a few weeks, 
been published. It embraces all the me¬ 
morable facts, from 1805 to 1819, inclu¬ 
sive, on the production of hyperborean 
ice, and the dangers it presents to naviga¬ 
tion, as it drifts towards the south. It 
is contained,for the purpose of more exten¬ 
sive diffusion and usefulness, in pages 71 
to 76, a very late publication of Mr. Ed¬ 
mund M. Blunt, the distinguished author 
of Nautical Books and Charts, under the 
title of "Analysis of the authorities upon 
which the dangers have been inserted in 
Blunt’s new chart of the Atlantic or Wes¬ 
tern Ocean.” On being asked if I would 
consent to a repubiication of it, from the 
,10th vol. of the Medical Repository, I im¬ 
mediately consented, and have according¬ 
ly placed it before the navigating world, 
in a very important form. 
But I am transgressing my time and 
limits; and therefore I restrain my hand, 
to the assurance of my great esteem and 
regard. Sam’l. L. Mitchell. 
