71° N. At about this latitude, the ice extends out to sea as far as any one has ever sailed, in a line varying at different seasons from south of west to northwest. Cooke, in the summers of 1778 and 1779; Captain Beechey, in the summers of 1826 and 1827; Kellet and Moore, in 1849, traced it as far long as they had time to examine, and saw it extending still farther. Kellet and Moore went to lat. 72. 51. N., long. 168 W.; from this point, not only was the ice seen trending to the southwest as far as could be seen from the mast head, but also a strong ice blink in the southwest showed that it extended beyond the horizon in that direction. From a point at 71° 20′ N., long. 175° 16′ W., that is, 133 miles west, and 91 miles south of the former point,* Capt. Kellet found the ice again, noticed its line extending indefinitely to the north and to the southeast, and saw very high land about 35 miles north. Between these two extremes of vision there is an interval of a hundred miles, not yet visited. But from the stillness of the sea, the absence of currents, and the extreme purity of the water,† we have reason to infer that the icy barrier extends over this interval also. We know, as far as we can know what has not been seen, that land lies beyond this ice. Its permanence, the quietude of the seas, its shoalness, the absence of currents, the vast flocks of ducks that are seen migrating from the north in the fall, and the immense herds of deer that travel to the north over the ice near Point Barrow in the spring and return in the fall, prove so conclusively the existence of land beyond, that the discovery could scarcely add to one's confidence. As to its extent, we can only infer from the extent of the ice which rests upon it, that it covers many degrees of longitude.

Von Wrangell was told by a Siberian, that from Cape Jakan, on the northeast coast of Siberia, one might on a clear summer day descry snow-covered mountains at a great distance to the north; but that, in winter, it was impossible to see so far. He said that, formerly, herds of reindeer sometimes came across the ice of the sea, probably from thence; but that they had been frightened back by hunters and wolves; that he had himself seen a herd returning to the north in April,

* At lat. 71, a degree of long. is 19.53, at 72, it is 18.54 miles long.
A white plate can be seen distinctly at the depth of 80 feet.

and that he had followed them in a sled drawn by two reindeer for a whole day, until the rugged surface of the ice forced him to desist. His opinion was, that these distant mountains were not an island, but an extensive land, like his own country. He had been told so by his father. Other natives spoke to Von Wrangell of this distant land, which could be seen in clear weather. Captain Kellet conjectures, plausibly enough, that the distant mountainous land which he descried is a continuation of this land.

The navigator, sailing through Behring Strait in search of Franklin, here finds the whole north closed against him. The passage around Point Barrow, in the northeast, is now admitted to be impracticable. Unless a passage can be found around the coast of Siberia, it is futile to send vessels to Behring's sea. The careful observations of Captain Beechey show, that a very slight current sets in through Behring Strait to the north, strikes against the American shore, follows it to Icy Cape, then strikes off westwardly through the sea. Von Wrangell says, that in summer there is a current from Behring's sea passing to the west between Cape Jakan and the distant land seen to the north. These two, in effect, make one current, the only one in Behring's sea. This passage is sometimes navigable; for a Russian once sailed through it, from the northern coast of Siberia to the Pacific. Little as is known of it, we are sure of this much: Captain Collinson must take this route, if he would find for his ships a wider field of discovery than Behring's sea.

Another conclusion is to be drawn from these facts; if the northern shore of the continent is ever to be circumnavigated, the course, most probably, will be across Behring's sea, around the coast of Asia, to the longitude at least of 180° W., then across the north pole to the coast of Spitzbergen. A passage may possibly be found through Wellington Channel, Jones's Sound, or Smith's Sound. But the navigation of such narrow channels is precarious; ice, baffling winds, and adverse currents are apt to retard a ship several seasons. Upon the other hand, a careful examination of the observations of explorers upon currents, climate, and ice, scattered over many books, goes strongly to show (we can scarcely help saying, shows.) that about the pole the sea is perpetually open, and the climate is much milder than at Melville Island or at Fort

Enterprise in latitude 64°. If a ship could pierce through the ice which clings to the coast of Siberia, we firmly believe. it could cross the pole, and, favored by the powerful current which pours down from the polar region north of Spitzbergen, could return in triumph to the Atlantic.

ART. IX.-1. Report from the select Committee on Public Libraries; together with the Proceedings of the Committee, Minutes of Evidence, and Appendix. Ordered by the House of Commons to be printed, 23 July, 1849. London. Folio. pp. xx. and 317.

2. Report of the Commissioners appointed to inquire into the Constitution and Government of the British Museum ; with Minutes of Evidence. Presented to both Houses of Parliament, by Command of Her Majesty. London: Printed by William Clowes and Sons. 1850. Folio. pp. xliv. and 823.

3. Annual Report of the Trustees of the Astor Library of the City of New York. Made to the Legislature, January 29, 1850. Albany: Weed, Parsons, and Co., Public Printers. 1850. [Assembly Document, No. 43, pp. 30.] 4. Reports, etc., of the Smithsonian Institution, exhibiting its Plans, Operations, and Financial Condition up to January 1, 1849. From the third annual Report of the Board of Regents. Presented to Congress, February 19th, 1849. Washington: Thomas Ritchie, Printer. 1849. 8vo. pp. 72.

ALLUDING to our attainments in literature and science in comparison with those of other nations of our age, Mr. Justice Story, in an address before the Phi Beta Kappa Society at Cambridge, a few years since, made the following remarks:"We have no reason to blush for what we have been or what we are. But we shall have much to blush for, if, when the highest attainments of the human intellect are within our reach, we surrender ourselves to an obstinate indifference or

shallow mediocrity; if, in our literary career, we are content to rank behind the meanest principality of Europe. Let us not waste our time in seeking for apologies for our ignorance where it exists, or in framing excuses to conceal it. Let our short reply to all such suggestions be, like the answer of a noble youth on another occasion, that we know the fact, and are every day getting the better of it."

The orator then ventures to mention one of our greatest national deficiences, and says, "There is not, perhaps, a single library in America, sufficiently copious to have enabled Gibbon to have verified the authorities for his immortal History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.”*

Notwithstanding his prefatory remarks, and the qualifying terms in which he stated this fact, it was received with surprise, and some doubt, by a large portion of his audience. Nearly all his hearers thought it a bold statement to be made so near to the vast bibliographical treasures of Harvard College. It was even hinted that the orator had probably been seeking in vain for some ancient black-letter law book from the press of Richard Pynson, and had drawn his general conclusions from his particular disappointment. But had the distinguished jurist been as learned in bibliothecal as in legal lore, had he and his audience been as thoroughly familiar with the actual condition and wants of our public libraries, as they were, in general, impressed with the importance of strenuous efforts on the part of men of literature and science, to raise our relative rank with other nations in these respects, he could have presented a much stronger case without danger of exciting surprise or doubt. It would not have been necessary to have cited so distinguished an author as Gibbon, nor so elaborate and learned a work as his matchless history. Our own neighborhood would furnish many instances, where research has been abandoned in despair on account of the meagreness of materials for pursuing the necessary investigations. We do not hesitate to say, that not one, nor all the libraries in this country combined, would furnish sufficient materials

*Fisher Ames had, many years before, made a similar statement; and we have it from a high source, that John Quincy Adams attempted to supply the deficiency, by importing at his own expense every work to which Gibbon refers in his History. In the collection of books left by Mr. Adams, and now at the family mansion in Quincy, there are probably more of these authorities than in any other library in the country.

for writing a complete history of that little book of three or four score diminutive pages, which has had such a mighty influence in moulding the character and creed of former generations, "The New England Primer."*

With respect to Gibbon, it might have been said with equal truth, that probably not all the libraries in Great Britain, and perhaps no single library in the world, was sufficiently copious to have supplied him with the authorities for his work. According to his own published statement, he was obliged to collect and purchase for his own use the extensive and valuable works which form the basis of his history. So, in our own country, such writers as Irving, Sparks, Prescott, and Bancroft have been obliged to visit Europe to collect materials for their histories, or at a great expense to import the works which ought to have been freely furnished to them. from our public libraries. It was only by visiting Spain, and collecting, at his own cost, one of the best libraries of Spanish literature anywhere to be found, that Mr. Ticknor was enabled to avail himself of the materials necessary for writing his invaluable work. If either of the above-named distinguished authors had been less favored in their means, the world would not have enjoyed the results of their studies. Is it strange, then, that our country has not produced a larger number of eminent and thorough scholars? The pursuits of literature are, at present, too expensive for any but fortune's favorites to engage in them with success.

*This assertion must not be regarded by the reader as a random or reckless one, intended more for effect than for expressing an ascertained fact; for such is not the case. Not many months since, a series of articles on the History of the New England Primer appeared in the "Cambridge Chronicle." The writer gave some account of the authors of the various pieces in that little book, and of the persons named therein. In speaking of John Rogers, the story of whose martyrdom (with an affecting picture to match) occupies so prominent a place in the Primer, it was stated that he had exhibited, in the case of Joan Bocher, an equally persecuting spirit with that of his papistical executioners. The origin of this accusation was traced back to Fox, who was a contemporary of Rogers. The account in "The Cambridge Chronicle" was given from "Crosby's History of the Baptists." The writer of that work copies from Peirce, who, in his History of the Dissenters, says that he had it from the first Latin edition of "Fox's Book of Martyrs," and that it was suppressed in the following editions, out of regard to the memory of Rogers. Some of the numerous persons in this country bearing the name of Rogers, and claiming to be lineal descendants of him of Primer memory, were unwilling to receive at second-hand a statement which, if true, leaves a deep stain on the character of their ancestor. Diligent inquiry was made for the original work; but no copy of the first edition of Fox's Book of Martyrs could be found in any library in the country. Several cases of a similar kind occurred when investigating the history of the Primer; and other important matters connected with that little book and its authors were left in doubt, on account of the impossibility of obtaining the requisite works to verify or correct them.