Généraux de l'Administration de la Justice in France, that I had resolved to sketch your next budget of crimes, by calculating all the chances of the extremes which the presumed numbers are likely to present. This proof, the result of which I should little fear, as regards myself, would have the advantage of exhibiting how deserving this subject is of attention. Yet, owing to the abuse which has lately taken place of the statistical results, and the premature deductions drawn from them, I have found it prudent to restrict myself to the character of a simple observer, and to impose on myself a degree of reserve on what regards futurity."

"Brussels, the 27th of December, 1832."

Having thus inserted M. Quetelet's letter, we may proceed to state, that some of his concluding inferences involve consequences so hazardous to the peace of society, that we must repeat our dissent from him, however much we may admire his industry in collecting facts, and his ingenuity in classing them. We are indeed somewhat amused at the burliness which the Belgian revolution exhibits in these pages; but as M. Quetelet is an astronomer, and can split a second of time into ten fractions, we intend to ask him, in our first letter, how many minutes and parts of a minute les Braves Belges" would have stood before an equal number of Dutch, had they not been mere tools in the hands of a French faction.

In one point of view M. Quetelet defends all poor criminals from blame, but in another he would lead us to regard all poor people as likely to commit crime. Now, although we are not sanguine enough to join in the theory of the perfectibility of human nature, we are happy in the conviction of there being abundance of honesty and good principle among the lower orders; for indeed, were it otherwise, there would not be rich men enough to furnish jailers for them. But it is not the mere price of bread-corn that engenders crime; it is to be found wherever the human race exists, from the "triscurria patriciorum" to the robbing of hen-roosts; and it is restrained only by the conscientious checks of honour and principle, and the salutary fear of fetters and gibbets. Does not every regiment and every ship afford proof that, however well-fed, clothed, and treated, rascals are intermingled with good men, like tares among the seed? Nor are the governments of countries to be scoffed at on this account; crime is too rifely spread by the follies and conceit of the people themselves, for their rulers to be able to counteract all the effects-otherwise they would never be taken by the nose by the cold-blooded political mongrels who mislead them, and in whose train are found all the graceless lawyers, commissionmongers, mendici, mimi, balatrones," and other hopeful fruits and scions of democratic visions. This is no new position; it is one too painfully proved in the records of our wayward race. Thucydides, one of the greatest historians the world has yet produced, has given his opinion upon this very point; and we hope that M. Quetelet will carefully peruse that able writer's account of the rise and progress of the sedition at Corcyra. He will there perceive that faction generated vices unheard-of before, insomuch that in palliating offences, the very words of the language had their meanings perverted,-brutality became fortitude,-prudence was termed cowardice,-wisdom was inanity,-deliberation knavery,-and success in roguery wisdom. Some perished through private enmity; some for the sums that they had lent by the hands of the borrowers ;-revenge not being limited by justice or the

public welfare. "Seditions thus introduced every species of outrageous wickedness into the Grecian manners. Sincerity, which is most frequently to be found in generous tempers, was laughed out of countenance, and for ever banished. It was become the universal practice to keep up a constant enmity of intention against one another, and never to believe. No promise was strong enough, no oath sufficiently solemn to banish such mutual diffidence."

We are the more earnest in dissenting from M. Quetelet's deductions, because we regret to see our best regulations submitted to raw experiment and undigested theory; and we are really apprehensive that our country, though it has more substantial blessings than any other to guard, is not sufficiently alert against the desperate and ever-varying expedients of mere quacks. Let those elated by imaginary reforms chasten their pride in the recollection that it is easier to pull down than to rear; and that no parricide ever proved a good parent himself. We are rather for the essentials than the forms of liberty, and would wish to see every one at the station assigned him, whether on the quarter-deck, at the fore-sheet, or in the galley. Let every man feel the consequences of his good or bad career. There must be a constant attention to the common rules of right and wrong;-steady conduct in all ranks, producing comfort and credit,-while vice and idleness must necessarily induce misery and wretchedness. Virtuous habits as well as principles ought to be equally the preparation of a peasant and a prince; and we trust that our constitution is not to crumble away-our army and navy to be subverted, and our patriotic yeomen to be demoralized according to the market-price of bread,—or the absurd calculations and silly blunders of demagogues.

OBSERVATIONS ON THE PREVAILING CURRENTS OF THE OCEAN AND THEIR CAUSES.

THERE are few branches of science connected with the phenomena of the surface of the globe, which have hitherto received less consideration than those oceanic currents, which every where prevail more or less in the great body of the waters; and it seems surprising that, in a country situated like our own, and so intimately connected with the element which forms our rampart, as well as the great medium of our wealth and greatness, so little has yet been done to trace this continued circulation to its true and proper source.

Much expectation on this subject was lately excited by the announcement of Major Rennell's work "On the Currents of the Atlantic;" and it was but natural to expect, from the pen of so able and experienced a writer, some elucidation of this hitherto obscure subject. The expectations entertained as to this posthumous work have in many practical points been fully answered; the existence and effects of many important currents have been explained in a manner that cannot fail to be highly useful to every practical man. But in tracing the cause of this mysterious movement, Major Rennell seems merely to have followed the usual track that had before been taken by all former writers on the subject, and has thus been led to attribute to the winds, effects which owe their real origin to the main cause of these very winds themselves.

It has long been known that the prevailing currents, both in the air and in the waters, have a regular set within the tropics, from east to west; and

as atmospheric currents in these latitudes, under the name of the Tradewinds, have been justly attributed to the rotatory motion of the earth on its axis, it has been incautiously adopted as a principle, that the currents of the ocean arise from the action of the prevailing currents of wind, both in the tropics and in other parts of the earth.

"The winds," says Major Rennell," are, with very few exceptions, to be regarded as the prime movers of the currents of the ocean; and of this agency, the trade-winds and monsoons have by far the greatest share, not only in operating on the larger half of the whole extent of the circumambient ocean, but by possessing greater power, by their constancy and elevation, to generate and perpetuate currents; and although the monsoons change half yearly, yet the interval during which they continue to blow in each direction is long enough to produce effects nearly similar to the constant trade-winds;" that is, although the winds do not always blow from east to west, but are, during one half of the year, north-easterly, and for the other half, southeasterly, yet the currents in the open ocean, within the tropics, are constant, from east to west, and thus do not follow the direction of the winds from which they originate. "The winds, then," concludes Major Rennell, “operating incessantly on the surface of the ocean, cause, in the first instance, a gentle but general motion to leeward, (as is proved by ships being always to leeward of their reckoning in the trade-winds ;) and the waters so put in motion, form, by accumulation, streams of currents."-Rennell on the Currents of the Atlantic, p. 6.

Setting out, then, upon this principle, in his account of the existing currents of the ocean, as far as they are at present known, it cannot excite surprise, especially if this theory of the origin of the currents can be proved to be erroneous, if many facts are stated in the work of Major Rennell, which are utterly at variance with the theory itself; and the consequence naturally is, that, however distinct and instructive the information may be with respect to the individual currents, and the best mode of combating their influence, we rise from the perusal of the work more than ever uncertain as to the true cause of those remarkable streams which are known, in numerous instances, to run in the very face of the steady and prevailing winds which are here stated to be the occasion of them.

In these observations upon Major Rennell's work, we must not be understood, however, as detracting in any way from the highly useful tendency of it in a practical point of view, for which it was chiefly intended; but we beg to offer a few remarks as an attempt to elucidate this obscure but interesting subject, which, like other questions relating to an extended system, must first be viewed on a great and general scale, before we can safely venture to account for the minor portions of it, which come within our more immediate and personal observation.

It appears strange that, while the aërial currents of the atmospheric fluids within the tropics have been so long attributed to their proper cause, it should never have occurred that the same cause might probably have the same effect upon the aqueous fluids which cover so large a portion of the globe, and that the currents of the ocean might thus be mainly attributed, like the trade winds, to the rotatory motion of the earth upon its axis. The more powerful and constant of the currents of the tropics, having a general tendency from east to west, might be supposed likely to suggest this idea. But if suggested, and put to the proof by actual observation on a limited scale, it is probable that the theory would be rejected as inconsistent with the facts; for while the trade-winds are found to be in a great degree constant, like the cause which produces them, and only varying a few points to the north or south, according to the season, and the position of the earth with regard to the sun, the streams of the ocean are found to set in various directions, and frequently in opposition to the supposed cause; we could not, therefore, feel surprised if some other cause was immediately sought for. In order, however, to set this point in a proper light, we have only to ex

amine with attention the effects produced by a rapid and rocky descent on the small scale of a river or brook. We here find the general tendency of the stream taking, as a whole, a decided course, (say from east to west ;). but if we confine our view to the minor parts of this stream, and watch the movements of any small floating substance, as it follows the various eddies and countercurrents occasioned by the rocky impediments in the bed of the river, we shall with difficulty bring ourselves to believe that the general tendency of the whole stream is from east to west, as we frequently find the floating bodies taking a direction from west to east, and, at some particular points, even from north to south. This is taking a limited view of what ought to be considered on a wider scale, and may serve as an illustration of what actually takes place when we form a theory for the whole currents of the ocean, by merely observing some particular portions of it.

What takes place in a fluid on a small scale will assuredly occur also on a larger, as both are subjected to the same general laws; and because the trade-winds are not so subject to opposition, and consequently to eddies and countercurrents as the equatorial streams of the ocean, we are not therefore to conclude that both fluids are not originally set in motion by the very same cause, for it is obvious that, though their general tendency may be (as indeed it really is) from east to west, the numerous interruptions opposed to a regular movement in that exact direction may often occasion an extensive reaction in a direction to all appearance opposed to it.

Let us, for a moment, suppose the earth to be a body at rest, or at least without rotation on an axis; and let us further suppose no dry lands to exist above the surface of the waters, with which latter the sphere would thus be entirely covered. Let us also in idea remove its atmospheric envelope, that all friction or pressure may be removed between the two fluids of air and water-what, then, could we expect to find under such an arrangement? We could not look for any circulation in the watery covering, under such circumstances. Every thing would remain in perfect repose; and unless the waters were preserved in purity by some principle not now in existence, they would soon become corrupted and unsuitable to the nourishment of organic life. But let us now suppose a sudden impulse of rotation to be given to the sphere with its fluid covering; and let us consider what would be the effect of the rapid rotatory movement upon the circumambient waters. If a plate or other shallow vessel containing water be impelled in any direction horizontally, the fluid, participating but little in the impulse, is left behind on the spot whence the movement began; it cannot keep pace with the motion of the solid. In the same manner the globe would revolve upon its axis, while the superficial waters would remain nearly stationary, and would have all the appearance of moving in opposite directions, seeming to transport floating bodies from east to west, while, in point of fact, the earth was passing them from west to east. Thus we perceive that, in the supposed case which we have now put, the steady movement of the solid ball would be imperceptible, while floating bodies on the surface of the water would visibly become more distant in an opposite direction. This apparent movement would naturally be greatest in the equatorial regions, being the outer rim of the revolving wheel; while towards the axis the waters would be little, if at all, affected by the rotation.

Let us now, for a moment, suppose our globe to be surrounded with its atmosphere, or envelope of fluids of a different nature. Without rotatory movement in the solid, there could be no semblance of regular movement in this aerial fluid, and we could therefore have no trade-winds. Other partial winds there would be, it is true, occasioned by heat acting on the elasticity of the air, and by a constant succession of expansion and contraction arising from various degrees of temperature. But if we suppose, as before, a revolving and rapid motion to be given to the sphere thus surrounded with its airy envelope, a similarity of cause would immediately occasion a similarity of effect. The trade-winds would be produced in the equatorial

regions, while the circulation of the atmosphere in the more temperate and frigid latitudes would be carried on by the changes of temperature in the same manner, or nearly so, as if there had been no rotatory motion at all. This effect of the trade-winds, and, by analogy, of the oceanic currents, may be simply illustrated by the example of a well-mounted horseman in a calm day. While he remains still, not a breath of air blows. He moves slowly, but produces little effect in deranging the quiet of the atmosphere. The more rapid his course, however, the more violent will be the current of air which seems to blow in his face whichever way he goes; and even in the case of a moderate breeze, he may "outstrip the wind," and make it seem to blow in an opposite direction.

It must be obvious then, that the effects of the revolving motion of our globe must be the same, both upon the fluids of the air, and upon the fluids of the ocean, and consequently, that the regular trade-winds, and the regular equatorial currents, proceed each separately from this cause, and would equally exist even in the absence of the other. But it may be urged, that the trade-winds are much more constant to their course than the equatorial currents, and it therefore seems difficult to imagine that they can both proceed from the same cause. The reply to this objection is extremely simple, when we look a little deeper into the nature and circumstances of the two fluids. The atmospheric fluid is above the surface of the solid, and is but slightly deranged by the asperities and interruptions it may have to encounter, in the form of the islands, continents, or mountains of the earth. Some derangement actually does take place, however, from these causes, but it bears no comparison to the counter-currents and eddies which are found in the ocean, arising from the numerous and insurmountable obstacles which are thrown in the way of the regular equatorial streams. In the supposed case, which was before put merely for illustration, we considered the globe to be entirely covered with the waters. Such is not, however, the reality now, although this preternatural effect has certainly existed, on one most memorable occasion, the evident traces of which attest the fact, on every part of the surface of the globe. Such is not, however, the usual state of things; on the contrary, the ocean occupies about two-thirds of the whole surface, while the remainder is broken into a thousand dispersed fragments, each opposing its solid form, as the sphere revolves, to the regularity of the oceanic movements. If the smooth and polished wheel of the turner be made to revolve in water, the movement, however rapid, produces little or no commotion in the fluid; but let the polished wheel be changed for one having a toothed or unequal edge, and we shall instantly perceive a very opposite effect. The effects of the paddles of the steam-boat on smooth and tranquil waters will also bring this subject home to the mind of every one. We cannot then look for the same regularity of movement in the equatorial currents of the ocean that is perceptible in the equatorial currents of the atmosphere.

In considering the origin of the currents of the ocean, it must be kept in mind that they proceed from two distinct causes, and thus exhibit one of the most wonderful and provident effects to be seen in the order of the works of the Creator. Water and air, if left stagnant, soon become corrupt and unwholesome; and it is evidently a wise provision of the Almighty, which has furnished the laws by which a constant circulation and movement are kept up in both. In the case of the atmosphere, the circulation occasioned by the winds take place, partly by means of the revolutions of the earth on its axis, and partly by the expansive nature of air when affected by the heat of the sun. The lower beds of the atmosphere are elevated into the higher regions by heat; and other portions of the fluid, rushing in to fill up the vacuum, occasion streams of wind of various degrees of force. The seasons of the year, and the duration of the effects of summer and winter in various latitudes, also occasion similar currents of air more or less durable, according to circumstances. But in the case of the currents of the ocean, there are