"They will ascertain, what is as yet but very imperfectly known, the depth, the temperature, the saltness, and the specific gravity of the sea-water in those high latitudes--the velocity of the currents, the state of atmospherical electricity in the arctic regions, and its connexion, at which we have glanced, with the inclination, declination, and intensity of force of the magnetic needle; on which subject alone, a collection of facts towards the upper part of Davis's Straits would be worth a voyage of discovery. It has, indeed, been long suspected that one of the magnetic poles will be found in this neighbourhood, as in no part of the world have such extraordinary phenomena been observed, or such irregularities in the vibration and the variation of the needle. "A comparison of the magnetic influence near the pole, with what it has been observed to be on the equator, might lead to important results; and the swinging of a pendulum as near the pole as can be approached, to compare with the oscillations observed in the Shetland Islands, and in the southern hemisphere, would be a great point gained for science." We have no room in this Number to consider the probability of success in this attempt, nor the question, whether the breaking up of the Greenland ice, and its passage to, and dissolution in, the south, have been attended with a chilling influence on the continents. That such a chilling effect might be extensively exerted, is certainly credible. Approaching some of the icebergs, in April 1805, on the shoals of Newfoundland, we were rendered very sensible of the vicinity of such dangerous neighbours, by the great chill in the air, long before they were visible; and when we had passed them, the weather again grew milder. Perhaps it militates against the probability of finding the northern polar basin free of ice, that Captain Cook, in his approximation to the southern pole, in January, 1773, when in latitude 67° 15′ south, "could proceed no farther; the ice being entirely closed to the south, in the whole extent from east to west-southwest, without the least appearance of any opening." The advanced season of the year did not, however, permit Captain Cook to ascertain whether he could coast around this ice--whether it was ultimately attached to land, or was a part of a vast field extending to the south pole. This last is however highly improbable, because being found about 23° from the pole, it is hardly credible that it would occupy so extensive a region as to embrace the pole, and, perhaps extend as much farther beyond; especially as in similar latitudes in the opposite hemisphere, navigation is comparatively free, and has been pushed even to more than 80° of north latitude. The scientific, as well as the commercial world, will wait with no small impatience for the termination of the two grand arctic expeditions, which are among the most original and daring, and may be among the most interesting and momentous hitherto undertaken by man.