The American expedition, under Captain Wilkes, has been equally successful in discovering the south polar island or continent, for its geographical character has not yet been ascertained. The land was first seen in 64 degrees 50 minutes south latitude, and 154 degrees 18 minutes east longitude, by a singular coincidence precisely on the same day, 19th January, that it had been observed by the French navigator; and Wilkes was enabled to run along the shore, for about 1700 miles, as far as 97 degrees 45 minutes east longitude, so near the land as often to find soundings with a few fathoms of line, and to be able to carry away several valuable geological specimens of the rocks and soil. His description of the appearance of the coast corresponds with that already given. Whether any immediate beneficial results, practically applicable to the improvement of commerce and colonization, will accrue from these discoveries, may be doubtful, but the experience of the era in which we live forbids us to reject the prospect of ultimate benefits to society from any discovery tending to enlarge the bounds of science, though the means by which they are to be sought for are still out of sight. The discovery of the extensive line of coast ranging nearly along the south polar circle, serves in some degree to realize the conjectures of former geographers, who, observing that by much the greater mass of known land was in the northern hemisphere, laid down the position that there must lie a countervailing quantity of land somewhere in the southern hemisphere; so fully convinced were they of the existence of this fancied continent, that in the maps constructed by Herman Moll and other scientific artists of his time, the coast is laid down in a line nearly corresponding in latitude with that of Terre Adelie, and continued round the globe, so as to represent the whole of the south frigid zone as a continent, on which they inscribe the name of Terra Australia Incognita--the unknown southern region. With those who originated the supposition, this unknown region was a mere creature of the imagination. They were in possession of no facts to prove its reality; yet it is singular that in this, as well as in many other fictions, the ideal creature of the fancy has been discovered to have some foundation in the realities of existence. * * * * *