"In consequence of the gradual rise of the river's bed, the annual flood is constantly spreading over a wider area, and the alluvial soil encroaches on the desert. . . . . . For this reason, the alluvial deposit does not cause the delta to protrude rapidly into the sea. It has made small progress in the last 2,000 years. . . . . The most careful analysis of the Nile mud shows a singularly close resemblance in the proportions of the ingredients of silica, alumina, iron, carbon, lime, and magnesia, and those observed in ordinary mica; but a much larger quantity of calcareous matter is sometimes present. . . . . . Nothing but the finest and lightest ingredients reach the Mediterranean. . . . . . The depth of the Mediterranean is about twelve fathoms at a small distance from the shore of the delta; it afterwards increases gradually to fifty, and then suddenly descends to 380 fathoms, which is, perhaps, the original depth of the sea where it has not been rendered shallower by fluviatile matter." *

An argument for the feasibility of M. de Lesseps's plan is founded upon the fact, that anciently the Isthmus of Suez was pierced by a canal, which after several centuries was closed, partly through neglect and partly from considerations of polit ical expediency. If we may credit Strabo, the great Sesostris, whom Wilkinson and Lepsius suppose to be the same as Ramesses II., built a canal connecting the Nile with the Red Sea. "It commenced about 12 miles to the northeast of the modern town of Belbeys, and after following a direction nearly east for about 33 miles, it turned to the south-southeast, and continued about 63 more in that line to the extremity of the Arabian Gulf." The proof of its great antiquity is thus stated by Wilkinson: "Though filled with sand, its direction is still easily traced, as well from the appearance of its channel, as from the mounds and vestiges of ancient towns upon its banks, in one of which I found a monument bearing the sculptures and name of Ramesses II., the more satisfactory, as being a strong proof of its having existed at least as early as the reign of that monarch." Lepsius confirms this view. He says: "This canal was undoubtedly cut by Ramesses (Sesostris), because in the neighboring ruins of Abu Keshêb a granite group has been found which represents this king, and which must have stood in the temple of the place." In + Wilkinson, Vol. I. pp. 69, 71.

* Principles of Geology, p. 262.

Egypt, Ethiopia, and Sinai, p. 441.

the seventh century before Christ, that commercial Pharaoh, Necho, who kept large fleets upon both the Mediterranean and the Red Sea, and who well-nigh circumnavigated Africa, commenced re-opening this canal, but desisted, says Herodotus, upon a warning from the oracle that he was laboring for the barbarians; that is, would give facility to the invasions of an enemy. Herodotus and Diodorus make this Pharaoh the projector of the canal; but it is evidently of much higher antiquity. "After the time of the Ptolemies and Cæsars," to use the condensed statement of Wilkinson, "it was again neglected, and suffered to go to decay; but on the revival of trade with India, this line of communication from the Red Sea to the Nile was once more proposed, the canal was reopened by the Caliphs, and it continued to be used and kept in repair till the commerce of Alexandria was ruined by the discovery of the passage round the Cape."*

Here, then, is a fact of great importance in any calculations for a canal from Suez to the Mediterranean; namely, a canal more than 100 miles long, more than 100 feet broad, † and 40 in depth, did once exist upon the isthmus. True, this canal connected the Red Sea with the Nile, and therefore gives no clew to the nature of the harbor at Pelusium. But the restored canal of Ptolemy Philadelphus followed the line proposed by M. de Lesseps, from the Gulf of Suez to the Bitter Lakes. This canal was 100 feet wide and 40 deep. That monarch also constructed an artificial sluice, probably at the point where the sea entered, where he also built the town Arsinoë. What has been done may be done. The disuse of this canal was the result, not of natural obstacles, but of the decaying and changing government of Egypt.

So far, then, as the surface of the country is concerned, we believe that the project of M. de Lesseps is feasible. He estimates the cost of the canal, and of the two harbors on the Mediterranean and the Red Sea, at 185,000,000 francs, or $37,000,000. This is no doubt an under-estimate. The Red Sea, once supposed to be 30 feet above the level of the Mediterranean, is now ascertained to have a mean level of only 21

*Vol. I. p. 71.

† Some say cubits; but Pliny says feet. Vol. VI. 533.

feet above that sea, which is barely sufficient to give a current to a canal 70 miles in length, but would be of no service in the work of excavation. Both labor and life are held so cheap in Egypt, that, wherever native labor would avail, the excavation could be conducted at the minimum of wages. But in blasting, and in building locks, piers, and harbors, European skill and labor would be in requisition. The great cost of the work would be in constructing harbors at Pelusium and Suez.

M. Lesseps estimates the receipts of the canal at 40,000,000 francs, or $8,000,000 per annum; but of this $2,000,000 is to be derived from the produce of lands adjacent to the canal, yet to be reclaimed and fertilized!

The danger to sailing-vessels in navigating the Red Sea, and the frequent delay in beating in and out of the Straits of Gibraltar, will be serious objections to the use of the canal by British East-Indiamen. Travel and the mails are already better accommodated by the railroad from Alexandria to Suez. Yet for large steamers carrying freight this canal would afford immense advantages, and we can hardly doubt that the project will one day be realized, but mainly in the interest of France and Austria. Egypt has been styled the "Holy Land of Commercial Freedom."

Rabbi Benjamin of Tudela thus describes the commerce of Alexandria in 1168:

"The city is very mercantile, and affords an excellent market to all nations. People from all Christian kingdoms resort to Alexandria, from Valencia, Tuscany, Lombardy, Apulia, Amalfi, Sicilia, Rakovia, Catalonia, Spain, Roussillon, Germany, Saxony, Denmark, England, Flanders, Hainault, Normandy, France, Poitou, Anjou, Burgundy, Mediana, Provence, Genoa, Pisa, Gascony, Arragon, and Navarre. From the west you meet Mohammedans from Andalusia, Algarve, Africa, and Arabia, as well as from the countries towards India, Abyssinia, Nubia, Yemen, Mesopotamia, and Syria, besides Greeks and Turks. From India they import all sorts of spices, which are bought by Christian merchants. The city is full of bustle, and every nation has its own hostelry there.". Travels, Bohn, p. 128.

At the close of the last century, Alexandria had declined to the lowest stage of neglect; but the energy of Mohammed

Ali restored it to life, and it has once more become the leading port of the Mediterranean. The opening of the harbor of Pelusium would not materially affect the prosperity of Alexandria. The interior trade of Egypt would always create a considerable activity in her market, while the transit of mails and passengers by the Suez railroad would continue to enliven her streets and to give occupation for her citizens. The canal would be used by powerful steamers, or by East-Indiamen towed by steam.

M. de Lesseps has procured from the government of Egypt a charter for an international company with exclusive rights and privileges for the canalization of the Isthmus of Suez,* and a commission of engineers from France, England, Austria, Prussia, Holland, and Sardinia have gone to Egypt to survey the route. Their report will settle the whole question. †

Meantime, we of the United States may look calmly on, gradually pressing a railroad to the Pacific, multiplying our communications with California, establishing lines of steamers from San Francisco to Canton, and thus monopolizing a trade which no Eastern canal or railroad can divert from our

*The principal terms of the firman are as follows:

1. The company to bear the whole expense of the work.

2. The company to pay into the treasury of Egypt fifteen per cent, and to the original stockholders ten per cent, of the net revenue.

3. The Egyptian government to have supervision over its tariff of tolls, &c.

4. Perfect equality to the ships of all nations; exclusive privileges to none. 5. This grant holds for ninety-nine years from the day of opening the canal. 6. All public lands necessary for the canal to be given gratuitously; and all uncultivated public lands which the company shall make fertile by irrigation shall become the property of the company.

The company has also the right to tax all persons using the water of the canal for irrigation, the right to use all necessary materials from the state quarries, and the free entry of all machines and materials of construction.

†The commissioners of the several governments appointed to explore the route recommended by M. de Lesseps have not yet issued a public report. But we are assured from private sources, which we regard as perfectly reliable, that their judgment is so favorable to the plan of M. de Lesseps, that two thirds of the amount of stock has already been subscribed, and the feeding and irrigating canal from the Nile through Goshen will be dug, and the quarries opened, during the present year. We understand also, that, by turning the mouth of the canal at the Mediterranean westward, five-fathom water can be reached with one half the extent of dyke originally contemplated.

grasp. Thus, while the empires of the Old World struggle, now with arms, now with diplomacy, and now with engineering, for ascendency in the East, we of this Western hemisphere, if only we are true to the principles of freedom, of peace, and of religion, shall appropriate to ourselves the wealth of the Indies and the dominion of the seas.

ART. IX.

Surgical Reports and Miscellaneous Papers on Medical Subjects. By GEORGE HAYWARD, M. D., President of the Massachusetts Medical Society, Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, late Professor of Surgery in Harvard University, and Consulting Surgeon to the Massachusetts General Hospital. Boston: Phillips, Sampson, & Co. 1855. 12mo. pp. 452.

THIS work is the third which has recently been published by retired Professors of the Medical School of Harvard University; and, with those of Doctors Bigelow and Jackson, it furnishes a pleasing opportunity for paying a just tribute to the medical science of Boston. We have been long accustomed to look upon Philadelphia and New York as the centres of medical publication in this country. Boston, noted for her skilful surgeons and physicians, produces comparatively few medical books; Philadelphia and New York, with no better materials, flood the country with their works on medicine and surgery. Boston writes little, but that little is original, practical, and the result of long experience; her sister cities write much,- too much perhaps,-in the form of translations, compilations, manuals, guides to, rather than the results of, practice.

*

The work of Dr. Bigelow has been noticed by us in a former number, as exceedingly valuable and interesting, even to the general reader. Dr. Jackson's "Letters to a Young Physician" affords important aid to the practitioner, in language eminently clear and intelligible. The work of Dr. Hayward is more strictly intended for the profession, and

* April, 1855.