New-York daily tribune., 1861-09-08
NEW PUBLICATIONS.
MICHELET's SEA.

NJ. Micbeet brings to the picturesque illustra-
ZION of tho wonders of the ocean the same lively
fancy the same fuency Of expression, and the
same passion for the sensuous aspects Of nature,
which cha acterize the productions Of his pen
that have recently gained considerable degree
Of notoriety in American trausiations. 90 lar
from losing anything Of its brilliancy and ierVor
with declining years, his imagination takes ireSn
license, and often runs riot in its strange anu
fantastic creations. He gives no evidence VI
mental soundness shows no love OF proporuon'
symmetry, or even probability, in his polo CA
cursions, and always leaves the impression Oh
man with an intense passion for enec', VuV
with lttle zeal for the truth. Still many Oh lno
descriptions in this volume are not without
certain charm and in frequent instances suggest
images of dim and sbadowy beauty tha1 form
an attractive embellishment to the conclusions Oh
acisnce. Among these may be noticed some par
agraphs on
THE POWER OF THE WAVES.
We mere laudsmen are indebted to the bold nayiga-
tors for at least tie courtesy of giving what old Chau-
cer cas "fath and full credenCe to what they tell us
about what they have actually seen and suffered. IL
seems to me that there is exceedingly tad aste IN that
skeptica levity which Of the study those stsyat-
home
of what soaen tell us, for instance about the hight OF
the waves. They laugh at the seaman who tells US OF
waves hundred feet in hight. Engineers affect TO be
able to the tempest, and to assure MS that
twenty feet is the utmost hight Of a wave On the
other hand excellent observer on the tee
tmouy of his own sight that standing In ssfety on ne
shore observing calmly and i'll Absence OF all distrGc
ton he has seen waves that would oyertop the TOW
of Notre Dame and the nights Of Montmsrtre. IL ls
abundantly evident that these opposing witnesses speak
of two totally different things and hence their at
contradiction. If we speak Of the lower bed OF 'he
tempest, of tbote long bowling waves which even IN
their fury preserve certain regularity, probably ihe
calculation of the engineers is pretty exact. With
their rounded alternating with depressed valleys
it is likely enough that their utmost hight does POT
greatly exceed twenty or hye-and-twenty feet b9t
your choppng sea- where cross wave furiously bhrls
itself against cross wave rses far higher In their
fierce collision they hurl each other to quite prod9
ous hight and fall with crushing weight assaiied by
which the stOutest craft would open her seams, and
go bodily down into the dark depths OF the angry ta
Nothing so heavy as sea water, IN those mighty
shocks those falls OF which sailors truth
fully speak and of which none but those who h:ve
witnessed them, calculate the tremendous great
ness and power.
On q certain day not Of tempest but of emotion,
when old Ocean INDUCED only in wild and grace ili
gayeties was TRANQUILITY seated upon beautiful heid
land Of eighty feet in hight, and enjoyed myseh
in watching the waves as upon line OF quarter o. a
league they rushed in as If TO assa my rocky seaf, the
green crest of each wave rounding and rearing, wave
urging wave though in actual and intelligent racing
Now and then a sea would strike go that my very
hesdland seemed to tremble, and burst as with a
thunder clap at my very feet Advancing, retiring,
returning breaking, the wildly sportiye waves We're
for long time quite admirably regular in their move
meas. But sudden this regularity was at an END.
Some wild cross from the west suddenly struck
nv great regular and hitherto we'll behaved
from the sonth. Such the crash that In an Instant
the very kky above rue was darkened by the binding
spray; and on my lofty ProIcniory was c1Teeo % not
huge, dark, massive wave, which fell on me, heavy,
crushing, and thoroughly saturating All! Just then
should very much have liked the company Of those
very learned Aeademicans and ultra positive Engl-
peers who are so well posted up in the combats OF the
Ocean, and very certain that the utmost hight OF
wave is Just twenty feet No; TRANQUILITY seated in
eur studies should not lightly question the Xcracly
of 30 many bold, hardy and resolved men, who have
looked Death in the face too often to be guilty OF the
childish vanity Of exaggeratng the dangers which they
have often braved-and ready to brave again.
Nor should we oppose the calm narratives Of
ordinary navigators the great and well-known
courses to the animated and often thrilling pictures
occasionally presented to 10y the bold discoyerers
who seek the very reefs and shoals viii h the
berd of sailors carefully avoid Cook PerOn ID Cr
vle-diseoverers such bsbese incurred very real dan
gers n the then unrequented Australian and Coalline
seas compelled they to dare the continually
siug ssnd bank and the conflicting currents which
raise such frightful connections in the chan
GELS.
the following passages on
THE LIFE OF THE SEA.
At the heart of the globe in the warm waters Of tie
Line, and upon their volcanic bottoms, the sea so
suPerabounds In life that 1t impossible for it TO
balance its multitudinous creations. Overpassing
purely vegetable life, its earliest products organ
ged, sensitiye, living.
But these animals adorn themselves with singular
splendor of botanic beauty, the splendid veres OF
eccentfic and most luxUrlan Flora. Far as the eye
can reach, you zee what, judging from the forms and
colors, you take for flo wers, and shrubs and plants
But those plants have their movements those shrubs
irritable, those flowers shrink and shudder with
incpent senstiveness which promises perception and
sciK.
Charming oscillation, fascinating notion most grace
ful eouiyOque! On the confines Of the two Kingdoms
Of animal and vegetable life, Mind, under those faery
oscillations gives token Of its first awakening, its
dawn its morning tW light, to be followed by go-
pearfy and ensmehed fashings, tell at once Of the
past Dight and the thought of the dawDing day.
Thought may venture 10 call II SO! No. it is
still a Dream, which by degrees will clear up into
Thought.
Already in the north Of Africa over the other side
of the Cape, the vegetable kingdom, which reigns
alone IN the temperate zone, itself rivaled,
passed The great enchaniment progresses increases
as we near the Equator On the land tree shrub,
flower weed, proud and gorgeous flaming ia every
bright color delicate IN every soft shade aud beneath
the waters slime and the ruddy eorals. Beside par
terres that display rainbow beauties Of every color
and every tint commence the stone PLANTS the nadre
pores whose branches should not rather say their
hands and fingers y flourish in roSe-tinted snow,
like peach or apple blossoms Seven hundred leagues
on either side Of the Equator you sail through this
fasry land Of magical Illusion and wondrous beauty.
There are doubtful creatures the Coralnes for in
stance, that claimed by all the three khgdoms.
They tend toward the animal they tend toward the
mineral, and finally, assigned to the vegetable.
Perchapce they form the real point at which Life OBJ
L. -