The New York herald., 1879-12-17
Science Enlivenea by Romance.


We print from advance sheets the prin-
cipal parts of the Vicomte de Lesseps'
treatise upon an American interoceanic
canal which will appear in the January
number of the North american Rev;e,c. The
time-worn story of another Frenchman, who
constructed ON ideal camel out of his con-
sciousness and wrote brilliant treatise
upon the imaginary creature without ever
seeing the live animal, comes irresistibly to
mind while reading it. After listening to
Admiral Ammen's straightforward lecture
on the same topic last week, which
stuck SO closely to dry discus
sion of the subject, NJ de Lesseps'
Solomon's ships sailed up the Amazon and
the red men OF this continent are descend
ants of Egyptians, together with his re-
searches into the ancient Peruvian Ian
guage and anecdotes Of diplomatic expert
ence with Mehemet Ali, seem delightfully."-
impertinent to the real matter in hand.
His picturesque description of the result
Of the Paris Canal Congress as "a monu-
ment of science erected in a fortnight" his
unlimited averment that the French explo-
rations furnish all that is wanting to an
exact knowledge of the American Isthmus
throughout it's entire length, and his posi-
tive assurance that "the Panama Canal will
be easier to begin, to finish and to main
tain than the Canal of Suez," FIJI US with
equal admiration. The sober and plodding
American surveyors and calculators who
have been hard at work upon this great
canal problem, not merely for fortnight,
but for the last quarter Of century, and
have modestly but firmly reached other
conclusions, will hold their breath with
surprise at the dashing style of their re-
doubtable French adversary But we well
come it heartily. 1t enlivens an uncom-
monty serious scientific debate with the
charms of romantic literature.
Emaucipating ourselves, however, from
the fascination of the Vicomte's romantic
method Of treatment, and analyzing his
article for the purpose of extracting the
pith of 1t, its conclusions may be summed
up in two sentences. He contends that q
canal by the Nicaragua route, fed with river
and lake water, is inexpedient, because it
will be impossible to build it with lines
straight enough to permit the passage Of
large steamships, because there will be
such delays in working the locks that it
will be useless for practical navigation, and
because it will be frequently broken up by
earthquakes. He contends also that tide
water canal by the Panama route is expe-
dent, because the Paris Canal Con-
gress has voted that it is practi-
cable, because ''there are no earth
quakes at Panama." and because he
'trusts that there are no serious physical
obstacles" But he does not expand his
argument on any of these points sufficiently
to carry conviction against the official ad-
vice Of the United States commission
which was appointed by President Grant
in 1872 and reported in 1876, and OF which
Admiral Ammen is the representative. His
article is only adapted to stimulate the
already enlisted partisans Of the Panama
project under the Colombian ten per cent
grant, but not to convince and disarm any
of its critics. As to his connection with
that project and grant he desires it to be
understood that he "has assumed the re-
sponsibility of the enterprise, and no one
else has any responsibility whatever for
its methods and management.