The annexed sketch of our route, prepared by Mr. Jinkins and Kraut, is respectfully submitted to the Public. It is not, of course, compiled with that accuracy, which will characterize our final maps, but for the ordinary purposes of travel, will be found sufficiently correct.

J. P., A. M. C. E. & C. A.

RECONNOISSANCE

OF THE

CENTRAL RAILROAD ROUTE,

FROM

SAN FRANCISCO TO THE MISSION OF DOLORES,

By Prof. John Phoenix, Esq., A. M. &. C. A. & C. E.

DRAWN BY KRAUT AND JINKINS, R. A., ARTISTS TO THE EXPEDITION.

NOTE-The soundings are in fathoms, showing the depth of mud and water during the rainy

season.

MARKET STREET.

(a)

(a) Represents a man walking down the street at the time of the passage of the Expedition.

A NEW SYSTEM OF ENGLISH GRAMMAR.

I HAVE often thought that the adjectives of the English language were not sufficiently definite for the purposes of description. They have but three degrees of comparison-a very insufficient number, certainly, when we consider that they are to be applied to a thousand objects, which, though of the same general class or quality, differ from each other by a thousand different shades or degrees of the same peculiarity. Thus, though there are three hundred and sixty-five days in a year, all of which must, from the nature of things, differ from each other in the matter of climate,--we have but half a dozen expressions to convey to one another our ideas of this inequality. We say "It is a fine day;" "It is a very fine day;" "It is the finest day we have seen; or, It is an unpleasant day;" "A very unpleasant day;" "The most unpleasant day we ever saw." But it is plain, that none of these expressions give an exact idea of the nature of the day; and the two superlative expressions are generally untrue. I

once heard a gentleman remark, on a rainy, snowy, windy and (in the ordinary English language) indescribable day, that it was 66 most preposterous weather." He came nearer to giving a correct idea of it, than he could have done by any ordinary mode of expression; but his description was not sufficiently definite.

Again:-we say of a lady-" She is beautiful; " " She is very beautiful," or "She is perfectly beautiful; "—descriptions, which, to one who never saw her, are no descriptions at all, for among thousands of women he has seen, probably no two are equally beautiful; and as to a perfectly beautiful woman, he knows that no such being was ever created—unless by G. P. R. James, for one of the two horsemen to fall in love with, and marry at the end of the second volume.

If I meet Smith in the street, and ask him—as I am pretty sure to do" How he does?" he infallibly replies"Tolerable, thank you "--which gives me no exact idea of Smith's health-for he has made the same reply to me on a hundred different occasions-on every one of which there must have been some slight shade of difference in his physical economy, and of course a corresponding change in his feelings.

To a man of a mathematical turn of mind—to a student and lover of the exact sciences these inaccuracies of expression-this inability to understand exactly how things are, must be a constant source of annoyance; and to one who like myself, unites this turn of mind to an ardent love of truth, for its own sake-the reflection that the English 2*

language does not enable us to speak the truth with exact ness, is peculiarly painful. For this reason I have, with some trouble, made myself thoroughly acquainted with every ancient and modern language, in the hope that I might find some one of them that would enable me to express precisely my ideas; but the same insufficiency of adjectives exist in all except that of the Flathead Indians of Puget Sound, which consists of but forty-six words, mostly nouns; but to the constant use of which exists the objection, that nobody but that tribe can understand it. And as their literary and scientific advancement is not such as to make a residence among them, for a man of my disposition, desirable, I have abandoned the use of their language, in the belief that for me it is hyas. cultus., or as the Spaniard hath it, no me vale nada.

Despairing, therefore, of making new discoveries in foreign languages, I have set myself seriously to work to reform our own; and have, I think, made an important discovery, which, when developed into a system and universally adopted, will give a precision of expression, and a consequent clearness of idea, that will leave little to be desired, and will, I modestly hope, immortalize my humble name as the promulgator of the truth and the benefactor of the human

race.

Before entering upon my system I will give you an account of its discovery (which, perhaps I might with more modesty term an adaptation and enlargement of the idea of another), which will surprise you by its simplicity, and like

the method of standing eggs on end, of Columbus, the inventions of printing, gunpowder and the mariner's compassprove another exemplification of the truth of Hannah More's beautifully expressed sentiment:

"Large streams from little fountains flow,

Large aches from little toe-corns grow."

During the past week my attention was attracted by a large placard embellishing the corners of our streets, headed in mighty capitals, with the word "PHRENOLOGY," and illustrated by a map of a man's head, closely shaven, and laid off in lots, duly numbered from one to forty-seven. Beneath this edifying illustration appeared a legend, informing the inhabitants of San Diego and vicinity that Professor Dodge had arrived, and taken rooms (which was inaccurate, as he had but one room) at the Gyascutus House, where he would be happy to examine and furnish them with a chart of their heads, showing the moral and intellectual endowments, at the low price of three dollars each.

Always gratified with an opportunity of spending my money and making scientific researches, I immediately had my hair cut and carefully combed, and hastened to present myself and my head to the Professor's notice. I found him a tall and thin Professor, in a suit of rusty, not to say seedy black, with a closely buttoned vest, and no perceptible shirtcollar or wristbands. His nose was red, his spectacles were blue, and he wore a brown wig, beneath which, as I subsequently ascertained, his bald head was laid off in lots, marked