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Acknowledgments
I would like to thank Mary K. Campbell, coauthor of Biochemistry, and

Brooks/Cole Publishers for permission to use figures from the aforemen-
tioned text.
Special thanks go to Bio Rad Laboratories, Fisher Scientific, Milton-
Roy, Calbiochem, Rainin Instruments, and Sigma Chemicals for permis-
sion to use figures from their instruction manuals.
The molecular biology portions of this manual would not have been
possible without the generous assistance of Dr. Linda Holland from the
University of California at San Diego.
I would also like to thank the following reviewers for their suggestions
and improvements for this edition:
Dr. Pamela K. Kerrigan, College of Mount Saint Vincent/Manhattan

College
Edwin A. Lewis, Northern Arizona University
Ruel McKnight, SUNY Geneseo
Dr. R. Marshall Werner, Lake Superior State University
Jacqueline Whitling, Lock Haven University
© 2006 Thomson Brooks/Cole, a part of The Thomson Corporation. vii
Copyright 2010 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s).
Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.
Technical Help
An Instructor’s Manual, which includes instructor’s guidelines to equip-

ment and reagents, is available to adopters of this book through your local
Brooks/Cole representative. Technical help concerning material in this
manual is available from the author. Feel free to contact Dr. Shawn Farrell
at the following email address and phone: [email protected] 719-229-
0732
© 2006 Thomson Brooks/Cole, a part of The Thomson Corporation. ix
Contents
Introduction to the Text v

Objectives of the Biochemistry Laboratory xvii
Chapter Format of Experiments in Biochemistry xviii
Chapter 1 Biochemistry Boot Camp 1

1.1 Lab Safety 1
1.2 Scientific Notation 3
1.3 Significant Figures 4
1.4 Statistics and Scientific Measurements 5
1.5 Units 8
1.6 Concentration of Solutions 9
1.7 Dilutions 11
1.8 Graphing 13
1.9 Pipets and Pipetmen 22
Experiment 1 Using Pipettors 29
Chapter 2 Acids, Bases, and Buffers 37

2.1 Strong Acids and Bases 37
2.2 Weak Acids and Bases 39
2.3 Polyprotic Acids 40
2.4 Buffers 41
2.5 Good’s Buffers 43
2.6 Choosing a Buffer 44
2.7 Effect of Concentration and Temperature 45
2.8 How We Make Buffers 47
2.9 The Big Summary 48
© 2006 Thomson Brooks/Cole, a part of The Thomson Corporation. xi
xii Contents
2.10 Why Is This Important? 49

2.11 Expanding the Topic 50
Experiment 2 Preparing Buffers 53
Chapter 3 Spectrophotometry 63
3.1 Absorption of Light 63
3.2 The Beer–Lambert Law 65
3.3 Standard Curves 67
3.4 Protein Assays 69
3.7 Tricks of the Trade 73
Experiment 3 Beer’s Law and Standard Curves 75
Experiment 3a Protein Concentration of LDH Fractions 83
Chapter 4 Enzyme Purification 89

4.1 Enzymes as Catalysts 89
4.2 Enzyme Purification 89
4.3 Units of Enzyme Activity 94
4.4 Calculating Initial Velocity 96
4.5 Purification Tables 98
4.6 Assay for Lactate Dehydrogenase (LDH) 98
4.8 Tricks of the Trade 100
Experiment 4 Purifying LDH (Short Version) 101
Experiment 4a Purifying LDH (Comprehensive Version) 109
Chapter 5 Ion-Exchange Chromatography 121

5.1 Amino Acids as Weak Acids and Bases 121
5.2 Isoelectric Point 126
5.3 Ion-Exchange Chromatography 129
5.4 Ion-Exchange Resins 131
5.5 Identification of Compounds Eluted from Columns 132
5.6 Thin-Layer Chromatography 134
Contents xiii

Experiment 5 Separating and Identifying Amino Acids 137
Experiment 5a Purifying LDH with Ion-Exchange Chromatography 145
Chapter 6 Affinity Chromatography 155

6.1 Affinity Chromatography 155
6.2 Gel Supports 155
6.3 Affinity Ligands 156
6.4 Elution of Bound Molecules 158
Experiment 6 Affinity Chromatography of LDH 161
Experiment 6a Affinity Chromatography of LDH 169
Chapter 7 Gel Filtration Chromatography 181

7.1 Gel Filtration 181
7.2 Types of Supports 181
7.3 Determining the Molecular Weight 183
7.4 Distribution Coefficients 183
Experiment 7 Gel Filtration Chromatography 187
Experiment 7a Gel Filtration Chromatography of LDH 197
Chapter 8 Enzyme Kinetics 211

8.1 Reaction Rates 211
8.2 Order of Reactions 212
8.3 The Michaelis–Menten Approach 212
8.4 Significance of Km and Vmax 215
8.5 Linear Plots 216
8.6 Properties of Tyrosinase 219
Experiment 8 Enzyme Kinetics of Tyrosinase 221
Experiment 8a Enzyme Kinetics of LDH 231
© 2006 Thomson Brooks/Cole, a part of The Thomson Corporation.
xiv Contents
Chapter 9 Electrophoresis 239

9.1 Electrophoresis 239
9.2 Agarose Gels 240
9.3 Polyacrylamide Gels 242
9.4 SDS-PAGE 244
9.5 Staining Gels 246
9.6 Lactate Dehydrogenase 248
Experiment 9 Native Gel Separation of LDH Isozymes
(Short Version) 251
Experiment 9a Native Gel Separation of LDH Isozymes
(Comprehensive Version) 257
Experiment 9b SDS-PAGE (Short Version) 263
Experiment 9c SDS-PAGE (Comprehensive Version) 269
Chapter 10 Western Blots 277

10.1 Western Blot Theory 277
10.2 Antibodies 278
10.3 Color Development 279
10.4 Blocking and Washing 280
Experiment 10 Western Blot of Serum Proteins 281
Experiment 10a Western Blot of LDH 287
Chapter 11 Restriction Enzymes 295

11.1 Restriction Nucleases 295
11.2 Restriction Maps 296
11.3 Agarose Gel Separation of DNA 298
11.4 Staining DNA 300
11.5 Phage λ DNA 300
Experiment 11 Analysis of DNA Restriction Fragments 303
Contents xv
Chapter 12 Cloning and Expression of Foreign Proteins 313

12.1 Recombinant DNA 313
12.2 Vectors 314
12.3 Foreign DNA 316
12.4 Restriction Enzymes 316
12.5 Cell Lines 322
12.6 Transformation 322
12.7 Selection 324
12.8 Expression 324
12.9 Fusion Proteins and Purifications 328
Experiment 12 Cloning and Expression
of Barracuda LDH-A 331
Chapter 13 Polymerase Chain Reaction 359

13.1 Amplification of DNA 359
13.2 Taq Polymerase 359
13.3 Primers 361
13.4 Changing Restriction Sites 364
Experiment 13 Polymerase Chain Reaction
of Barracuda LDH-A 367
Introduction to the Biochemistry Lab
Welcome to the biochemistry laboratory! Biochemistry is a fascinating sub-

ject that overlaps many other scientific fields. The techniques that you learn
in a biochemistry lab will be applicable to all life sciences across a broad
range of professional interests. Many courses in biology, microbiology,
chemistry, botany, zoology, food science, and nutrition have laboratories
that include large sections of biochemistry experiments and techniques.
Whether your professional interest is in working in a lab as a researcher,
going to graduate school, or entering a professional degree program such
as medicine or veterinary medicine, you will need the skills and knowledge
of biochemistry.
Objectives of the Biochemistry Laboratory

A biochemistry laboratory has several objectives. These include learning
• Physical skills and techniques of modern experimental biochemistry.
• How to think scientifically, think independently, and do the requisite
calculations.
• The theory behind the techniques and the biochemical pathways.
Physical skills involve using a pipet correctly, using a pH meter prop-
erly, balancing centrifuge tubes, loading chromatography columns, setting
up electrophoresis equipment, and so on. The techniques refer to the actual
types of experiments; each experiment has a specific goal and a proper
time and place for its use. The skills and techniques are the most important
part of this experience. Why? Because when you graduate, if you can list
on your résumé that you have done, for example, HPLC, SDS-PAGE, and
agarose gel electrophoresis of DNA, you will immediately impress poten-
tial employers. If you go into graduate school with a better-than-average
understanding of these techniques, then you will avoid needless repetition
in your first-year graduate courses. This puts you a step ahead and starts
your real research faster. If you immediately go into a field such as medical
technology, then these techniques will be your livelihood.
Thinking scientifically and doing calculations is also an important part
of laboratory science. You will never be just a pair of hands doing work;
planning future experiments and analyzing the data from past ones will
always need to be done. If you understand why things work the way they
do, you will plan your experiments correctly. This saves time and money
in the long run. It would be a tragic shame if you did a brilliant, elegant
© 2006 Thomson Brooks/Cole, a part of The Thomson Corporation. xvii
xviii Introduction to the Biochemistry Lab
experiment and then got the wrong conclusions because of a simple math
error. There are always calculations at the end of an experiment, and they
are very, very important. Never say or think, “That didn’t matter. It was
just a math error. I understood the important stuff.” In the medical field,
which many of you may aspire to, simple math errors can be fatal. In the
graduate laboratory, simple math errors can cost several month’s work and
your boss several months of supplies.
The basic knowledge of biochemistry and the related pathways are
learned effectively in a lecture course, but hands-on experience in the lab
reinforces that knowledge. That is why all experiments in this manual
revolve around some real biochemistry. Because you may not be taking
this lab concurrently with a lecture course, I have tried to give all the nec-
essary background for each experiment, but it is assumed that you have a
basic biochemistry text, such as Biochemistry by Mary Campbell and
Shawn Farrell, or Biochemistry by Reginald Garrett and Charles Grisham.
The theory behind the techniques is important so that you know how to
apply the techniques in a new situation and plan experiments from the
beginning.
Chapter Format of Experiments in Biochemistry

Each chapter is organized roughly according to the following areas:
Topics. This is what you should get out of reading each chapter and
doing each experiment. If you have done the experiment, read the
material carefully (perhaps more than once), and still do not have a
thorough understanding of the concepts, then one of us has not done
our job well enough.
Introduction. This gives the background material that I would nor-
mally present in a lecture course about the same topic. Sometimes the
background may be more intensive than you need for the fairly simple
technique that follows it, but it is better to be overthorough in this
case. Between this manual and a basic biochemistry text, you should
be able to complete all experiments and answer all questions without
spending time doing extensive research from journals. The most
important concepts are also summarized in the box Essential
Information. Problem-solving skills are demonstrated with the
Practice Sessions. Some chapters have the section Expanding the
Topic, which gives information that is not necessarily essential for
completing the experiment but goes into greater depth on some of the
fine points.
Prelab Questions. These are specific questions pertinent to the experi-
ment that you are about to do. I include them for a couple of reasons.
First, if you have read the material, you should know how to answer
these questions. If you do not, then you need to go back over it again.
Second, if you do not know the answers to the questions, you are
about to waste valuable lab time reading when you should be doing
Introduction to the Biochemistry Lab xix
the experiment. That will put you behind, and you and your lab part-
ner will probably be getting out of the lab late. Third, your instructor
may ask that you turn these questions in prior to the lab as part of
your lab grade. I always do.
Experimental Procedures. This section gives you the materials and meth-
ods you will be using for that experiment in a step-by-step procedure.
Always, and I repeat, always read all procedures before beginning anything!
Analysis of Results and Questions. This is where you report your
results and do the calculations for your data.
Additional Problem Set. Here you will find some more problems that
your instructor may ask you to do, or you may just use them for prac-
tice. You should be able to solve all problems with just this manual
and occasionally a basic biochemistry text.
Webconnections. The Brooks/Cole web site maintains links for many
helpful sites. You can also access information specific to this manual
by going to www.brookscole.com and selecting the link for Experiments
in Biochemistry.
References and Further Reading. These tell where much of the infor-
mation in this manual came from. They are listed for professional eti-
quette reasons, not as required reading. Also listed are books and
articles about particular topics in case you want to know more.
Chapter 1
Biochemistry Boot Camp

SURVIVAL IN THE BIOCHEMISTRY LAB
TOPICS
1.1 Lab Safety 1.6 Concentration of Solutions

1.2 Scientific Notation 1.7 Dilutions
1.3 Significant Figures 1.8 Graphing
1.4 Statistics and Scientific Measurements 1.9 Pipets and Pipetmen
1.5 Units
Introduction
In this chapter, we discuss some fundamentals of laboratory science. This material

is often overlooked by instructors who, correctly or incorrectly, assume that you
have learned it well in other courses. It could be argued that the material presented
here is the most important, however, due to the shear magnitude of the repetition.
You will constantly be doing calculations involving units, concentrations, and
dilutions. You will be presenting your data using tables and graphs. You will do
hundreds of pipettings during a semester. If this material is not mastered, you
will pay a heavy price all semester. Read this chapter thoroughly, even if you think
you already know it. You may just find an informational jewel you had not
expected.
1.1 Lab Safety A lab can be a dangerous place if you are not careful. This potential danger
comes from several sources. First, the very nature of the chemicals and
equipment used may be hazardous. We try to minimize use of hazardous
materials, but some modern techniques in biochemistry require that we
use them. Hazardous chemicals are noted in the “Materials” section of the
experiments. Some equipment may be dangerous due to moving parts,
heat, or potential electric shock. Only by using the equipment correctly, as
instructed, will you be sure that you are safe.
Second, glassware used in a lab is always considered dangerous
because it breaks when dropped or mishandled. Flying glassware may
come from anywhere, so you may not be the one who makes the mis-
take, but you may be the one who pays for it. Proper clothing and eye
© 2006 Thomson Brooks/Cole, a part of The Thomson Corporation. 1
2 Chapter 1 / Biochemistry Boot Camp
protection is the only sensible way to protect yourself against most com-
mon lab accidents.
Third, most accidents are caused by carelessness. A student who is
mentally prepared to undertake the lab, has studied the material, and
understands the procedures is much less likely to make a mistake that
could injure someone. Simple mistakes like careless washing of glassware
can be dangerous if water ends up on the floor and isn’t cleaned up. Note
and observe the following lab procedures.
Things You Should Do

1. Always use some form of protective eyewear. The most reliable are
certified lab goggles that protect from the sides as well as the front.
Contact lenses can be a problem in a lab because tears do not wash out
things spilled in the eye when a contact lens is present. Eyewash sta-
tions are not efficient if you are wearing contacts. The American
Chemical Society, however, has recently removed its recommendation
against contact lenses in the lab. Evidence shows that contacts are not
dangerous IF proper protection (goggles) is used.
2. Be aware of what chemicals you are using. Wear gloves when using
toxic chemicals. Remember that, although you are not using a danger-
ous chemical, the student beside you may have spilled one right next
to you.
3. Wear proper clothing in the lab. The lab is a good place for long
sleeves, long pants, closed-toed shoes, and standard-lens glasses. It is a
bad place for short sleeves, shorts, and sandals. Don’t even think
about going into a lab barefoot.
4. Familiarize yourself with the layout of the lab. Do you know where
the fire extinguishers are? Where are the eyewash stations? Where is
the first aid kit?
5. Label all reagents that you bring to your bench with tape.
Things You Should Never Do

1. Never eat, drink, or smoke in the lab. Although you may see more
advanced scientists doing the first two in their labs, it is a bad idea
in a teaching lab. There may be 200 students using that lab in
a week, and the instructor cannot control what all of them are doing.
If you need to drink often, then bring a water bottle but leave it
outside. Nobody will mind it if you step outside to eat or drink,
but bringing any food or beverage into the lab, even if sealed, is a
potential danger.
2. Never use mouth suction on glass pipets to draw up a solution. Even
if you think the solution is a harmless buffer, the pipet may be con-
taminated with something hazardous. Use pipet pumps and bulbs to
draw up solutions.
Chapter 1 / Biochemistry Boot Camp 3
3. Never work alone. Someone else should always be in lab with you
when you are working.
Additional Lab Courtesy

Although lab etiquette is not strictly a safety issue, you should follow it as
well. The following items will make your lab run more smoothly and lead
to efficient transitions between lab sections.
1. Never stick your personal pipets into a community reagent bottle. If
your pipet is dirty, you will contaminate the supply for the whole class.
If you need 10 mL of a reagent and a 1-L bottle is in a community
reagent area, use a small beaker and pour in about 10 mL. That way, if
your beaker is dirty, you will have contaminated only your own supply.
2. Never take a community reagent back to your own bench. One of the
most frustrating things that can happen in a lab is not finding some-
thing you need.
3. Don’t use more of the chemical than you need. Students often take
chemicals from the community area before they have the slightest clue
about how much they need. They look at the size of the community
reagent bottle and try to guess from there. Just because the reagent is
in a 1-L bottle doesn’t mean that you should take 100 mL of it. You
might only need 2 mL of it. The 1-L bottle may be the total supply for
all sections of the lab for the week.
4. Always clean up your lab area and any equipment and glassware that
you used. The next class may need to use the same materials. The job
is not over until the lab is clean and the equipment is ready for the
next class.
1.2 Scientific Notation You will probably see many numbers written in many different ways dur-
ing the course of your lab. The idea is to accurately and clearly communi-
cate numerical information, and nothing is necessarily wrong with any
system of numbers that does that. However, some traditional ways of
handling numbers are used in science. One of these is called scientific
notation.
Any number in strict scientific notation starts with one nonzero digit
followed by a decimal point and some other numbers. That is followed by
an exponent that tells to what power to raise it. Thus, the number 623
would be written 6.23 102. The number 0.0456 would be written as
4.56 102.
When not using strict scientific notation, avoid starting a number with
just a decimal. Thus, rather than writing .453, write 0.453. When you label a
test tube for storage, sometimes the ink fades. It always seems like the deci-
mal point fades faster than the numbers. The beauty of using strict scientific
notation is that a fading decimal point wouldn’t matter because you would
always know that the decimal point belonged after the first number.
TIP 1.1 Be careful when using exponents on your water, which is usually written as 1014. To divide the
calculator. Most have an EXP or EE key. When you push water constant by 0.2 to get an answer, you should
that key, you are multiplying whatever is on the screen press 1, followed by the EXP, key and press 14. What
by 10 to the power that you are about to enter. many students do is press 10 EXP, followed by 14. That
A common example of how this can be a problem is 10 1014 which is 1013 instead of 1014.
is with the well-known constant for the dissociation of
1.3 Significant Figures When you take a measurement or do a calculation, you can only rely on a
certain amount of the information that you get from it. Analysis of signifi-
cant figures is our way of determining how reliable the numbers are.
Nowadays, many students use calculators or computers for everything,
often with humorous results.
If you have a standard ruler with inches on one side and centimeters
on the other and ask me to measure the height of your 250-mL beaker,
what will you think if I tell you it is 8.423587763 cm? You might say,
“Thanks, Mr. Spock, but 8.4 cm is sufficient,” but you will certainly see that
I cannot measure something to that many decimal places when the small-
est division on the ruler is 1 mm, or 0.1 cm. However, you might easily
make a very similar mistake when you do a calculation. If you measure
a cube to be 9.6 cm on a side and want to calculate the volume in cubic
centimeters, you might multiply 9.6 9.6 9.6 and report the volume
as 884.736 cc. Students do that all the time without recognizing that
they are as wrong as in the Mr. Spock example. If each side is measured
to an accuracy of one decimal place, the answer cannot be given in three
decimal places.
Definition of Significant Figures

So, what is a significant figure? That has to do with the accuracy and preci-
sion of the instrument being used to make the measurement. If you have a
balance, you weigh out a sample of histidine, and the balance reads
1.473 g, then you have four significant figures. The last figure, 3, is proba-
bly at the limit of the machine and is an estimate. If you weigh the same
sample again, it might read 1.472 or 1.474. This is like estimating between
the closest marks on a ruler. Maybe a cruder balance reads 1.5 g, and you
then have only two significant figures.
The number and position of zeros is often confusing to students with
regards to significant figures. This is another reason to use scientific nota-
tion because there is no ambiguity when using it. For example, how many
significant figures are in 0.0456? The answer is three. Zeros before the first
nonzero digit have nothing to do with the accuracy; rather, they mark the
place of the decimal point in scientific nomenclature. In scientific format,
this number is 4.56 102. How many significant figures are in 0.045600?
In this case, there are five. The zeros following the 6 are significant and tell
you about the accuracy of the measurement. In scientific notation, this
number is 4.5600 102. In scientific notation, all zeros are significant. The
real ambiguity comes when you write a number like 3200. How many sig-
nificant figures are in 3200? You can’t really tell. You could mean 3.2 102,
3.20 102, or 3.200 102, which would be two, three, or four significant
figures, respectively.
Significant Figures in Calculations

There are a couple of simple rules for using significant figures in calculations.
Multiplication and Division When you multiply numbers, the answer

will have the same number of significant figures as the number with the
fewest. For example, if you want to calculate the volume of a cube by mul-
tiplying the length of the sides, it might look like this:
(3.4 cm) (56.8 cm) (2.435 cm) 470.2472 (on our calculator)
How many significant figures can you claim in your answer? The
answer is two because the first number you multiplied has only two signif-
icant figures. So the answer is 4.7 102 cm3. Division is done exactly the
same way.
Addition and Subtraction Addition and subtraction are a little different.

When you add strings of numbers, look at the number of decimal places to
determine the accuracy of the measurement. The final answer cannot be
more accurate than the least accurate number added. For example, if you
are adding volumes to get a total, it might look like this:
(22.4 mL) (3.5 102 mL) (0.543 mL) 372.943 mL
How many significant figures can you claim? In this case, we can’t really
look at the significant figures in each term; rather, we look at decimal
places. The figure with the fewest decimal places is 350. Therefore, our
answer cannot go into tenths and hundredths. The true answer is 373 mL.
Notice that the answer has three significant figures whereas one of the
numbers added has only two.
1.4 Statistics As a scientist, you will deal with a great many numbers. We use statistics
and Scientific to help us get more meaning out of the numbers. An example any student
Measurements can relate to would be test scores. If your friend tells you, “Hey, I got a 40
on the last exam,” you would not immediately know whether you should
be happy for him or not. How happy you would be might depend on sev-
eral issues, including the total possible points for the exam, the average
score on the exam, the standard deviation, and your score on the exam.
You might also need to know whether you could really believe that num-
ber. Was the score added correctly? Was it a subjective or an objective
score? To truly understand how that exam score relates to your friend’s
ability in that subject, you also have to know whether it is likely that he
would score the same again on a similar exam or is that score overly high
or low for some reason. When making measurements during experiments,
we need to draw meaning from the numbers we see, and we often use sta-
tistics for this purpose.
If 200 students take the first exam in a class, we may list their scores as
x1 85, x2 64, x3 98, . . . , x200 12. An individual number is usually
designated xi. What can we tell from these data? Students will want to
know what their score means. If the professor is using a straight-scale
grading system where 90–100% is an A, 80–89% is a B, and so on, then the
first student (x1) knows that she got a B. The third student knows that he
got an A. The last student (x200) knows that she should consider dropping
the class. If the professor is using a grading curve, then students need to
know some statistics to figure out how they are doing in the course.
There are two basic types of statistical measures. The first is a measure
of central tendency. The one most often seen is the average, or arithmetic
mean (xavg). The average is calculated by adding all the numbers and
dividing by the number of scores.
x1 x2 x3 xn x
arithmetic mean (xavg) i
n n
Therefore, we would add the scores for all the students and divide by
200 to get the average on the first exam. If the average turns out to be 85,
then the student with a 98 will feel pretty good. The student with an 85
would know that she is at the middle ground. On the other hand, if the
average is only 40, then even the student scoring in the 60s will know that
he has done better than most. However, to calculate their current grades
on a curve, students need more information.
A second type of statistical measure is a measure of dispersion. It usu-
ally measures the variations in the values compared to the mean. Often
such a measure is necessary to truly understand the data presented. If I am
the professor of the class taking the exam and I see that, of my 200 stu-
dents, 180 of them scored an 85 on the exam, with a few being higher and
a few lower so that the average was still an 85, I will know that I have a
very homogeneous class. Everybody did about the same with just a few
exceptions. If, on the other hand, the scores are scattered all over with
many students scoring below 40 and many above 90, I will know that the
class is heterogeneous. I would adapt my teaching strategy differently to
the two classes. When grades are assigned on a curve, it is always the
mean and some measure of dispersion that determines the grade.
There are many different measurements of dispersion, and the exact
reason for using one or another is beyond the scope of this text. Some of
the more common ones are presented next.
xi xavg
mean deviation n
where n is the number of samples measured and the | | means the absolute
value of the difference between the individual value and the mean.
mean deviation
percent deviation 100
mean
(xi xavg)2
variance 2
n1
standard deviation
2
The mean plus the standard deviation are the two most common sta-
tistical parameters. Students taking the exam will want to know their score
in relation to the mean and the (sigma) because if the class is graded on a
strict bell curve, it usually takes a score of the mean 1 to give a grade of
B and mean 2 to give a grade of A. Most students’ calculators will
determine mean and standard deviation for sets of data.
Errors in Experiments
You will often read about errors and error analysis in the data reported for
an experiment. There are many sources of error in an experiment, and the
term is often used as a catchall to explain numbers that are not perfect. It is
important to realize that statistical error may not mean the same thing
as the errors that you are more familiar with. When you think of an error,
you think of something like multiplying 6 times 9 and getting 42. When
scientists think of error, they more often think of differences in members of
a population. For example, if you measure the activity of the enzyme
lactate dehydrogenase from the serum of ten different people and express
it as enzyme units per milliliter of blood serum, you will not get the same
number twice. You might have a range of values from 0.1 unit/mL to
26 units/mL. You could calculate the average and standard deviation and
report your findings as
18.3 5.3
That is error analysis, but the error does not imply that you made a
mistake in your work. This is biological error and simply reflects the indi-
vidual variation in a population. You could have reported the values as
mean variance or mean mean deviation. Each way would have given
you different numbers.
If you attempt to pipet 1 mL with a Pipetman and you actually pipet
0.7 mL, there is error in the process. Is it caused by your inability to pipet
correctly? Is the Pipetman miscalibrated? In this case, there is a true value
that is known, so it is easier to determine the source of error. When sam-
pling enzymes in the sera of biological organisms, it is more difficult to
know the true value.
Accuracy versus Precision

A measurement is accurate if it gives the true value. If you attempt to pipet
1 mL of water, which should weigh 1 g, and the balance reads 1 g after you
dispense the solution, your pipetting is accurate. The arithmetic mean is
the usual grounds for accuracy.
Measurements are precise if the same measurement can be made
again and again. For example, if you try to dispense the 1 mL with the
pipet ten times and you dispense 0.7 mL ten times in a row, your pipetting
was very precise but inaccurate. This usually draws attention for the prob-
lem away from you and onto the equipment being used. Measurements of
dispersion are the usual criteria for precision.
Another parameter that can be measured in the case of pipetting is the
percent (%) error. If you are trying to measure a known quantity, such as
1 mL of water, and you expect it to weigh 1 g, the % error will give you a
relative estimate of the error of your pipet or your pipetting technique.
xavg xtrue
% error x 100 true
So, in our pipetting example, if your average had been 0.7 g when it was
supposed to be 1 g, the % error would be calculated as follows:
0.7 g 1.0 g
% error 100 30%
1.0 g
1.5 Units The international system of measurements is known as the SI (from Système
International d’Unités) and is based on the MKS (meter–kilogram–second)
system. The base units for SI are given in Table 1.1.
Many other units are derived from SI units, such as the joule (m2kg/s2),
the unit of energy. Some non-SI units are also frequently used, such as
degrees in Celsius (°C), pressure in atmospheres, etc. The common volume
liter is not a SI unit because volume is measured in cubic meters. A liter is
actually a cubic decimeter.
TABLE 1.1 Basic SI Units

Length meter m
Mass kilogram kg
Time second s
Temperature Kelvin K
Electric current ampere A
Amount mole mol
Radioactivity Becquerel Bq
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board what we had on shore, and made every thing ready for
weighing; accordingly, we began to unmoor in the afternoon.
Departure The 31st of December at four of the clock in the
from morning we weighed, and at six o’clock we left the
Bougainville bay, being towed by our boats. It was calm; at seven
Bay.
a light breeze sprung up at N. E. which became
more fresh in the day; the weather was clear till noon, when it
became foggy and rainy. At half an hour past eleven, being in the
middle of the strait[80], we discovered, and set the Cascade bearing
S. E. the Sugar Loaf S. E. by E. ½ E. Cape Forward[81] E. by N. Cape
Holland[82] W. N. W. ½ W. From noon till six in the evening we
doubled Cape Holland. It blew a light breeze, which Anchorage in
abating in the evening, and the sky being covered, I Fortescue Bay.
resolved to anchor in the road of Port Galant, where we anchored in
sixteen fathoms, coarse gravel, sand and small coral; Cape Galant
bearing S. W. 3° W[83]. We had soon reason to congratulate
ourselves on being in safety; for, during the night, it rained
continually, and blew hard at S. W.
1768. We began the year 1768 in this bay, called Bay
January. Fortescue, at the bottom of which is Port Galant[84].
The plan of the bay and port is very exact in M. de Gennes. We have
had too much leisure to confirm it, having been confined there for
three weeks together, by such weather as one cannot form any idea
of, from the worst winter at Paris. It is but just to let Account of the
the reader partake in some measure of the obstacles we
disagreeable circumstances on these unlucky days, met with.
by giving the sketch of our stay in this place.
Vestiges we My first care was to send out people to view the
found of the coast as far as Bay Elizabeth, and the isles with
passage of which the straits of Magalhaens are full in this part.
English ships.
From our anchoring-place we perceived two of
these isles, which Narborough[85] calls Charles and Monmouth.
Those which are farther off he calls the Royal Isles, and the
westermost of all, he names Rupert Island. The west winds
preventing us from making sail, we moored with a stream-anchor.
The rain did not keep our people from going on shore, where they
found vestiges of the passage and touching of English ships; viz.
some wood, lately sawed and cut down; some spice-laurel trees[86],
lately stripped of their bark; a label of wood, such as in marine
arsenals, are generally put upon pieces of cloth, &c. on which we
very distinctly read the words, Chatham, March, 1766; they likewise
found upon several trees, initial letters and names, with the date of
1767.
Astronomical M. Verron, who had got all his instruments carried
and nautical upon the peninsula that forms the harbour, made an
observations. observation there at noon, with a quadrant; and
found 53° 40′ 41″ S. lat. This observation, and the bearings of Cape
Holland, taken from hence; and those of the same cape, taken the
16th of December, upon the point from Cape Forward, determine the
distance of Port Galant to Cape Forward, to twelve leagues. Here he
likewise observed, by the azimuth-compass, the declination of the
needle 22° 30′ 32″ N. E. and its inclination from the elevation of the
pole 11° 11′. These are the only observations he was able to make,
during almost a whole month; the nights being as gloomy as the
days. On the third of January, there was a fine opportunity, of
determining the longitude of this bay; by means of an eclipse of the
moon, which began here at 10 hours, 30′ in the evening; but the rain,
which had been continual in the day-time, lasted likewise through the
whole night.
The 4th and 5th the weather was intolerable; we had rain, snow, a
sharp cold air, and a storm; it was such weather as the Psalmist
describes, saying, Nix, grando, glacies, spiritus procellarum. On the
third I had sent out a boat on purpose, to endeavour to find out an
anchorage on the coast of Terra del Fuego; and they found a very
good one S. W. of the isles Charles and Monmouth. I likewise gave
them orders to observe the direction which the tide took in that
channel. With their assistance, and the knowledge of anchoring-
places, both to the northward and southward, I would have made
sail, even though the wind should be contrary; but it was never
moderate enough for me to do it. Upon the whole, during our stay in
this part of the straits, we observed constantly, that the tides set in as
in the part of the narrows or guts; i. e. that the flood sets to the
eastward, and the ebb to the westward.
Interview with On the 6th, in the afternoon, we had some fair
and description moments; and the wind too seemed to blow from S.
of the E. we had already unmoored; but the moment we
Pecherais.
were setting sail, the wind came back to W. N. W. in
squalls, which obliged us to moor again immediately. That day some
savages came to visit us. Four periaguas appeared in the morning,
at the point of Cape Galant; and, after stopping there for some time,
three advanced into the bottom of the bay, whilst one made towards
our frigate. After hesitating for about half an hour, they at last brought
her along-side of us, with repeated shouts of Pecherais. In this boat
were a man, a woman, and two children. The woman remained to
take care of the periagua; and the man alone came on board, with
much confidence, and with an air of gaiety. Two other periaguas
followed the example of the first; and the men came on board the
frigate with their children. Here they were soon very happy and
content. We made them sing, and dance, let them hear music; and,
above all, gave them to eat, which they did with much appetite. They
found every thing good; whether bread, salt meat, or fat, they
devoured what was offered to them. We found it rather difficult to get
rid of these troublesome and disgusting guests; and we could not
determine them to return to their periaguas, till we sent pieces of salt
flesh down into them, before their faces. They shewed no surprise,
neither at the sight of the ships, nor at the appearance of various
objects, that offered themselves to their eyes; this certainly shews,
that in order to be capable of being surprised at the work of art, one
must have some fundamental ideas of it. These unpolished men,
considered the master-pieces of human industry, in the same light as
the laws of nature and its phenomena. We saw them often on board,
and on shore, during several days which they stayed in Port Galant.
These savages are short, ugly, meagre, and have an
insupportable stench about them. They are almost naked; having no
other dress than wretched seal-skins, too little for them to wrap
themselves in; these skins serve them equally as roofs to their huts,
and as sails to their periaguas. They have likewise some guanaco-
skins; but they are in small number. Their women are hideous, and
seemed little regarded by the men. They are obliged to steer their
periaguas, and to keep them in repair; often swimming to them,
notwithstanding the cold, through the sea-weeds, which serve as a
harbour to these periaguas, at a pretty distance from the shore, and
scooping out the water that may have got into them. On the shore
they gather wood and shells, without the men partaking in any thing
of their labour; nor are those women, who have children at their
breast, exempted from their task. They carry their children on their
backs, folded in the skins, which serve them as dresses.
Their periaguas are made of bark, ill connected with rushes, and
caulked with moss in the seams. In the middle of each is a little
hearth of sand, where they always keep up some fire. Their arms are
bows and arrows, made of the wood of a holly-leaved berberry-bush,
which is common in the straits; the bow-string is made of a gut, and
the arrows are armed with points of stone, cut with sufficient skill; but
these weapons are made use of, rather against game, than against
enemies; for they are as weak as the arms, which are destined to
manage them. We likewise saw amongst them, some bones of fish,
about a foot long, sharp at the end, and toothed along one side. This
is, perhaps, a dagger; or rather, as I think, an instrument for fishing:
they fix it to a long pole, and use it as a harpoon. These Indians,
men, women, and children, live promiscuously in their huts, in the
middle of which they light a fire. They live chiefly on shell-fish;
however, they have likewise dogs, and nooses, or springes, made of
whalebone. I have observed, that they had all of them bad teeth;
and, I believe, we must attribute that to their custom of eating the
shell-fish boiling hot, though half raw.
Upon the whole, they seem to be good people; but they are so
weak, that one is almost tempted to think the worse of them on that
account. We thought we observed that they were superstitious and
believed in evil genii; and, among them, the same persons, who
conciliate the influence of those spirits, are their physicians and
priests. Of all the savages I ever saw, the Pecherais are those who
are most deprived of every convenience; they are exactly, in what
may be called, a state of nature; and, indeed, if any pity is due to the
fate of a man, who is his own master, has no duties or business to
attend, is content with what he has, because he knows no better, I
should pity these men; who, besides being deprived of what renders
life convenient, must suffer the extreme roughness of the most
dreadful climate in the world. These Pecherais, likewise, are the
least numerous society of men I have met with in any part of the
world; however, as will appear in the sequel, there are quacks
among them: but as soon as more than one family is together, (by
family, I understand father, mother, and children) their interests
become complicated, and the individuals want to govern, either by
force or by imposture. The name of family then changes into that of
society; and though it were established amidst the woods, and
composed only of cousins-german, a skilful observer would there
discover the origin of all the vices, to which men, collected into whole
nations, have, by growing more civilized, given names; vices that
caused the origin, progress, and ruin of the greatest empires. Hence
it follows, by the same principle, that in civilized societies, some
virtues spring up, of which those who border on a state of nature are
not susceptible.
The 7th and 8th the weather was so bad, that we could not by any
means go from on board; in the night we drove, and were obliged to
let go our sheet-anchor. At some intervals the snow lay four inches
deep on the deck; and, at day-break, we saw that all the ground was
covered with it, except the flat lands, the wetness of which melted
the snow. The thermometer was about 5° and 4°; but fell to two
degrees below the freezing-point. The weather was bad on the ninth
in the afternoon. The Pecherais set out in order to come on board
us. They had even spent much time at their toilet; I mean, they had
painted their bodies all over, with red and white spots: but seeing our
boats go from the ships, towards their huts, they followed them; but
one periagua came on board the Etoile. She stayed but a short time
there, and joined the others; who were very much the friends of our
people. The women were, however, all retired into one hut; and the
savages seemed uneasy, whenever one of our men attempted to go
in. They invited them rather to come into the other huts, where they
presented our gentlemen with muscles, which they sucked before
they gave them away. They got some little presents, which they
gladly accepted. They sung, danced, and appeared more gay, than
one might expect from savages, whose outward behaviour is
commonly serious.
Unlucky Their joy was but of very short duration. One of
accident, their children, about twelve years old, the only one
which befalls in the whole troop whose figure engaged our
one of them.
attention, was all at once seized with spitting of
blood, and violent convulsions. The poor creature had been on board
the Etoile, where the people had given him bits of glass not
foreseeing the unhappy effect, which this present might have. These
savages have a custom of putting pieces of talc into their throat and
nostrils. Perhaps their superstition combines some powers with this
kind of talisman; or, perhaps, they look on it as a preservative
against some sickness they are subject to. The child, probably, had
made the same use of this glass. His lips, gums, and palate, were
cut in several places, and he bled continually.
This accident spread consternation and mistrust amongst them.
They certainly suspected us of some bad action; for the first thing
their juggler did, was to strip the child immediately of a linen jacket,
which had been given him. He wanted to return it to the French; and
upon their refusing it, he threw it at their feet. However, another
savage, who, doubtless, loved clothes more than he feared
enchantments, took it up immediately.
The juggler first laid the child down upon his back, in one of the
huts; and, kneeling down between his legs, he bent himself upon
him, and with his head and hands pressed the child’s belly as much
as he could, crying out continually, without our being able to
distinguish any articulate sounds in his cries. From time to time he
got up, and seeming to hold the disease in his joined hands, he
opened them all at once into the air, blowing as if he wanted to drive
away some evil spirit. During this ceremony, an old woman in tears,
howled in the sick child’s ears, enough to make him deaf. This poor
wretch seemed to suffer as much from the remedy, as from the hurt
he had received. The juggler gave him some respite, and went to
fetch his habit of ceremony; after which, having his hair powdered,
and his head adorned with two white wings, like those on Mercury’s
cap, he began his rites again, with more confidence, but with no
better success. The child then appearing to be worse, our chaplain
administered baptism to him by stealth.
The officers returned on board, and told me what had happened
on shore. I went thither immediately with M. de la Porte, our surgeon,
who brought some milk and gruel with him. When we arrived, the
patient was out of the hut; the juggler, who had now got a companion
in the same dress, had begun again with his his operation on the
belly, thighs, and back of the child. It was a pity to see them torment
the poor creature, who suffered without complaining. His body was
already bruised all over; and the doctors still continued to apply their
barbarous remedy, with abundance of conjurations. The grief of the
parents, their tears, the part which the whole troop took in this
accident, and which broke out in the most expressive signs, afforded
us a most affecting scene. The savages certainly perceived that we
partook of their distress; at least they seemed to be less mistrustful.
They suffered us to come near the patient; and our surgeon
examined his bloody mouth, which his father and another Pecherais
sucked alternately. We had much trouble to persuade them to use
milk; we were obliged to taste it before them several times; and,
notwithstanding the invincible objection of their jugglers, the father at
last resolved to let his son drink it; he even accepted a pot-full of
gruel. The jugglers were jealous of our surgeon; whom, however,
they seemed at last to acknowledge as an able juggler. They even
opened for him a leather bag, which they always wear hanging by
their side; and which contains their feathered cap, some white
powder, some talc, and other instruments of their art; but he had
hardly looked into it, when they shut it again. We likewise observed,
that whilst one of the jugglers was conjuring the distemper of the
patient, the other seemed to be busied solely in preventing, by his
enchantments, the effect of the bad luck, which they suspected we
had brought upon them.
We returned on board, towards night, and the child seemed to
suffer less; however, he was plagued with almost continual puking,
which gave us room to fear that some glass was got down into his
stomach. We had afterwards sufficient reason to believe our
conjectures had been true; for about two o’clock in the morning, we
on board heard repeated howls; and, at break of day, though the
weather was very dreadful, the savages went off. They, doubtless,
fled from a place defiled by death, and by unlucky strangers, who
they thought were come merely to destroy them. They were not able
to double the westermost point of the bay: in a more moderate
interval they set sail again; a violent squall carried them out into the
offing, and dispersed their feeble vessels. How desirous they were of
getting away from us! They left one of their periaguas, which wanted
a repair on the shore, Satis est gentem effugisse nefandam. They
are gone away, considering us as mischievous beings: but who
would not pardon their resentment on this occasion? and, indeed,
how great is the loss of a youth, who has escaped from all the
dangers of childhood, to a body of men so very inconsiderable in
number!
Continuation of The wind blew east with great violence, and
bad weather. almost without intermission, till the 13th, when the
weather was mild enough in day-time; and we had even conceived
hopes of weighing in the afternoon. The night between the 13th and
14th was calm. At half an hour past two in the morning we had
unmoored, and hove a-peak. At six o’clock we were obliged to moor
again, and the day was dreadful. The 15th, the sun shone almost the
whole day; but the wind was too strong for us to leave the harbour.
Danger which The 16th, in the morning, it was almost a calm;
the frigate is then came a breeze from the north, and we
exposed to. weighed, with the tide in our favour: it was then
ebbing, and set to the westward. The winds soon shifted to W. and
W. S. W. and we could never gain the Isle Rupert, with the
favourable tide. The frigate sailed very ill; drove to leeward beyond
measure; and the Etoile had an incredible advantage over us. We
plyed all day between Rupert island, and a head-land of the
continent, which we called the Point of the Passage, in order to wait
for the ebb; with which I hoped either to gain the anchoring-place of
Bay Dauphine, upon the isle of Louis le Grand, or that of Elizabeth
bay[87]. But as we lost ground by plying, I sent a boat to sound to the
S. E. of Rupert’s-island, intending to anchor there, till the tide
became favourable. They made signal of an anchoring-place, and
came to a grapnel there; but we were already too much fallen to
leeward of it. We made one board in-shore, to endeavour to gain it
on the other tack; the frigate missed stays twice; and it became
necessary to wear; but at the very moment when, by the
manœuvres, and by the help of our boats, she began to wear, the
force of the tide made her come to the wind again; a strong current
had already carried us within half a cable’s length of the shore. We
let go our anchor in eight fathom: the anchor, falling upon rocks,
came home, and our proximity to the shore did not allow us to veer
away cable. We had now no more than three fathom and a half of
water a-stern; and were only thrice the length of the ship from the
shore, when a little breeze sprung up from thence, we immediately
filled our sails, and the frigate fell to leeward: all our boats, and those
of the Etoile, which came to our assistance, were a-head, towing her.
We veered away our cable, upon which we had put a buoy; and near
half of it was out, when it got foul between decks, and stopt the
frigate, which then ran the greatest danger. We cut the cable, and by
the prompt execution of this manœuvre, we saved the ship. The
breeze at length freshened; and, after having made two or three
unprofitable boards, I returned to Port Galant, where we anchored
again in twenty fathom oozy bottom. Our boats, which I left to weigh
our anchor, returned towards night with it and the cable. Thus this
appearance of fine weather served only to give us cruel alarms.
Violent The day following was more stormy than all the
hurricane. preceding ones. The wind raised a mountainous sea
in the channel; and we often saw several waves run in contrary
directions. The storm appeared to abate towards ten o’clock; but at
noon a clap of thunder, the only one we ever heard in this strait, was
as it were the signal at which the wind again began to blow with
more violence than in the morning. We dragged our anchor, and
were obliged to let go our sheet-anchor, and strike our lower-yards
and top-masts. Notwithstanding this, the shrubs and plants were now
in flower, and the trees afforded a very brilliant verdure, which
however was not sufficient to dispel that sadness which the repeated
sight of this unlucky spot had cast over us. The most lively temper
would be overcome in this dreadful climate, which is shunned by
animals of every element, and where a handful of people lead a
languid life, after having been rendered still more unfortunate by their
intercourse with us.
Assertion On the 18th and 19th there were some intervals
concerning the between the bad weather: we weighed our sheet
channel of anchor, squared our yards, and set up our top-
Sainte Barbe masts; and I sent the Etoile’s barge, which was in so
discussed.
good a condition as to be able to go out in almost
any weather, to view the channel of Sainte Barbe. According to the
extract M. Frezier gives of the Journal of M. Marcant, who
discovered and passed through it, this channel must bear S. W. and
S. W. by S. from Bay Elizabeth. The barge returned on the 20th, and
M. Landais, who commanded it, informed me, that having followed
the track and marks taken notice of by M. Marcant, he had not found
the true mouth, but only a narrow channel, closed by shoals of ice
and the land, which it is the more dangerous to follow, as it has not a
single good anchoring place, and as it is crossed in the middle by a
sand covered with muscles. He then went all round the isle of Louis
le Grand to the southward, and re-entered the channel of
Magalhaens, without having found any other. He only saw a fine bay
on the coast of Terra del Fuego, which is certainly the same with that
which Beauchesne calls Nativity Bay. Upon the whole, by going S.
W. and S. W. by S. from Bay Elizabeth, as Frezier says that Marcant
did, you must cut through the middle of the isle of Louis le Grand.
This information gave me room to believe that the It is inhabited,
channel of Sainte Barbe was opposite the very bay notwithstanding
where we now lay. From the top of the mountains its small size.
which surround Port Galant, we had often discovered southward of
the isles Charles and Monmouth, a vast channel, full of little islands,
and terminated by no land to the southward; but, as at the same time
we perceived another inlet southward of the isle of Louis le Grand,
we took that for the channel of St. Barbe, as being more conformable
to Marcant’s account. As soon as we were sure that this inlet was no
more than a deep bay, we no longer doubted that the channel of
Sainte Barbe was opposite Port Galant, southward of Charles and
Monmouth Islands. Indeed, reading over again the passage in
Frezier, and comparing it with his chart of the strait, we saw that
Frezier, according to Marcant’s report, places Elizabeth Bay, from
whence the latter set sail, in order to enter into his channel, about
ten or twelve leagues from Cape Forward. Marcant therefore must
have mistaken Bay De Cordes for Bay Elizabeth, the former lying
actually eleven leagues from Cape Forward, being a league
eastward of Port Galant: setting sail from this bay, and standing S. E.
and S. E. by S. he came along the westermost point of Charles and
Monmouth isles, the whole of which he took for the isle of Louis le
Grand; an error into which every good navigator may easily fall,
unless he is well provided with good directions: and then he stood
into the channel full of isles, of which we had a prospect from the top
of the mountains.
Utility which The perfect knowledge of the channel of Sainte
would accrue Barbe would be so much the more interesting, as it
from the would considerably shorten the passing of the straits
knowledge of
the channel of
of Magalhaens. It does not take much time to come
Sainte Barbe. to Port Galant; the greatest difficulty before you
come there, being to double Cape Forward, which is
now rendered pretty easy, by the discovery of three ports upon Terra
del Fuego: when you are once got to Port Galant, should the winds
prevent your taking the ordinary channel, if they be ever so little
upon the northerly points, the channel is open to you, opposite to this
port; in twenty-four hours you can then be in the South Seas. I
intended to have sent two barges into this channel which I firmly
believe to be that of Sainte Barbe; they would have completely
solved this problem, but the bad weather prevented their going out.
Exceeding The 21st, 22d, and 23d, squalls, snow, and rain,
violent squall. were continual. In the night between the 21st and
22d, there was a calm interval; it seemed that the wind afforded us
that momentary repose, only in order to fall harder upon us
afterwards. A dreadful hurricane came suddenly from S. S. W. and
blew with such fury as to astonish the oldest seamen. Both our ships
had their anchors come home, and were obliged to let go their sheet-
anchor, lower the lower yards, and hand the top-masts: our mizen
was carried away in the brails. Happily this hurricane did not last
long. On the 24th the storm abated, we got calm weather and sun-
shine, and put ourselves in a condition to proceed. Since our re-
entering Port Galant, we took several ton weight of ballast, and
altered our stowage, endeavouring by this means to make the frigate
sail well again; and we succeeded in part. Upon the whole,
whenever it is necessary to navigate in the midst of currents, it will
always be found very difficult to manage such long vessels as our
frigates generally are.
We leave Bay On the 25th, at one o’clock in the morning, we
Fortescue. unmoored, and hove a peek; at three o’clock we
weighed, and were towed by our boats; the breeze was northerly; at
half past five it settled in the east, and we set all our top-gallant and
studding-sails, which are very seldom made use of here. We kept
the middle of the strait, following its windings, for which Narborough
justly calls it Crooked Reach. Between the Royal Isles and the
continent, the strait is about two leagues wide; the channel between
Rupert Isle and Point Passage, is not above a league broad; then
there is the breadth of a league and a half between the isle of Louis
le Grand and Bay Elizabeth, on the easterly point of which, there is a
ledge covered with sea weeds, extending a quarter of a league into
the sea.
Description of From Bay Elizabeth the coast runs W. N. W. for
the strait from about two leagues, till you come to the river which
Cape Galant to Narborough calls Bachelor, and Beauchesne, du
the open sea.
Massacre; at the mouth of which, is an anchoring-
place. This river is easily known; it comes from a deep valley; on the
west, it has a high mountain; its westerly point is low, wooded, and
the coast sandy. From the river Bachelor, to the entrance of the false
strait or St. Jerom’s channel, I reckon three leagues, and the bearing
is N. W. by W. The entrance of this channel seems to be half a
league broad, and in the bottom of it, the lands are seen closing in to
the northward. When you are opposite the river du Massacre, or
Bachelor, you can only see this false strait, and it is very easy to take
it for the true one, which happened even to us, because the coast
then runs W. by S. and W. S. W. till Cape Quade, which stretching
very far, seems to close in with the westerly point of the isle of Louis
le Grand, and leave no outlet. Upon the whole, the safest way not to
miss the true channel, is to keep the coast of Louis le Grand island
on board, which may be done without any danger. The distance of
St. Jerom’s channel to Cape Quade, is about four leagues, and this
cape bears E. 9° N. and W. 9° S. with the westerly point of the isle of
Louis le Grand.
That island is about four leagues long, its north side runs W. N. W.
as far as Bay Dauphine, the depth of which, is about two miles, and
the breadth at the entrance, half a league; it then runs W. to its most
westerly extremity, called Cape St. Louis. As, after finding out our
error concerning the false strait, we run within a mile of the shore of
Louis le Grand island, we distinctly saw Port Phelippeaux, which
appeared to be a very convenient and well situated creek. At noon
Cape Quade bore W. 13° S. two leagues distant, and Cape St.
Louis, E. by N. about two leagues and a half off. The fair weather
continued all day, and we bore away with all our sails set.
From Cape Quade the strait runs W. N. W. and N. W. by W.
without any considerable turnings, from which it has got the name of
Long-Lane, or Long-Reach, (Longue Rue). The figure of Cape
Quade is remarkable. It consists of craggy rocks, of which, those
forming its highest summits, do not look unlike ancient ruins. As far
as this cape, the coasts are every where wooded, and the verdure of
the trees softens the aspect of the frozen tops of the mountains.
Having doubled Cape Quade, the nature of the country is quite
altered. The strait is inclosed on both sides by barren rocks, on
which there is no appearance of any soil. Their high summits are
always covered with snow, and the deep vallies are filled with
immense masses of ice, the colour of which bears the mark of
antiquity. Narborough, struck with this horrid aspect, called this part,
Desolation of the South, nor can any thing more dreadful be
imagined.
Being opposite Cape Quade, the coast of Terra del Fuego seems
terminated by an advanced cape, which is Cape Monday, and which
I reckon is about fifteen leagues from Cape Quade. On the coast of
the mainland, are three capes, to which we gave names. The first,
which from its figure, we called Cap Fendu, or Split Cape, is about
five leagues from Cape Quade, between two fine bays, in which the
anchorage is safe, and the bottom as good as the sheltered
situation. The other two capes received the names of our ships, Cap
de l’Etoile, three leagues west of Cap Fendu, and Cap de la
Boudeuse, in the same situation, and about the same distance from
the Cape of the Etoile. All these lands are high and steep; both
coasts appear clear, and seem to have good anchoring places, but
happily, the wind being fair for our course, did not give us time to
sound them. The strait in this part, called Longue Rue, is about two
leagues broad; it grows more narrow towards Cape Monday, where it
is not above four miles broad.
Dangerous At nine o’clock in the evening, we were about
night. three leagues E. by S. and E. S. E. off Cape
Monday. It always blew very fresh from east, and the weather being
fine, I resolved to continue my course during the night, making little
sail. We handed the studding sails, and close-reefed the top-sails.
Towards ten o’clock at night the weather became foggy, and the wind
encreased so much, that we were obliged to haul our boats on
board. It rained much, and the weather became so black at eleven,
that we lost all sight of land. About half an hour after, reckoning
myself a-breast of Cape Monday, I made signal to bring-to on the
star-board tack, and thus we passed the rest of the night, filling or
backing, according as we reckoned ourselves to be too near one or
the other shore. This night we have been in one of the most critical
situations during the whole voyage.
At half an hour past three, by the dawn of day, we had sight of the
land, and I gave orders to fill. We stood W. by N. till eight o’clock,
and from eight till noon, between W. by N. and W. N. W. The wind
was always east, a little breeze, and very misty. From time to time
we saw some parts of the coast, but often we entirely lost sight of it.
At last, at noon, we saw Cape Pillar, and the Evangelists. The latter
could only be seen from the mast-head. As we advanced towards
the side of Cape Pillar, we discovered, with joy, an immense horizon,
no longer bounded by lands, and a great sea from the west, which
announced a vast ocean to us. The wind did not continue E. it shifted
to W. S. W. and we ran N. W. till half an hour past two, when Cape
Victory bore N. W. and Cape Pillar, S. 3° W.
End of the After passing Cape Monday, the north coast
strait, and bends like a bow, and the strait opens to four, five,
description of and six leagues in breadth. I reckon about sixteen
that part.
leagues from Cape Monday to Cape Pillar, which
terminates the south coast of the straits. The direction of the channel
between these two capes, is W. by N. The southern coast is here
high and steep, the northern one is bordered with islands and rocks,
which make it dangerous to come near it: it is more prudent to keep
the south coast on board. I can say no more concerning these last
lands: I have hardly seen them, except at some short intervals, when
the fogs allowed our perceiving but small parts of them. The last land
you see upon the north coast, is Cape Victory (Cap des Victoires),
which seems to be of middling height, as is Cape Deseado (Desiré),
which is without the straits, upon Terra del Fuego, about two leagues
S. W. of Cape Pillar. The coast between these two capes is bounded
for near a league into the sea, by several little isles or breakers,
known by the name of the Twelve Apostles.
Cape Pillar is a very high land, or rather a great mass of rocks,
which terminates in two great cliffs, formed in the shape of towers,
inclining to N. W. and making the extremity of the cape. About six or
seven leagues N. W. of this cape, you see four little isles, called the
Evangelists; three of them are low, the fourth, which looks like a hay-
stack, is at some distance from the rest. They ly S. S. W. about four
or five leagues off Cape Victory. In order to come out of the strait, it
is indifferent whether you leave them to the south or northward; in
order to go in, I would advise that they should be left to the
northward. It is then likewise necessary to range along the southern
coast; the northern one is bordered with little isles, and seems cut by
large bays, which might occasion dangerous mistakes. From two
o’clock in the afternoon, the winds were variable, between W. S. W.
and W. N. W. and blew very fresh; we plyed till sun-setting, with all
our sails set, in order to double the Twelve Apostles. Departure
We were for a long while afraid we should not be taken from the
able to do it, but be forced to pass the night still in strait of
Magalhaens.
the straits, by which means we might have been
obliged to stay there more than one day. But about six o’clock in the
evening we gave over plying; at seven, Cape Pillar was doubled, and
at eight we were quite clear of the land, and advancing, all sails set,
and with a fine northerly wind, into the westerly ocean. We then laid
down the bearings whence I took my departure, in 52° 50′ S. lat. and
79° 9′ W. long, from Paris.
Thus, after constant bad and contrary weather at Port Galant, for
twenty-six days together, thirty-six hours of fair wind, such as we
never expected, were sufficient to bring us into the Pacific Ocean; an
example, which I believe is the only one, of a navigation without
anchoring from Port Galant to the open sea.
General I reckon the whole length of the strait, from Cape
observations Virgin (Mary) to Cape Pillar, at about one hundred
on this and fourteen leagues. We employed fifty-two days
navigation. to make them. I must repeat here, that from Cape
Virgin to Cape Noir, we have constantly found the flood tide to set to
the eastward, and the ebb to the westward, and that the tides are
very strong; that they are not by much so rapid from Cape Noir to
Port Galant, and that their direction is irregular there; that lastly, from
Port Galant to Cape Quade, the tides are violent; that we have not
found them very considerable from this cape to Cape Pillar, but that
in all this part from Port Galant, the water is subject to the same laws
which put them in motion from Cape Virgin; viz. that the flood runs
towards the easterly, and the ebb towards the westerly seas. I must
at the same time mention, that this assertion concerning the direction
of the tides in the strait of Magalhaens, is absolutely contrary to what
other navigators say they have observed there on this head.
However, it would not be well if every one gave another account.
Upon the whole, how often have we regretted that we had not got
the Journals of Narborough and Beauchesne, such as they came
from their own hands, and that we were obliged to consult disfigured
extracts of them: besides the affectation of the authors of such
extracts, of curtailing every thing which is useful merely in
navigation; likewise, when some details escape them that have a
relation to that science, their ignorance of the sea-phrases makes
them mistake necessary and usual expressions for vicious words,
and they replace them by absurdities. All their aim is to compile a
work agreeable to the effeminate people of both sexes, and their
labour ends in composing a book that tires every body’s patience,
and is useful to nobody[88].
Conclusions Notwithstanding the difficulties which we have met
drawn from with in our passage of the strait of Magalhaens, I
hence. would always advise to prefer this course to that of
doubling Cape Horn, from the month of September to the end of
March. During the other months of the year, when the nights are
sixteen, seventeen, and eighteen hours long, I would pass through
the open sea. The wind a-head, and a high sea, are not dangerous;
whereas, it is not safe to be under a necessity of sailing blindfold
between the shores. Certainly there will be some obstacles in
passing the straits, but this retardment is not entirely time lost. There
is water, wood, and shells in abundance, sometimes there are
likewise very good fish; and I make no doubt but the scurvy would
make more havock among a crew, who should come into the South
Seas by the way of Cape Horn, than among those who should enter
the same Seas through the straits of Magalhaens: when we left it, we
had no sick person on board.
END OF THE FIRST PART.
A
VOYAGE
ROUND THE
WORLD.
PART the SECOND.
From our entrance into the Western Sea, to our return

to France.
Et nos jam tertia portat

Omnibus errantes terris et fluctibus æstas.
Virg. Lib. I.
CHAP. I.
The run from the straits of Magalhaens to our arrival at the Isle of Taiti; discoveries
which precede it.
January. 1768. Direction of our From our entrance into the Western
track, after Sea, after some days of variable
leaving the winds, between S. W. and N. W. we
strait.
soon got S. and S. S. E. winds. I did
not expect to meet with them so soon; the west winds generally last
to about 30°; and I intended to go to the isle of Juan Fernandez, in
order to make good astronomical observations there. I intended by
this means to fix a sure point of departure, in order to cross this
immense ocean the extent of which is differently laid down, by
differently navigators. The early meeting with the S. and S. E. winds,
obliged me to lay aside this scheme of putting in there, which would
have prolonged my voyage.
Observation on During the first days, I stood as near west as
the position of possible; as well to keep my wind, as to get off from
the coasts of the coast; the bearings of which are not laid down
Chili.
with any certainty in the charts: however, as the
winds were then always in the western board, we should have fallen
in with the land, if the charts of Don George Juan, and Don Antonio
de Ulloa had been exact. These Spanish officers have corrected the
old maps of North America[89]; they make the coast run N. E. and S.
E. between Cape Corso and Chiloe; and that upon conjectures,
which they have certainly thought well-founded. This correction
happily deserves another; it was not a very comfortable one for
those navigators, who after coming out of the strait, endeavour to get
to the northward, with winds which constantly vary from S. W. to N.
W. by W. Sir John Narborough, after leaving the straits of
Magalhaens, in 1669, run along the coast of Chili, examining all the
inlets and creeks, as far as the river of Baldivia, into which he

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Et nos jam tertia portat

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