14 



Tribune Extras Lecture and Letter Scries. 



could have been present at this meeting, and seen 

 the deep interest taken by all the members of the 

 Academy in the scientific results of the expedition 

 of the Polaris, they might have found cause for 

 changing their opinion. In this memoir and the de- 

 bate which followed nothing was more evident than 

 that in order to obtain a satisfactory answer to the 

 many unsolved questions of the history of the earth 

 an immense number of facts is yet to be amassed, 

 which can only be procured by new expeditions to 

 the higher latitudes. In the interest of science 

 alone, Polar expeditious are of the highest order of 

 value. 



Everybody that takes the least interest in astro- 

 nomical science is anxious to know whether the 

 great telescope in Washington, with the largest 

 achromatic lens ever constructed, is really a good 

 instrument, and whether it has met the sanguine 

 hopes ent'Tfai ic.l during its construction. To such 

 inquirers. Prof. NYwcomb has sivena most interest- 

 ing and a categorical reply thac is perfectly satis- 

 factory. Tho astronomical paper furnished by Prof. 

 Alexander seemed to tear away the last hope 

 of habitaoility in any part of the solar system ex- 

 cept the ear: i. Prof. Proctor has shown that none 

 of the primary planets were fit to be the abodes of 

 life; and Prof. Alexander now disposes similarly 

 of the satellites. Those interested in meteorology 

 found much of interest in the calculations of Prof. 

 Loomis concerning the law of storms; and Prof. 

 Newberry gave information of scientific value re- 

 specting fossil plants of the Silurian age. 



KESULTS OF THE POLARIS EXPEDITION. 



15Y DR. E. BESSELS. 



This manuscript was entitled the History of 



Smith's S.niiicl irom a Geographical and Geological Point 

 of View, a n. I somo other General Results of the Polaris 

 Expedition. 



It is probable that Smith's Soand must be regarded as 

 the best of the three gateways ro the pole. A channel of 

 almost :;nn M;I m ica I miles Ions, and in some placep scarcely 

 25 miles wide, separates Greenland from Gritmell L ind 

 aim the an-iiip 'lag > si. nth of it. Connecting it with 

 BalThi's 15. ly and Davis's Straits, we can regard this 

 channel as one having for its ceosrraphical homologne 

 only the i:->i| Sea. It was discovered in July. IfilG, when 

 Bylot an 1 r-allin. in smacks of 3G and 50 tens, sailed 

 through Davi /> Straits to 77 N., when Ballin discovered 

 Smith's Sound and described it as a deep bay. For more 

 thiin 21)0 year- th east and west capes of tue Sound were 

 tlie northern Pillars of Hercules. 



John Ross in isiH, Desiring the Sound, described it as 

 bounded by a range of elevations which he named 

 Dulrina Momita'tis. Inglelirld, in 1852, Searching for the 

 Mirvivors of the Franklin Expedition, sailed over the lo- 

 cality ot 1lie-.e imagiii'ii T mountains, and readied 

 78 28' N., Which has been passed only t wice MIIC.C. The 

 most iiurtlierly points determined by him are Pelham 

 Point of the i aM and Cape Sabine of the west coast. 



Kane followed on the heels of ingieiieid then^xt year, 

 and reache I \\ lib his ship latitude 78 37'. One of his 

 pledge parties traveled to Capo Constitution, 

 80 25' N., sighting land beyond on the west 

 coast In R2. He supposed erroneously tluit Cape 

 Constitutiou was the northernmost point of Greenland. 



Thirteen years ago Haj'es readied the boundary of navi- 

 gable water in the Sound nt latitude 78 18', and could 

 penetrate no further. The Polaris, under Capt. Hall, was 

 more fortunate, and reached 82 16'. the highest latitude 

 a ship hits ever reached. 



The land found between 81 and 82 seems to me to be 

 of great importance in demonstrating that Greenland 

 has been separated from tho continent in a south- north 

 direction. That entire tract of land, and probably the 

 whole coast north of Humboldt Glacier, shows Siberian 

 limestone, having at times almost perpendicular cliff.i 

 of an average hight of 1,500 feet, with occasionally lower 

 elevations covered with irregularly distributed hills, and 

 mountains not systematically disposed in ranges. Garnets 

 collected in this locality were found identical with somo 

 at Fiskernesset, in lat. 62 N., and a verv characteristic 

 white quartzite was identical with that of Cape Alex- 

 antler. Besides these there were collected hornblende 

 rock, gneissic granite, sandstone, ani other specimens 

 of rocks found in position considerably south of Polaris 

 Bay even labradorite like that of the const of Labra- 

 dor. The identity of these specimens with rocks near 

 Ita was recognized by several Esquimaux from that 

 place, to whom Dr. Bessels showed them. From these 

 observations he concludes that the direction of the geo- 

 logical drift is from south to north. 



On the North American continent in general the mam 

 drift of erratic material has been south war i from north- 

 erly latitudes, a fact naralleled in the North German 

 plain in erratic blocks and dabris of Scandinavian ori- 

 gin ; in Sweden and L ipland by drift from SpHzaergen ; 

 in Iceland by debris from both Spitsbergen and North- 

 Eastern Greenland. Smith's Sound seems therefore an 

 exception to the general rule, and wo must conclude 

 that its drift was transported by floating ice-fi -Ids and 

 icebergs, and i.ot by glaciers. Among many specimens 

 which Dr. Bessels examined between thu degrees of lat- 

 itude named, he only found one pieue showing glacial 

 scratches. This was Silurian limestone, identic il with 

 and not to be mistaken as other than that of the immedi- 

 ate vicinity. He sought ia vain for erratic blocks of this 

 limestone further south than the original deposit. None 

 of it was to be found between 70 and 73. 



PalEBontological researches, as well as the fauna and 

 flora of the region, point to the determination tliat the 

 continent and Greenland were formerly connected. 

 Greenland is now known to be an island. It is a rule in 

 the formation of islands by separation from main land 

 that the sea between will be shallow, especially if its 

 width be, inconsiderable. Tlie soundings of D.ivis's 

 Straits and Baffin's Bay are deeper than would be ex- 

 pected, Dr. Sohott having some time ago computed the 

 average depth, by Airy's method, at 250 fathoms. By 

 the kindness of Baron von Ofcter, Dr. Bessels was sup- 

 plied with soundings for 6 of latitude, showing a 

 greatest depth at 67 25' N. of 930 fathoms, and an aver- 

 age in 28 soundings between 67- 25' and 74 Of of 290 

 fathoms, corroborating Dr. Schott's computation. With 

 these we may take into account the s. minting ( .f Ii .ss ut 

 70 N. and 71 W., giving 250 fathoms, and a sounding 

 probably by the Advance, at CJ X. and 59' \V., giving a 

 depth of 2S8 fathoms. 



Along the east coast of Davis's Strait, and its northern 

 continuation, a narrow, \v>irm current ll.iws, moving 

 from south to north at a mean velocity of 0.2 miles per 

 hour, turning to tho west oil' Jones's Sound, and there de- 

 lli'cted to the southward by the cold Arctic current. The 

 velocity of tho latter d' tiers according to locality ami 

 season, but never exceeds 12 miles per day. At Smith's 

 Humid and Kennedy's and Robesou's Channels, the ex- 



