186 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 



c 



OPERATIONS OF THE NORTHWEST BOUNDARY EXPEDITION. 



A partial report of operations on the Northwest Boundary- 

 Line during the year 1872 has been sent into Congress by Mr. 

 Archibald Campbell, the commissioner. The work com- 

 menced at a very late period during the past summer, as the 

 appropriations for the purpose were not available until the 

 1st of July. It is expected, however, that the portion of the 

 line between the Red River and the Lake of the Woods will 

 be accurately determined and marked. The work of the next 

 season will commence at a point where the Pembina River 

 crosses the boundary. An estimate is presented for conduct- 

 ing the work in 1873 on a large scale, the force available 

 under the present appropriation being entirely inadequate to 

 do justice to it, or to meet properly the corresponding ar- 

 rangements on the part of Great Britain. A detail from the 

 battalion of engineers is urged by the commissioner as facil- 

 itating and economizing the operations of the commission, as 

 well as placing it upon a more equal footing with that of the 

 British commission. It is thought this will enable the com- 

 missioner to dispense with an escort of soldiers, whose serv- 

 ices would otherwise be necessary. Pub. Doc. 



TORREY AND GRAY PEAKS OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 



The twin peaks, known as Torrey and Gray Peaks, the 

 highest of the Rocky Mountains, as far as known (rising con- 

 siderably over 14,000 feet), were last summer visited by their 

 discoverer, Dr. C. C. Parry (who first ascended and named 

 them in 1862), and by the botanists whose names he attached 

 to them. The occasion was made one of considerable cere- 

 mony on the part of the citizens of Georgetown, who were 

 w r ell aware of the scientific reputation of these gentlemen. 

 5D November, 1872, 709. 



MARKHAM ON THE DISCOVERIES OF PAYER AND WEYPRECHT. 



Mr. Clements R. Markham makes a communication to The 

 Academy, in which he contests the value of the evidence by 

 Messrs. Payer and Weyprecht of an open polar sea, the fact 

 being, according to Mr. Markham, simply a confirmation of a 

 well-known series of observations of the sea between Spitz- 

 bergen and Nova Zembla by the Dutch and other navigators. 



