138 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



of co-operation on Government work, the 

 men form themselves into gang?, the strong 

 with the strong and the weak with the weak, 

 so that the weak, although they could not 

 execute work rapidly, were yet not altogether 

 excluded from employment. Two interesting 

 results of the experiment of introducing labor 

 leaders into the Government were noted ; 

 when intrusted with power, they became im- 

 bued with a sense of responsibility, and could 

 successfully resist the establishment of state 

 charity in the guise of work or unprofitable 

 undertakings, and members of a revising 

 chamber, drawn from whatever party, would 

 resist measures which they believed not to 

 be the deliberate will of the people. 



Succession of Arctic Seasons. In his 



presidential address before the Geographical 

 Section of the British Association, Mr. Henry 

 Seebohm gave a graphic description, largely 

 drawn from personal experience, of the suc- 

 cession of the seasons in the high arctic lati- 

 tudes. He said that the stealthy approach 

 of winter on the confines of the polar basin 

 is in strong contrast to the catastrophe which 

 accompanies the sudden onrush of summer. 

 One by one the flowers fade and go to seed, 

 if they have been fortunate enough to attract 

 by their brilliancy a bee or other suitable 

 pollen-bearing visitor. The birds gradually 

 collect into flocks, and prepare to wing their 

 way to southern climes. The date upon 

 which winter resumes its sway varies greatly 

 in different localities, and probably the mar- 

 gin between an early and a late winter is 

 considerable. The arrival of summer hap- 

 pens so late that the inexperienced traveler 

 may be excused for sometimes doubting 

 whether it really is coming at all. When 

 continuous night has become continuous day 

 without any perceptible approach to spring, 

 an Alpine traveler naturally asks whether he 

 has not reached the limit of perpetual snow. 

 It is true that here and there a few bare 

 patches are to be found on the steepest 

 slopes, especially if they have a southern ex- 

 posure. It is also true that small flocks of 

 little birds may be observed flitting from 

 one of these bare places to another; but 

 their appearance does not give the same con- 

 fidence in the arrival of summer to the arctic 

 naturalist as the arrival of the swallow or 

 the cuckoo does to his brethren in the sub- 



arctic and subtropic climates. The birds seen 

 are only gypsy migrants that are perpetually 

 flitting to and fro on the confines of the frost, 

 continually being driven south by snow- 

 storms, but ever ready to take advantage of 

 the slightest thaw to press northward again 

 to their favorite arctic home. The gradual 

 rise in the level of the river inspires no more 

 confidence in the final melting away of the 

 snow and the disruption of the ice which 

 supports it. In Siberia the rivers are so 

 enormous that a rise of five or six feet is 

 scarcely perceptible. During the summer 

 which the author spent in the valley of the 

 Yenisei there were six feet of snow on the 

 ground. To all intents and purposes it was 

 midwinter, illuminated for the nonce with 

 what amounted to continuous daylight. Dur- 

 ing May there were a few signs of the pos- 

 sibility of some mitigation of the rigors of 

 winter, but these were followed by frost. 

 At last, when the final victory of summer 

 looked most hopeless, a change took place ; 

 the wind turned to the south, the sun retired 

 behind the clouds, mists obscured the land- 

 scape, and the snow melted " like butter upon 

 hot toast. . . . The effect on the great river 

 was magical. Its thick armor of ice cracked 

 with a loud noise like the rattling of thunder, 

 every twenty-four hours it was lifted up a 

 fathom above its former level, broken up, 

 first into ice-floes and then into pack-ice, 

 and marched down stream at least a hundred 

 miles. Even at this great speed it was more 

 than a fortnight before the last straggling 

 ice-blocks passed our post of observation on 

 the Arctic Circle ; but during that time the 

 river had risen seventy feet above its winter 

 level, although it was three miles wide, and 

 we were in the middle of a blazing hot sum- 

 mer, picking flowers of a hundred different 

 kinds, and feasting upon wild ducks' eggs of 

 various species. Birds abounded to an in- 

 credible extent." 



Analysis of Volcanic Ashes. An analysis 

 has been made by M. A. F. Nogues of the 

 ashes and volcanic sands thro^vn up by the 

 volcano Calbuco, in Chili, during an eruption 

 which began in February, 1893, and had not 

 ceased in December. The fine dust products 

 were projected to places as far off as Moutt, 

 Valdivia, and La Union, at distances varying 

 from twenty-five to one hundred and twelve 



