FRAGMENTS OF SCIENCE. 



861 



will hunt whales, seals, etc., and expect to 

 make three trips with their cargoes between 

 the antarctic country and Melbourne. It is 

 contemplated now that the expedition shall 

 start about the 1st of September. Some 

 money has been subscribed for the cost, but 

 more is needed. 



Monntaln-climbing In Montana. An 



article describing a trip of exploration to 

 the Montana Rockies by L. W. Chancy, Jr., 

 in a recent issue of Science, contains some 

 interesting facts. In July last the party en- 

 tered the moun tarns by the Great Northern 

 road, which crosses the range about forty 

 miles south of the international boundary, 

 following on the western side of the divide 

 the Middle Fork of the Flathead River. 

 Twenty miles from the summit, at Two- 

 Medicine Pass, is Belton Station. Here there 

 falls into the fork a large and rapid moun- 

 tain creek ; it comes from Macdonald Lake, 

 three miles away in the mountains to the 

 northward. This lake is already much re- 

 sorted to for fishing and camping purposes. 

 At the northern end of it a small settlement 

 exists, and from here the party started. 

 After some unproductive exploitations in a 

 neighboring valley, they decided to try their 

 fortunes farther north, and set out for a 

 group of mines known as the International 

 Camp, where the range, after sweeping north- 

 ward from Lake Macdonald for thirty miles, 

 turns quite abruptly to the west. This camp 

 is sixty-five hundred feet above the sea. To 

 the east is a saddle of the main range some 

 two thousand feet above the camp. " To this 

 saddle we then directed our attention, and 

 the morning after our arrival we made the 

 ascent, finding it not difficult. Immediately 

 on stepping down from the rocks on the 

 eastern side of the range we found an im- 

 mense snowtield filling an amphitheater some 

 four miles in diameter. As we crossed the 

 snowfield to the east there appeared running 

 parallel with the curving wall of the amphi- 

 theater lines upon the surface, whose sig- 

 nificance we did not at first apprehend. Ob- 

 servations with the field glass soon indicated, 

 what closer examination afterward confirmed, 

 that these were long crevasses in the ice. 

 We then knew that we stood upon the upper 

 snowfields of a glacier not of great size, 

 but in many respects very typical. Passing 



on to the eastern side of the amphitheater 

 we ascended the rocky ridge which formed 

 its boundary. Then suddenly there burst 

 upon us one of the most tremendous moun- 

 tain scenes any of the party had ever had the 

 good fortune to witness. Sheer down below 

 was a cliff which repeated experiments with 

 falling rocks showed to be more than six- 

 teen hundred feet of perpendicular precipice. 

 From the base of this cliff the talus sloped 

 down sharply to the bottom of the valley, no 

 less than three thousand feet below. Around 

 the northern end of the ridge on which we 

 stood swept the glacier narrowed into a true 

 ice river. As it broke over the cliff to plunge 

 into the valley it was fractured with numer- 

 ous crevasses. The largest was about twenty 

 feet across, and into it plunged one of the 

 surface streams which came down the gla- 

 cier. Below in the valley lay a succession 

 of lakes the first of so deep and dark a 

 blue that without hesitation we called it 

 Emerald Lake. The moraine at the foot of 

 the glacier was evidently almost entirely 

 gi'ound moraine. There were very few large 

 rocks lying in a mass of finely divided gray 

 detritus. Across this rushed the stream 

 which came from the glacier." Some crude 

 observations were made as to the rate of 

 movement of the glacier ; between two days 

 there seemed to be a movement at the cen- 

 ter of the mass of about two inches. Mr. 

 Chancy commends these regions to those 

 who wish to study mountain forms or glaciers 

 and glaciation. " There is an abundant and 

 very interesting fauna and flora, and on every 

 side the majesty and glory of one of the 

 noblest mountain ranges." 



Commercial Liquid Air. A method for 

 the commercial preparation of liquid air has 

 been devised by Herr Linde, and steps are 

 being taken to put it into practical operation. 

 The successive coolings to the critical tem- 

 perature, which the chemists effect by the 

 evaporation of other liquefied gases, are in 

 this process brought about by successive 

 compressions and expansions of gaseous air. 

 With an adaptation of piston machinery a 

 volume of air is greatly compressed, and its 

 temperature, which has of course become 

 very high, is reduced by a cooling process. 

 The piston is then withdrawTi and the cooled 

 compressed air allowed suddenly to expand. 



