2G2 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 



H. W. Reed, assistant ; T. Winston and H. Stevens, level par- 

 ty ; topographer, A. O. Donnah ; assistant, A. L. Berry. 



After varying experiences, the expedition returned, having 

 accomplished, in a measure, its object ; and a detailed account 

 of what was done in the line of topography, geography, and 

 of protection to the railroad, has been published by the Sec- 

 retary of War in his annual report. 



The naturalists of the expedition have also returned from 

 the field with rich collections. 



EECENT EXPLORATIONS IN SPITZBEEGEN. 



Among the explorations of the arctic regions during the 

 year 1873, we find mention in Petermann's Mittheilungen of 

 an expedition to Spitzbergen, in July and August, by Dr. 

 Richard von Drasche. The voyage was made on the schooner 

 Polar S>tm\ Captain Simonsen, of twenty-one tons' burden, and- 

 23rovided with an iron sheathing to prevent injury from the 

 ice. He left Tromso on the 30th of June, and on the 9th of 

 July, in latitude 75 2', met with the first drift-ice, the tem- 

 perature being 33.50 Fahr. On the 10th he reached the 

 southern point of West Spitzbergen, and there became beset, 

 and was obliged to change his course. He finally arrived in 

 Bell Sound on the 16th of July. Here they met Professor 

 Nordenskjold, who had made a boat expedition, while his 

 vessel, the Polhem, attempted to penetrate to the north 



asrain. 



C7 



In Magdalena Bay they encountered Captain Johannesen, 

 who had just returned from Jan Mayen's Land, and reported 

 an unbroken sheet of ice from Jan Mayen as far as Amster- 

 dam Island. They landed upon Prince Charles Foreland Isl- 

 and, and thence made a boat excursion to Amsterdam Island. 

 Along the whole eastern coast of Amsterdam Island they 

 found large masses of erratic blocks of granite, syenite, and 

 primitive slates, which do not occur in situ in Spitzbergen. 

 Von Drasche concludes that the interior of West Spitzbergen 

 is composed of rocks of Plutonic and primitive slate forma- 

 tions, differino: from those on the coast. On the 14th of Au- 

 gust the party started on their return to Norway, and arrived 

 at Hamerfest on the 27th. 



