762 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



mer or winter visitant, or only pas.*es over 

 a locality in spring or fall. 2. With refer- 

 once to each species in a given locality, 

 whether it is "abundant," "somewhat 

 common," or " rare." 3. What species 

 breed, and whether more than once in a 

 season. 4. Dates of arrival, greatest abun- 

 dance, nest-building, laying eggs, hatching 

 of young, and beginning of departure of 

 each species, and when it is last seen in 

 the fall. 5. What efTects, if any, upon 

 the relative abundance of particular birds, 

 in retarding their arrival or hastening 

 their departure, sudden changes of the 

 weather, storms, and late and early sea- 

 sons appear to have. 6. Similar notes upon 

 the appearance and movements of the quad- 

 rupeds, reptiles, and fishes of the region, 

 and upon the time of flowering of trees 

 and plants. V. Other occurrences consid- 

 ered noteworthy. It is desirable that rec- 

 ords of this kind should be kept. As the 

 writer in Forest and Stream observes, it is 

 through such observations as these, con- 

 tinued year after year, that the natural his- 

 tory of England has become so well known, 

 and so many persons there have become in- 

 terested in it. We may add that children 

 might easily be induced to take an interest 

 in this kind of natural-history observations, 

 and so by degrees acquire the faculty of 

 accurately noting what is going on around 

 them. 



Arctic KcSMrch. A commission of thir- 

 teen eminent naturalists, appointed by the 

 German Government to discuss the ques- 

 tion of Arctic discovery, have made a re- 

 port, in which they adopt the advice of 

 Lieutenant Payer, of the Austrian Expedi- 

 tion. They do not object to Arctic re- 

 search, but dissuade from voyages of dis- 

 covery ; they believe that the advantages to 

 be derived from the former can be secured 

 by a safer and surer method. They recom- 

 mend the establisliment of permanent sta- 

 tions in those Arctic regions which can be 

 ?afely approached and abandoned at any 

 time. As a beginning, they recommend 

 several stations to be formed on the eastern 

 shore of Greenland, the western shore of 

 Spitzbergen, and Jan Mayen Island. Houses 

 should be built, furnished with every regard 

 to the inclemencv of the cliinato. In eaoli 



house the commission would have stationed 

 a detachment of scholars, sailors, and other 

 enterprising men, to remain for a term of 

 years, a ship being sent out for their relief 

 from time to time. 



The men at these stations could do good 

 work for meteorology, by observing the pe- 

 riodic recurrence of Arctic phenomena, as 

 well as any deviation from the ordinary 

 rule, and would thus be enabled to discover 

 the reasons for the alternation of storm and 

 calm at the equator. The connection be- 

 tween terrestrial magnetism and atmospher- 

 ic electricity, cable-currents, and the aurora 

 borealis, can only be investigated in such 

 high latitudes ; while the laws of terrestrial 

 magnetism itself will never be thoroughly 

 appreciated unless the variations of mag- 

 netism in the far north are studied. Then 

 as to astronomy, the theory of refraction, 

 the atmospheric lines of the spectrum, and 

 the relation between comets and shooting- 

 stars, to be better known, require continued 

 observation near the pole. Geodesy, too, 

 by measurement of degrees and observa- 

 tion of the pendulum, will arrive at more 

 definite conclusions respecting the form of 

 the globe. 



Geography, independently of the topo- 

 graphical details to be ascertained on the 

 spot, will derive the most valuable geognos- 

 tic information from further systematic 

 study. Geology, paleontology, mineralogy, 

 botany, and zoology, may expect to make 

 great strides from persistent exploration of 

 the northern and southern poles, while 

 physiology and biology will be enormously 

 advanced by the discovery of the conditions 

 of life in those cold regions. There was a 

 time when man in Central Europe led the 

 life to which Lapps and Eskimos are con- 

 demned nowadays. To become familiar 

 with the manners and customs, the religion 

 and morals, the physical and psychical pe- 

 culiarities of Arctic races, is to dive into 

 the distant past, and may probably explain 

 much that is still unintelligible in our 

 primeval history. 



Force .ind Work. Work without im- 

 plies work within. Xo exercise of force 

 can be made except by the generation and 

 use of force of which no part enters into 

 the external result. The use of muscles in- 



