564 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



grow in great luxuriance on the banks of 

 the Yenisei in the north forest region. 



The volume before us was prepared by 

 Alexander Leslie, Esq., of Aberdeen, and, 

 although largely a compilation from reports 

 and papers by Nordenskiold and his able 

 scientific assistants, has been put together 

 with rare tact and judgment, and forms an 

 interesting and timely contribution to the 

 literature of Arctic exploration. 



The first Toyage of Nordenskiold to 

 Spitzbergen was made in 1858 as geologist 

 in Jorell's first expedition to that island- 

 It was then that he discovered, at Bell 

 Sound, on the southwest part of Spitzber- 

 gen, the remarkable fossil flora which was 

 determined by Professor Heer to be of Ter- 

 tiary age. He also found in the same fiord 

 limestone in vertical strata, which, from 

 its fossils, is referred to the Carboniferous 

 formation. In the spring of 1861 another 

 voyage was made, and the work of explora- 

 tion begun in 1858 was pushed with vigor. 

 On this journey, while yet many miles from 

 Spitzbergen, snow-buntings, exhausted in 

 their migratory flight, alighted in the rig- 

 ging of the ship. On another occasion, 

 flocks of the barnacle-goose were seen fly- 

 ing northeastward beyond Spitzbergen, per- 

 haps to yet unknown lands. When the 

 breeding-season for birds was at its height, 

 the vast numbers seen astonished the trav- 

 elers. The rocks of the coast for many 

 miles were literally covered with them. 



Nordenskiold made six voyages of ex- 

 ploration to Spitzbergen, and one to Green- 

 land. This last was in 1 870, and the account 

 of his journey inland is of great interest. 

 He proceeded to the head of Auleitsivik 

 Fiord, and went thence about thirty- miles 

 over a region that was one vast ice-field, 

 dangerous and exhausting to travelers. They 

 reached a point twenty-two hundred feet 

 above sea-level. A pair of ravens were the 

 only animals seen, but traces of the ptar- 

 migan were met with. In the Polar Ex- 

 pedition to Spitzbergen in 1872-"73, a very 

 extensive exploration of the eastern shore 

 of Northeast Land was made. This is a 

 desolate, ice-covered island about ninety 

 miles in length by seventy-five in breadth, 

 separated from Spitzbergen by a strait 

 eighteen miles broad. The ice-covering is 

 probably from two to three thousand feet 



in thickness, and the movement of the ice- 

 mass is eastward, forming the broadest gla- 

 cier known. Its breadth is even greater 

 than that of the Humboldt glacier of Green- 

 land. 



The book abounds in fine descriptions of 

 Arctic scenery, and the long night seems to 

 be not wanting in agreeable aspects. The 

 darkness is lessened by the mild light of 

 the moon ; and a faint, reddish glimmer in 

 the southern horizon lingers for some time, 

 a reminiscence of the day and of summer. 

 Overhead the pole-star shines with steady 

 luster, and the vault is all aglow with stellar 

 light. On the shore, in the ice-slush, a phos- 

 phorescent glow is frequently observed, due, 

 it is supposed, to the presence of minute 

 crustaceans, and this phenomenon continues 

 even at a temperature of 10° Cent, below 

 freezing. 



The results of Nordenskiold's last voy- 

 age, in which he passed Behring's Strait 

 and entered upon the Pacific Ocean, are 

 briefly stated, and the fuller account from 

 the pen of the explorer will be awaited 

 with interest. The Vega, the vessel in 

 which this important voyage was made, was 

 detained by ice but a few miles from the 

 strait, for two hundred and sixty-four days. 

 It made the passage of the strait on the 

 20th of July last, and demonstrated the 

 practicability of navigation from the North 

 Atlantic to the North Pacific. The volume 

 is appropriately dedicated to Oscar Dick- 

 son, of Gothenburg, whose princely liberal- 

 ity made the several expeditions possible. 



An Illustrated Dictionary of Scientific 

 Terms. By William Rossiter. New 

 York : G. P. Putnam's Sons. Pp. 350. 

 Price, ll.VS. 



Books of this kind are much needed, as 

 our scientific literature is becoming burdened 

 with a great multitude of new technical terms, 

 many of which are not found in ordinary dic- 

 tionaries. But this work does not profess 

 to be complete. Only the most commonly 

 used and most important words have been 

 included. The compiler has aimed at accu- 

 racy and brevity, and seems to have fairly 

 secured both. We might object to the small- 

 ness of the type, but 14,000 entries got 

 within moderate limits of course necessi- 

 tate small type. 



