422 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



The most important discovery was the oceanic depth of the Arctic 

 Sea, where for hundreds of miles this unknown ocean disclosed a 

 depth of oyer two miles. Naturally the absence of land limited the 

 phases of the scientific work of the expeditionary force, which devoted 

 itself to recording the phenomena of the air and the sea. 



Nansen in his separate journey utilized his brief opportunities in 

 Franz Josef Land so successfully that his contributions to the geology 

 of that region are of no small importance. 



The world has looked forward with a degree of impatience to the 

 publication of the scientific results of this expedition, and now is 

 favored with the first volume, a beautiful quarto of some 479 pages, with 

 46 fine plates. It consists of a series of memoirs on the building of 

 the ship, on the birds of the air, on the crustacean forms of sea life 

 and a geological study of the southern part of the archipelago of 

 Franz Josef Land; It is a striking tribute to English-speaking scien- 

 tists that the work will appear in English text only. Although printed 

 in Christiana, such has been the vigilance of the editors that typographi- 

 cal errors are comparatively few. 



The account by Colin Archer of the construction of the Fram is 

 not without interest, in view of the fact that this vessel was built on 

 novel lines calculated to cause the ice to meet a sloping surface, so that, 

 pressing down under the bilge, it would cause the vessel to rise and 

 thus insure its immunity from destruction. 



Archer says: "In order to utilize this principle, it was decided to 

 depart entirely from the usual deep-bilged form of section and to adopt 

 a shape which would afford the ice no point of attack normal to the 

 ship's side, but would, as the horizontal pressure increased, force the 

 attacking floes to divide under the ship's bottom, lifting her as described 

 above. . . . Plane or concave surfaces were avoided as much as 

 possible by giving her round and full lines. This, while increasing 

 the power to resist pressure from outside, also had the advantage of 

 making it easy for the ice to glide along the bottom in any direction." 



As great length is an element of weakness, the Fram's length was 

 cut down as much as possible, with a tendency to make its form circular 

 or oval. Various expedients were adopted to reduce the dead weight 

 of the ship by a judicious arrangement of materials. While economiz- 

 ing weight, the cargo-carrying capacity of the ship could not be too much 

 reduced, and the great strength of the ship must be preserved. Inas- 

 much as the broadside of the ship, both structurally and from its shape, 

 is its weakest part, it was necessary to adopt extraordinary measures to 

 strengthen it. This was done largely by adding stays of yellow pine 

 placed nearly at right angles to the ship's sides, and securely fastened 

 with wooden knees. These were supplemented with upright stanchions 

 tied by iron straps. 



