244 SCIENTIFIC RECORD FOR 1884. 



The German expedition, under command of Dr. Schroeder, which spent 

 the year from September, 1882, to September, 1883, at the island of South 

 Georgia, is the first scientific expedition which has visited that island, 

 and its report is therefore of great interest. The expedition was located 

 at Moltke Harbor, in Eoyal Bay, and while their observations would 

 seem to indicate that the neighborhood of Cape Horn was not as stormy 

 during the year of their stay as has been generally supposed, one 

 curious fact which navigators of those seas have frequently had occa- 

 sion to notice was confirmed, viz, the violent storms occurred, without 

 exception, when the barometer stood at "fair." 



Explorations of the island were undertaken on several occasions, but 

 the slate rocks were very difficult of ascent, and the enormous glaciers, 

 rising in many places to a height of 6,000 or 7,000 feet, prevented any 

 thorough examination. The climate was found to be decidedly colder 

 than its latitude would indicate, its mean temperature for the year being 

 only 350 F, the lowest thermometer reading being 26° and the highest 

 570 F. 



EUROPE. 



Measurements systematically made since 1750, and recently reported 

 by the Swedish Academy of Sciences, demonstrate that the Swedish 

 coast has been steadily rising, while the southern shore of the Baltic 

 has been sinking, the general result being that the Swedish coast has 

 risen nearly 56 inches during the last one hundred and thirty-four 

 years. 



The next ship-canal to be opened to commerce will be that across the 

 Isthmus of Corinth. The work is being rapidly advanced, and another 

 year only will probably be required for its completion. This canal will 

 shorten the distance between the ports of the Adriatic and those of 

 Western Turkey about 200 miles, and for vessels from the Atlantic about 

 half as much. 



A recent issue of the Isvestia of the Russian Geographical Society 

 shows that geodetic and map-making work is being energetically car- 

 ried on in the Russian Empire. Trigonometrical and hjpsometrical sur- 

 veys are being pushed in many regions, numerous latitude and longitude 

 determinations have been made, and hydrographic work has been car- 

 ried on in the Baltic, Black, and Caspian Seas and on the shores of the 

 Pacific Ocean. A hypsometrical chart of European Russia, indicating 

 the height of more than 18,000 points, has been published by the minis- 

 try of public works. 



It has long been believed that Cape North was not the extreme north- 

 ern point of Europe, and Captain Sorenson has now demonstrated that 

 that distinction belongs to a promontory called Kuivskjverodde, a few 

 miles west of Cape North, and extending rather more than a thousand 

 yards farther to the northward. 



