VII.] A EEMARKABLE FIND. 247 



importance for the answering of a large number of questions 

 concerning the formation of fossiliferous strata. It is strange 

 m any case that on Spitzbergen it is easier to find vertebrae of 

 a gigantic lizard of the Trias, than bones of a self-dead seal, 

 walrus, or bird, and the same also holds good of more southerly 

 inhabited lands. 



On the 13th August we again sailed past a large number of 

 small rocks or islands. The sea was at first pretty free of ice, 

 but was afterwards bestrewed with even, thin j^iecesof drift-ice, 

 which were not forced up on each other, and thus had not been 

 exposed in winter to any ice-pressure. This ice did not cause 

 any inconvenience to the navigation, but at the same time all 

 was wrapt in a very close mist, which soon compelled us to 

 anchor near the shore in a little bay. I endeavoured without 

 success to determine the position of the place by astronomical 

 observations. Along the shore there still remained nearly 

 everywhere a pretty high snow and ice-foot, which in "the fog 

 presented the appearance of immense glaciers. The land be- 

 sides was free of ice. In respect of its geological formation and 

 its animals and plants it resembled completely the island I have 

 just described. But the sea-water here was clear and salt, and 

 the dredging therefore yielded to Dr. Kjellman some large alga^, 

 and to Dr. Stuxberg; a large number of marine e vertebrates. 



When the fog lightened, we immediately steamed on, but we 

 had scarcely got to sea before we were again wrapped in so close 

 a fog that we were compelled to lie-to for the night beside a 

 large jDiece of drift-ice. The hempen tangles were used, and 

 brought up a very abundant yield of large, beautiful animal 

 forms, a large number of asterids, Astrophyton, Antedon, &c. 

 There was besides made here an exceedingly remarkable, and 

 to me still, vvhile I write, a very enigmatical find. 



For 'several years back I have been zealous for the examina- 

 tion of all substances of the nature of dust which fall to the 

 surface of the earth with rain or snow, and I have proved that a 

 portion of them is of cosmic origin. This inconsiderable fall of 

 dust is thus of immense importance for the history of the de- 

 velopment of our globe, and we regard it, besides, with the 

 intense interest which we inevitably cherish for all that brings 

 us an actual experience regarding the material world beyond 

 our globe. The inhabited countries of the earth, however, are 

 less suitable for such investigations, as the particles of cosmic 

 dust falling down here in very limited quantity can only with 

 difficulty be distinguished from the dust of civilization, arising 

 from human dwellings, from the offal of industry, from furnaces 

 and the chimneys of steam-engines. The case is quite different 

 on the snow and ice-fields of the High North, remote from 

 human habitations and the tracks of steamers. Every foreign 



