POPULAR MISCELLANY. 



857 



north as possible, -whence advance parties 

 might be sent farther toward the pole. In 

 the summer of 1882 it established a station 

 at Fort Conger, north of Lady Franklin Bay, 

 near the eighty-second degree of latitude, 

 which it abandoned in August, 1883, to come 

 down to Cape Sabine. Of the exploring par- 

 ties sent out, one, under Lieutenant Lock- 

 wood, reached in Lockwood Island the high- 

 est latitude yet attained — 83° 24-5' and lon- 

 gitude 40° 45', and went a short distance 

 beyond. From a height of two thousand 

 feet. Lieutenant Lockwood discerned in 

 the northeast Cape Robert Lincoln, latitude 

 83° 35', longitude 38°. Lieutenant Greely, 

 exploring Grinnell Land, discovered Lake 

 Ilazen, some sixty miles by ten miles in ex- 

 tent, and ascended Mount Arthur, five thou- 

 sand feet high. In a subsequent explora- 

 tion by Lieutenant Lockwood and Sergeant 

 Brainerd, Grinnell Land was found to be 

 bounded by a water, named Greely Fiord, 

 across which was discerned another land, to 

 which the name of Arthur Land was given. 

 The northern and southern parts of Grin- 

 nell Land appear to be covered with ice- 

 caps, between which is a belt of open coun- 

 try some sixty miles wide. Hayes Sound 

 was found to extend some twenty miles far- 

 ther to the west than is shown on Sir George 

 Nares's chart. The lowest temperature ob- 

 served was 61° below zero. Animal life was 

 abundant around Fort Conger, but scarce on 

 Cape Sabine. The details of the sufferings 

 and privations to which the party were ex- 

 posed on Cape Sabine, in consequence of the 

 failure of the supply expeditions to deposit 

 stores of provisions where they were expect- 

 ed to be found, are extremely painful. 



Relation of Springs and the First Settle- 

 ments of a Country. — At the recent Con- 

 ference on Water-Supply, held by the Soci- 

 ety of Arts in connection with the London 

 Health Exhibition, Mr. W. G. Topley read 

 a paper showing how the location of the 

 early settlements in England was deter- 

 mined by facility of access to water. The 

 influence of this condition in attracting set- 

 tlement to the shores of rivers, lakes, etc., 

 13 well known, but Mr. Topley showed also 

 that the law operated with force in the 

 case of the less imposing distribution of 

 springs, and how long lines of early villages 



could be found situated along lines of ter- 

 ritory where well-digging is practicable. 

 Springs occur near where a pervious bed 

 overlies or underlies an impervious bed, or 

 where a valley reaches down to the level at 

 which the rock is saturated with water. A 

 soil which allows water to sink into it is a 

 dry soil, and is, therefore, suited for habita- 

 tion and for agriculture. Hence the main 

 conditions which favor the settlement of a 

 district are found in the same soil, or along 

 the outcrop of the same bed. "We thus see 

 that geological structure controls the distri- 

 bution of population, not only in such great 

 features of the earth's surface as mountain- 

 chains, plains, and valleys, but also in minor 

 divisions of the district. The outcrop of a 

 narrow band of porous rock beneath wide 

 beds of clay is strongly marked by the oc- 

 currence of a long line of villages, each of 

 which obtains its water from shallow wells 

 or springs. When rocks rise from beneath 

 a covering of clay, there are often springs 

 at the junction. While the early settle- 

 ments in England were nearly always con- 

 trolled by these circumstances, relating to 

 the distribution of springs, the later devel- 

 opment of special towns and districts has 

 depended upon a variety of conditions, 

 many of which have become very compli- 

 cated. 



Constrnetion of Stretchers and Ambn- 

 lanees. — Dr. Robert Lawson has given some 

 valuable hints on the construction of stretch- 

 ers and ambulances for the removal of the 

 sick and wounded. It is most desirable in 

 them to avoid or mitigate as far as possible 

 inequalities and roughness in motion. Field- 

 stretchers are liable to swing with the sway- 

 ing from side to side of the bodies of their 

 bearers and to a regular series of jolts. 

 With each step he takes, the porter bends 

 his body to the side on which a foot is 

 touching the ground to maintain his equi- 

 librium, and his burden follows him. The 

 swinging may be diminished by causing the 

 bearers to walk out of step, so that the sway 

 of one to the right may be neutralized by 

 the sway of another to the left. The jolts 

 are consequent upon the shortening of the 

 height of the bearer as his body bends over 

 when the foot is set forward to make the 

 next step. They are mitigated by shorten- 



