Nov. 2, 1876] 



NATL RE 



which should be explored by organised German Arctic 

 explorers, is the great inlet to the higher Arctic regions 

 situated between the eastern shore of Greenland and the 

 western shore of Spitzbergen. 



" Considering the results of the second German Arctic 

 expedition, a principal station should be established 

 on the eastern shore of Greenland, and, at least, two 

 secondary stations, fitted out for ^^/-;«rt«^«/ investiga- 

 tion of different scientific questions, at Jan Mayen 

 and on the western shore of Spitzbergen. For certain 

 scientific researches the principal station should 

 establish temporary stations. 

 "3. It appears very desirable, and, so far as scientific 

 preparations are concerned, possible, to commence these 

 Arctic explorations in the year 1877. 



" 4. The Commission is convinced that an exploration 

 of the Arctic regions, based on such principles, will furnish 

 valuable results, even if limited to the region between 

 Greenland and Spitzbergen ; but it is also of opinion 

 than an exhaustive solution of the problems to be solved 

 can only be expected when the exploration is extended 

 over the whole Arctic zone, and when other countries 

 lake their share in the undertaking. 



" The Commission recommends, therefore, that the 

 principles adopted for the German undertaking should be 

 communicated to the Governments of the States which 

 take interest in Arctic inquiry, in order to establish, if 

 possible, a complete circle of observing stations in the 

 Arctic zones." 



But to come to any final decision on the subject at 

 present, as have some of the daily papers, is premature, 

 more especially as we have only mere hints of the work 

 of the latest expedition before us. It is evident, how- 

 ever, that three courses are open to us : we may rest on 

 our oars and comfort ourselves with the belief that no 

 more can be done ; we may make another dash, blind to 

 a certain extent it must be with our present knowledge ; 

 or, accepting the recommendation of the German Com- 

 mission, a united and continuous sap may be com- 

 menced. But in order to come to a wise decision, men 

 of science must long ponder over the enormous mass of 

 new facts collected by the expedition, and not until this 

 has been done can any opinion worth the stating be 

 possibly arrived at. 



Here we would have ended had it not been for the 

 lamentable tone assumed by our leading newspaper in an 

 article on the expedition in Tuesday's issue. It will be 

 remembered that from the first, for some unaccountable 

 reason, the Times set its face against the expedition, and 

 prophesied that no good could come of it ; now it utters a 

 lonely shout of triumph at the supposed success of its 

 prophecy. For the Times appears to be so ill-informed 

 as to beheve that the main, if not the sole, object of the 

 expedition was to reach the Pole ; if it failed in doing 

 this, then, in the eyes of the Times, it was a complete 

 failure. But this is sheer ignorance, real or assumed, on 

 the part of the Times ; for no informed person ever 

 dreamt that the only object of the well-equipped expedi- 

 tion was to gratify unintelligent curiosity and craving 

 after sensation. The printed instructions of the expedi- 

 tion were essentially : " Reach the Pole if you can, but 

 at any rate, in the light of the latest scientific know- 

 ledge, make all possible observations on the multifarious 

 phenomena which can be seen to advantage alone 

 in the Arctic regions." These instructions have been 

 faithfully carried out and with complete success. Every 

 effort was made to reach the Pole, and when the 



results are published it will be seen that no expedition 

 ever brought home a richer harvest. Whether these 

 results are worth the suffering and the sacrifice of life 

 which the expedition experienced, is a question which 

 will be answered in accordance with one's idea of what 

 is worth running the risk of life for. In spite of the 

 scream of the Times, and although no new market has 

 been opened, the people of this country will simply feel 

 proud, and be ennobled by the thought, that the latest 

 deed of heroism has been done by Englishmen— that 

 " the ancient spirit is not dead." 



The nation desired the expedition, scientific bodies and 

 scientific men counselled it and worked for it. Government, 

 only after long consideration, willing and liberally granted 

 funds ; and out of the volunteers, officers and men, 

 who, well knowing all the risks that would be run, eagerly 

 offered themselves for the service, a dozen similar expe- 

 ditions could have been equipped. Under these circum- 

 stances the Timei article is simply an impertinence. 



SCHIMPEKS "MOSSES OF EUROPE'' 

 Synopsis Muscorum Europaorum. Auctore W. P. 

 Schimper. Vol. I. — Introductio, pp. 13S. Vol. IT. — 

 Specierum descriptio, pp. 886. Edit. 2. Stuttgartias, 

 1876. (London : Williams and Norgate.) 



THIS long expected work has at last made its appear- 

 ance, and all students of bryology will be grateful 

 to possess such a vast storehouse of carefully arranged 

 descriptive matter to help them in the determination of 

 species ; no easy task at any time, and sometimes one of 

 difficulty and trouble even to an expert. 



The first edition appeared in i860, and we must frankly 

 admit that we experienced some feelings of disappoint- 

 ment, on finding that almost the entire nomenclature and 

 arrangement are identical with those of that edition ; nay, 

 in some respects we must look upon the classification as 

 retrograde, for while in his classical work on the Sphag- 

 naceas. Prof. Schimper strongly insists on the elevation 

 of this family to the rank of a class equivalent to those of 

 Mosses and Hepaticas, we here find him placing them 

 along with Andreaa and Archidium, as an appendage to 

 the mosses, under the title of BryiN/E anomaly ; surely 

 a most unphilosophical mode of dealing with them, since 

 the three genera have nothing else in common but the 

 large saccate calyplra, which had already led Hampe to 

 separate them as a section — Saccomiiria. 



The Cleistocarpous order heads the series, though the 

 author half apologises for still retaining it " as being con- 

 venient for beginners, and because the position of some 

 of them among the Stegocarpi is uncertain." Several of 

 our best bryologists, however, have long felt that the soli- 

 tary character of possessing a capsule without a separable 

 lid, is not sufficient to outweigh all other points of struc- 

 ture and habit, especially when it also necessitates keep- 

 ing up two parallel series of forms in widely separated 

 families, e.g , Phascacece and Pottiacece. We would venture 

 to differ from our author, and consider that Archidium is 

 a near ally of Pleuridium, and that the absence of a colu- 

 mella is not so momentous a character as to require the 

 separation of these genera to the extreme ends of the 

 system ; while Andrecea as to its vegetative organs is 

 essentially Grimmiaceous, but in its fruit standing apart 



