14 



NATURE 



[Nov. 



2. I. 



and, from a mountain 2,000 feet high, sighted land 

 towards the west-north-west, extending to lat. 83° 7'. 



Ancient Es^^imo remains were traced on the west side 

 of Smith Sound up to lat. 81° 52' N, From that position 

 the wanderers had evidently crossed the channel at its 

 narrowest part to Greenland. The most diligent search 

 was made further north, but no trace of them discovered. 



Six musk oxen were shot at thQAlerfs winter quarters, 

 and three half way between her position and that of the 

 Discovery, while hfty-four were shot near Discovery Bay. 

 The ermine was seen, and owls were found on the Green- 

 land shore opposite the Discovery's quarters, the young 

 ones on their appearance being mostly devoured by wolves. 

 The remaining items in the Alert's game list at her 

 northern station show seven hares and ninety birds of 

 different kinds, the latter shot only in July. The birds 

 certainly do not migrate beyond Cape Joseph Henry, lat. 

 82° 50' N. Very few besides those accounted for by the 

 sportsmen passed the Alert. Very few seals were seen 

 north of Cape Union, and no bears, dovekies, or looms, 

 it is stated, ever reach the Polar Sea. Water animals 

 were notably absent, and it is surmised that those that do 

 visit the Arctic Sea come from the south. Among other 

 birds visiting the country, but not advancing beyond the 

 point mentioned, are the knots. Although no nests or 

 eggs were found, the young in all stages of growth were 

 obtained. Amongst the flora described by the parties 

 from the Alert, were the saxifrage, sorrel, and dwarf oak, 

 and late in the summer a few poppies were met with. 



In the neighbourhood of the Discovery's winter quar- 

 ters a seam of coal of good quality and readily worked, 

 was discovered by Mr. Hart, naturalist ; but, unfortu- 

 nately, not before the present summer, otherwise it might 

 have been of service during the winter, when the allow- 

 ance of that article on board was necessarily kept as low 

 as possible. Capt. Feilden obtained some fine fossil 

 corals at the extreme northern hills. Very large collec- 

 tions of natural history subjects have been made by the 

 naturalists, assisted by one and all of the officers and 

 crew. The dredge and trawl were used on several occa- 

 sions with great success. The observations on the physics 

 and meteorology of the Arctic Regions aie likely to prove 

 of the greatest value when published. It will be remem- 

 bered that during the stay of the Polaris in the north, the 

 prevailing wind was from the north-east ; during the pre- 

 sent expedition scarcely any easterly wind was noticed at 

 all, the prevailing wind, like the prevailing current, coming 

 from the west. 



All the Polaris's cairns were visited. At the boat 

 depot in Newman's Bay a box chronometer by Negus, 

 New York, was found to be in perfect order after an ex- 

 posure of four winters ; it has since been keeping excel- 

 lent time on board of the Discovery. Some wheat sent 

 out in the Polaris in order to ascertain whether it would 

 deteriorate when exposed to extreme cold, has been grown 

 successfully under a glass shade by Dr. Belgrave Ninnis. 



A magnificent series of photographs has been brought 

 home, a selection of which will no doubt be published, 

 and afford some idea of the strange scenery to be seen in 

 these inhospitable regions. 



Such is a brief summary of the results obtained by this 

 latest Arctic expedition, but at what expense of hard 

 work and suffering it is difficult for those who read the 

 narrative to realise. The labour which had to be under- 

 gone would have been trying enough to perfectly healthy 

 men, but unfortunately the dreaded scourge of Arctic 

 explorers, scurvy, broke out among them. No expe- 

 dition could have been better provisioned, but in spite of 

 every precaution all the sleage parties suffered most 

 severely. Notwithstanding this, every one worked deter- 

 minedly and cheerfully. Only three seamen, however, 

 died of scurvy, and only one death was the result of frost- 

 bite, that of Niels Christian Petersen, the interpreter of 

 the expedition. 



The ice in the Polar Sea remained firm until Ji 

 20, when there was a movement, increasing with ea 

 tide. On the 31st the Alert succeeded in leaving 1 

 winter quarters, and, after many struggles with the ii 

 joined company with the Discovery on August 12. La 

 Franklin Bay remained closed until the 20th, when, 

 chance occurring, both ships were pushed into the i 

 and succeeded in crossing. After this date the same ki 

 of battle and slow progress took place daily between t 

 ships and the ice, as during the passage north every in 

 gained being of importance as the ice closed in the re 

 As the season advanced, or rather slipped away, ma 

 were the fluctuations in the social barometers as hoj 

 and fears rose and fell, for it was not until September 

 the very last of the season, that the mouth of Ha] 

 Sound was crossed, and the expedition again rejoiced 

 " open water." 



The Alert reached Valentia on the 27th ult., and bi 

 ships arrived at Queenstown on the 29th. On Monc 

 they left for Portsmouth, where they arrived on Wedn 

 day morning. "It goes without saying" that eve 

 where officers and men have had the heartiest welcor 

 though no heartier than they deserve. 



OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN 



II DoRADUS. — This star, which was called a fifth magnit 

 by Lacaille at the end of 1 751, and a sixth by Brisbane, ■ 

 observed by Moesta from February, i860, to January, 1861 

 8'9m. or 9m. only. Perhaps one of our southern readers ^ 

 put upon record the actual magnitude of this star, the perioc 

 which, as Moesta remarked, would appear to be one of c 

 siderable length. Position for 1877 'O in R.A. 5h. 5m. 5 

 N.P.D., 151^58'. 



Southern Double-Stars. — (i) a Centauri. — Measures 

 the angle of position and distance of this star, taken in 

 course of the ensuing year or two, will materially contril 

 towards defining within narrow limits the elements of the or 

 Even in Powell's last orbit, which was founded upon measi 

 to January, 1870, the peri-astron passage (i874'2) is certa 

 too early, though each successive calculation of elements f] 

 Jacob's first has assigned a later date ; it^probably occurrec 



1875. 



{2) J> Eridani also deserves close attention from the astrom 

 in the other hemisphere. There must be a great change 

 angle since the epoch of the last-pubhshed measures, 

 position (i877*o) is in R.A. ih. 35m. 7s., N.P.D. 146° 49'. 



The Intra-Mercurial Planet Question. — If in 

 general formula obtained by M. Leverrier, and given in 

 week's Nature, we put k = — i, the solution, which gives 

 the sidereal period as referred to the node 27 '964 days semi- 

 major o'iSo, and synodical period 30'282 days, accords \ 

 Stark's observation on October 9, 1819, one of the most defi 

 upon record, besides representing, as well as the solution 1 

 k ~ o, the five data upon which M. Leverrier has reliec 

 deducing the formula. In this case we have — 



V - 285076 + 12° •873724/- io°-8 cos V. 

 Stark's observation was published in his ' ' Meteorologisc 

 Jahrbuch," 1820. Under date, October 9, 1819, he says 

 "At the same time there appeared, at a distance of 12' 

 from the southern limb of the sun, and 4' 58" from the eas 

 limb, a black, well-defined nuclear spot, which was perfe 

 round and of the size of Mercury. At 4h. 37m. this nuc 

 spot was no longer present, and I found also later on the 9th 

 well as on the 12th, when the sun next came out, no trace of 

 spot." The observation was probably made about noor 

 Augsburg, which was one of Stark's usual hours for examii 

 the sun's disk — corresponding to October 8, at 23h. i6m. Gn 

 wich time. For this time the above formula gives v = it 



