January 21, 19 15] 



NATURE 



567 



That expedition consisted of two vessels, the 

 Alert and Discovery, and its primary object was 

 to reach, if possible, the North Pole. Leaving 

 England in the summer of 1875, the vessels pro- 

 ceeded through Davis Strait to Smith Sound, 

 where a secure harbour was found in which to 

 moor the Discovery , to form a base of retreat, 

 whilst the Alert pushed northward as far as was 

 possible. The ice in the northern part of Smith 

 Sound presented unexpected obstacles, and sub- 

 sequent observations showed that the polar basin 

 northward of Smith Sound produced masses of 

 icebergs and floes which, being drifted against the 

 coast, were piled one on the top of the other and 

 closed all navigation excepting between the coast 

 and the ice grounded near it. Here, again, the 

 skill of Captain Nares guided the vessel into a 

 fairly secure position between the coast and the 

 grounded ice, a position which it would have been 

 unsafe to take excepting for the Discovery left 

 in a secure harbour as a base to fall back on. 

 The winter of 1875-6 was spent in organising 

 sledge parties, one of which, under Commander 

 Markham, was to get as far northwards as 

 possible, one Kinder Lieutenant Pelham Aldrich 

 was to proceed along the coast line in a north- 

 westerlv direction, and the third, under Lieutenant 

 Beaumont, was to cross Smith Sound and proceed 

 northward along the Greenland coast. The ex- 

 peditions along the coast line were successful, as 

 there the ice offered comparatively IJi^tle obstruc- 

 tion to sledge work, but the rough, hummocky 

 ice encountered by the party under Commander 

 Markham proved to be of such a nature that 

 progress to the northward was very slow and 

 difficult, and the hardships which his party under- 

 went can scarcely be exaggerated. 



The sledge parties returning to the vessels 

 towards the end of the summer, Captain Xares 

 decided that it was useless trying to reach the 

 pole from Smith's Sound, and' proceeded home- 

 wards. The manner in which the Alert was ex- 

 tricated from her perilous position and brought 

 safely to England with the Discovery was a feat 

 of seamanship any man might be proud of. 



After his return from the Arctic Captain Nares 

 was made K.C.B., in recognition of his services, 

 and in 1878 was again given command of the 

 Alert to prosecute surveying work in Magellan 

 Strait, but was recalled from that ship in 1879 to 

 act as Marine Adviser to the Board of Trade. 

 This appointment he held for about twenty years. 

 During his retirement, like many another sailor, 

 he took up gardening and was ver\^ successful in 

 growing roses. 



He died on January 15 and was buried at Long 

 Ditton Church on January 19. The funeral was 

 attended by Captain J. F. Parry, R.N., the 

 hvdrograph'er, who represented the Admiralty, and 

 by several naval oflficers, most of whom received 

 their first instruction in seamanship from him on 

 board H.M.S. Britannia, and many of whom were 

 associated with him in his Arctic Expedition or 

 in the Challenger exploring expeditions. 

 NO. 2360, VOL. 94] 



NOTES. 

 The Executive Committee of the proposed Meteoro- 

 logical Conference at Edinburgh has handed over to 

 the Scottish Meteorological Society the balance of the 

 funds subscribed for the expenses of the meeting with 

 the hope that when the opportunity once more arises 

 the society will take the initiative in carrying the 

 project into execution. It has been decided that the 

 committees in London and Edinburgh shall be kept 

 in being. 



We learn from Science that Prof. J. H. Pettit, 

 professor of soil fertility in the college of agriculture 

 and chief of soil fertility in the experiment station of 

 the University of Illinois, died on December 30 at 

 Pasadena, California ; and that Prof. S. B. Christy, 

 professor of mining and metallurgy in the University 

 of California and dean of the college of mining, died 

 in Berkeley, California, on November 30, 19 14, at 

 the age of sixty-one years. 



Prof. George Forbes, who has been entrusted by 

 Lady Gill with the dut}* of preparing a memoir of her 

 late husband, asks us to announce that he would be 

 glad to be favoured with any letters which have been 

 preserved by Sir David Gill's numerous correspond- 

 ents ; and would greatly appreciate any notes — narra- 

 tive, historical, appreciative, or anecdotal — relating to 

 Sir David's life and personality. All original letters 

 or other documents will be carefully preserved, and 

 returned to the senders at as early a date as possible. 

 Such communications should be addressed to Prof. 

 Forbes at 11 Little College Street, Westminster. 



Owing to the war, the fifth International Congress 

 of Philosophy, arranged to be held in London next 

 September, has been abandoned. The General 

 Organising Committee has expressed an earnest hope 

 that the confederacy of the entire philosophical 

 world, which has subsisted since the inauguration of 

 the series of congresses in 1900, and seemed to have 

 attained the rank of a permanent institution, will not 

 be set aside for a longer time than outward circum- 

 stances render absolutely imperative. The committee 

 has pledged itself as soon as possible after peace is 

 restored to promote the continuance of this inter- 

 national bond, either by renewing the invitation to 

 meet in this countn- or by obtaining an invitation 

 from a neutral countr}\ 



A Reuter message from New York states that at a 

 dinner given on January 14 at the Aero Club of 

 America, Government officials announced a plan of 

 the Post Office Department to introduce into the 

 postal service 2000 airmen, who would carr\- sacks of 

 first-class mails. The routes have already been 

 selected by the Department, and it is hoped that the 

 Bill authorising this scheme of aerial transportation 

 of mails will pass next Congress. It may be recalled 

 that, with the sanction of the Postmaster-General, an 

 aerial postal service, for the idea and organisation of 

 which Mr. D. Lewis Poole was chiefly responsible, 

 was carried out successfullv between Hendon and 

 Windsor on September 9, 191 1, that is, in Coronation 

 year. A sack of letters was conveved between these 



