August 3, 1893] 



NATURE 



321 



to an ordinary water-pump through a wash bottle con- 

 taining sulphuric acid (I find that which is known as the 

 University College pump the best)'; EF dips into the cistern 

 A, and is closed at its end F by a small glass ball fitting 

 the ground out end of the tube which acts as a valve. The 

 tube DD dips in the cistern H into which the mercury 

 from the Sprengel pump is discharged. The siphon k 

 causes the supply of mercury to be periodic ; upon this 

 the action of the pump depends. By means of a stop- 

 cock L air is admitted to the tube dd. The mercury is 

 raised thus : A partial vacuum is formed in b by the 

 water-pump ; this raises the mercury to the point where 

 L joins DD ; a piston of mercury is then formed, and it is 

 at once carried up into b ; this goes on till all the mercury 

 in H is raised to B, then air is drawn through dd and the 

 vacuum ceases in b, and the mercury falls through EF ; 

 in a short time h refills, and the operation is repeated. 



The instrument at work in my laboratory raises 90 lbs. 

 of mercury6-5 feet high in one hour. The pump requires 

 no attention after it has been started. The valve 1 stops 

 the tube C, should the supply of water to the water- 

 pump be accidentally cut off when the pump is lifting. I 

 have made many experiments with mercury elevators, 

 and from these it appears that the periodic supply of 

 mercury to the cistern from whence it is drawn greatly 

 contributes to the certainty of the action of the instru- 

 ment. Frederick J. Smith. 



THE LATE DR. JOHN RAE. 



r^R. JOHN RAE, F.R.S., whose death we announced 

 -'-^ last week, was perhaps the most persevering and 

 successful of the Arctic travellers by land whose journeys 

 called forth the admiration of the world forty years ago. 

 He was a native of Orkney, born in 1813, and studied 

 medicine at Edinburgh, where he qualified in 1833. Rae 

 was early brought face to face with his life-work, his first 

 engagement on leaving college being as surgeon to the 

 Hudson Bay Company's ship which carried supplies to 

 the fur-forts in Hudson Bay. He entered the service of 

 the company, and for ten years lived at IVloose Factory, 

 gaining familiarity with Arctic life during the severe 

 winters. In 1845 his true career as an Arctic explorer 

 began in his undertaking the leadership of a small expe- 

 dition to explore a considerable extent of the coast-line of 

 the Arctic Sea. In June, 1846, he set out on this expe- 

 dition from York Factory, coasted along the west side of 

 Hudson Bay, and wintered on the shore of Repulse 

 Bay. Early in 1847 he made an extensive land journey 

 to the north and west, with the result that 700 miles of 

 new coast were surveyed, almost filling the gap between 

 Ross's work in Boothia and Parry's at Fury and Hecla 

 strait. In 1850 Dr. Rae published an account of this 

 expedition in the form of a book of 250 pages. This 

 was, curiously enough, his only permanent contribution 

 to geographical literature, his subsequent journeys being 

 recorded merely in formal reports published in the 

 yournal of the Royal Geographical Society. After this i 

 journey Rae came to London, but was almost immediately ' 

 induced to join the first land expedition sent to seek for 

 Sir John Franklin, under the leadership of Sir John 

 Richardson. The expedition was unsuccessful as to its 

 primary purpose of finding traces of Franklin, but it 

 effected a satisfactory survey of the whole coast between 

 the Mackenzie and Coppermine rivers. In 1851 Rae 

 received the command of another boat expedition for 

 the Hudson Bay Company, in the course of which he 

 thoroughly explored and mapped the south coast of 

 Wollaston Land and Victoria Land, still searching vainly 

 for traces of Franklin's party. On his return from this 

 arduous undertaking, which he conducted throughout 

 with conspicuous daring and sagacity, he had to travel 

 on snow-shoes, and himself dragging a sledge, across the 



NO. 1240. VOL. 48] 



whole length of Canada from the Arctic Sea, through 

 Fort Garry (now Winnipeg) until he reached United 

 States territory. His total walking on this expedition 

 was over 5000 miles, of which 700 miles were 

 traversed for the first time. On returning to England 

 in 1852 the gold medal of the Royal Geographical 

 Society was presented to him by Sir Roderick Murchison 

 in a speech, the cordial terms of which showed how 

 fully Dr. Rae's genius for Arctic travel with the minimum 

 of equipment and at infinitesimal expense was appreci- 

 ated by the highest authorities. In no wise deterred by 

 the hardships of his earlier campaigns, Rae left England 

 early in 1853 to continue his work in the far north ; the 

 Hudson Bay Company equipping an expedition on 

 condition that he would lead it personally. He com- 

 pleted the survey of King William's Land on this 

 occasion, proving it to be an island ; 1 100 miles of 

 sledging were accomplished in the process, of which 

 400 miles were new discovery. But the really important 

 result of this expedition was Dr. Rae's meeting with the 

 first evidence of Sir John Franklin's fate, from the 

 story of a party of wandering Eskimo. The tribe en- 

 countered were in possession of many personal relics of 

 members of that ill-fated expedition, which Rae secured 

 and brought home. When he returned to England with 

 the news so long searched for and so anxiously awaited, 

 the Admiralty, which had spent large sums in fitting out 

 successive'expeditions,concluded that the fate of FrankHn 

 was decided beyond a doubt, and accordingly awarded 

 to Dr. Rae the sum of ^10,000 offered by Government 

 to the first who brought back decisive information. 

 The justice of this award was at the time strongly object- 

 ed to by Lady Franklin, and although no further action 

 was taken by Government she continued to organise 

 private expeditions, which, while proving in effect the 

 correctness of Dr. Rae's information from the Eskimo, 

 served in no small degree to advance the geographical 

 survey of the polar area. 



In all his expeditions. Dr. Rae made collections of 

 characteristic plants and animals as well as physical and 

 meteorological observations. The material, described 

 by other workers, went to swell the sum of our know- 

 ledge of the general conditions of climate and life in the 

 Arctic basin. 



In i860 and subsequent years Dr. Rae made a series 

 of interesting journeys in Iceland, Greenland, and in 

 North America with the object of exploring and arrang- 

 ing routes for telegraph lines. His later years were spent 

 in this country, where he made himself conspicuous by 

 his zeal in forwarding the volunteer movement, being 

 himself an excellent shot. The feeling which grew 

 upon him to a painful extent as he became older, that 

 his brilliant explorations were not adequately recognised 

 and acknowledged on the Admiralty charts, unfortunately 

 somewhat embittered his last years. But to the end he 

 took the keenest interest in Arctic travel and was ever 

 ready to take part in discussions bearing on the region 

 in which he had lived so long and suffered so much. 

 He was a regular attendant at meetings of the Royal 

 Geographical Society and Colonial Institute, and for 

 many years attended the gatherings of the British 

 Association. 



NOTES. 

 The Senate of Edinburgh University has conferred the 

 honorary degree of Doctor of Laws upon Prof. Arthur Auwers, 

 in recognition of his astronomical labours. The same honour 

 has been given to Dr. Littlejohn, the President of the British 

 Institute of Public Health. 



A Reuter's telegram states that a cloud-burst occurred at 

 Pueblo, Colorado, on July 28, and destroyed property to the 



