comparatively short and direct route exists across the Arctic Sea by 

 the way of the North Pole. Increased significance to the discovery 

 of the Jeanette relics in 1884 is afforded by the identification of 

 some bows on the coast of Greenland similar to those used by the 

 Esquimaux in the vicinity of Behring Straits, Norton Sound, and the 

 mouth of the Yucon River. Professor Nansen will take this route 

 for his proposed expedition. 



The winter of 1890-91 in the South of England has been 

 unequalled in severity since the year 1814, when the great 

 fair was held on the Thames. The cold was then more equally 

 distributed, all parts of the United Kingdom suffering much 

 alike in proportion to their latitude ; but the contrasts of 

 temperature from Scotland to the' Channel during the past 

 winter are altogether unprecedented. In Shetland and the 

 Orkneys the mean temperature of December was only about half a 

 degree above the mean of the month for the last 35 years ; in 

 Caithness it was nearly the average ; but going southward the cold 

 differed considerably from that of former years. The maximum 

 intensity was unquestionably at Oxford, where the mean of the 

 month showed a difference of 2. As is usual with all low 

 winter temperatures, the intensity of the cold is greatest inland and 

 farthest removed from the sea. The weather maps issued from the 

 Meteorological Office show the cause of these singular differences ; 

 during the whole of that period atmospheric pressure was 

 unusually high to the east and north-east of the British Islands, 

 and especially over Russia and Scandinavia ; thus stopping, so to 

 speak, the usual easterly course of the cyclones over the Atlantic in 

 North-Western Europe. In the extreme north of the British 

 Islands the pressure was lowered below that which prevailed in the 

 south, and consequently the preponderance of the south-westerly 

 winds was greater. On the other hand barometers were almost 

 constantly higher farther south. Cyclones were continually present 

 over the Mediterranean, which either originated, or were brought in 

 ready-made from the Atlantic, resulting in the prevalence of polar 

 winds throughout the whole of Western Europe and a degree of 



