February 1, 1897.] 



KNOWLEDGE. 



33 



iTERATI 



LONDON: FEBRUARY 1, 1897. 



CONTENTS. 



PlOE 



Nansen's Waymarks to the North Pole. By W. F. Hume, 



D.So 33 



The Science of the Queen's Reign : Sixty Years of 

 Astronomical Research. By Miss AaxEi? M. Cleeke. 

 (Ilht-strafed) 34 



The Polar Bears at the ■' Zoo. ' By P. E. Beddaed, 



F.E.S. (.Plate) 39 



A Pantheon of Science. By John Mills, F.R.A.S. 



(Illustrated) 41 



'Twixt Land and Sea. By Haert F. Witheeby (Illustrated) 43 



Science Notes 46 



Notices of Books 47 



Short Noiice.s 48 



Letters : — " UNDERGROrxD Cavities and Streams in 

 Ireland" — W. 11. S. Monck ; Eeic H. Jackson; G. W. 

 BuLMAN ; T. W. Backhouse ; Francis M. Duncan ... 49 



The Zodiacal Light. By Lieut.-Col. E. E. Markwick, 



F.K.A.S 51 



Evidence of the Evolution of Stellar Systems. By 



ISAACBOBERTS, B.Sc, F.K.S. (Plate) 53 



Periodical Comets due in 1897. By W. T. Ltnn, B.A., 



F.R.A.S ; .' 55 



The Face of the Sky for February. By H. Sadler, F.R.A.S. 55 



Chess Column. By C. D. Locock, B.A.Oxon 55 



NANSEN'S WAYMARKS TO THE NORTH POLE. 



By W. F, HmiE, D.Sc. 



FOR many years a small, but happily increasing, 

 group of zoologists and geologists Las maintained 

 the importance of studying the microscopic forms of 

 life, believing that, even apart from their intrinsic 

 interest, they will eventually lend material aid to 

 the solution of many keenly-discussed problems. Recent 

 events have tended greatly to justify this position, and it 

 will be our present aim to show how minute plants have 

 been used as arguments in connection with Polar explora- 

 tion. In 1892, Dr. Nansen, whose successful return to 

 Europe has caused so great a sensation, submitted to the 

 Royal Geographical Society his reasons for believing that 

 the North Pole could be reached if the methods he pro- 

 posed were carried out. He argued, firstly, that the great 

 Polar currents run southward between Greenland and 

 Spitzbergen ; whereas, on the Siberian side, a constant 

 current of fresh water is running northward, turning 

 north-westward at the New Siberian Islands, probably 



crossing the Pole, and, eventually, forming the southward 

 current previously mentioned. Many facts were adduced 

 in support of his contention. Thug, Siberian larch and red 

 spruce every year reach the coast of Greenland, and supply 

 the wood used by the Esquimaux in the construction of 

 their boats, sledges, etc. ; these relics being also, as 

 Nansen remarks, found in the sea north of Spitzbergen 

 among the ice-floes cai-ried southward from the unknown 

 North. 



On one of his previous expeditions to Greenland, Nansen 

 collected many samples of dust from the surface of the 

 snow on the ice-floes between Iceland and Greenland, and 

 was much interested in the Diatomaceffi found in some of 

 these. The Diatomacea3 are minute miicellular plants, 

 each cell being inclosed in a small case, or frustule, com- 

 posed of siliceous material. This casing consists of two 

 valves or plates, one overlapping the other, somewhat after 

 the manner of the two parts of a pill-box. The surfaces 

 of these valves often appear beautifully ornamented, due 

 to the presence of depressions, lying in the interspaces of 

 an elevated reticulation. The diameter of the plates is 

 usually less than one two-hundredths of an inch, so that 

 they require the highest powers of the microscope for their 

 study. 



Nansen submitted his specimens to Prof. Cleve, of 

 Upsala, who, after identifying sixteen species and varieties, 

 reported on them as follows : — " The diatom flora of this 

 dust is quite peculiar, and dift'erent from that of all the 

 many thousands of samples which I have examined with 

 the exception of one, with which it shows the most 

 complete congruity, viz., a sample which was collected by 

 Kjellman (during the Veija expedition) on the floe-ice at 

 Cape Wankarema, near Behring Straits. The species and 

 the varieties are exactly the same in both samples. It is 

 quite remarkable that the diatom flora on ice-floes near 

 Behring Sound and on the east coast of Greenland are so 

 completely alike and so unlike all others. It indicates 

 that there is an open communication between the seas 

 east of Greenland and north of Asia." Nansen adds: 

 " All these " (referring to his own specimens) " were also 

 found at Cape Wankarema, tu-eh-e of them heimi only htoicn 

 from there, ami from noirhere else in the ichole u-orhl : and 

 that though the diatom flora of the Kara Sea, Franz Josef 

 Land, Spitzbergen, and Greenland has also been partly 

 examined." All through his paper Nansen showed his 

 keen appreciation of little things. The minerals in the 

 dust were also examined, no less than twenty varieties 

 being recognized by Tornhohm, who exclaims : " Can it 

 be possible that the terrestrial portions of the dust originate 

 from Northern Siberia ? that it is partly mud carried into 

 the sea by the great Siberian rivers '.' The great variety 

 of minerals contained in the dust seem to me to indicate 

 that it originates from an extensive land region, and thus 

 it seems most natural to think of Northern Siberia." 

 Again, much pumice, belonging to a group of rocks known 

 as the Andesites, has been found on the shores of Spitz- 

 bergen and Greenland, altogether dissimilar from those of 

 any volcanic region in the Atlantic Ocean, but very 

 possibly derived from the Andesitic volcanic regions near 

 the Behring Sea. 



Thus, relying on some driftwood, minute minerals, and 

 microscopic plants — backed, it is true, by wider considera- 

 tions — did this gallant explorer trust himself to his little 

 vessel, and, joining the ice-floes near the New Siberian 

 Islands, await in the Fram the fulfilment of his expecta- 

 tions. What has been achieved is known of all men ; but 

 when the results come to be weighed in the balance, let 

 us hope that the humble plant-helpers will not be for- 

 gotten. 



