May 17, 1894] 



NA TURE 



57 



Gas" (Soc. Chem. Indust. Journ., 1885); "On some Sulphur 

 Compounds nf Barium" (Chem. Soc. Journ., 1886) ; "On the 

 Conditions of Evolution of Gases from Homogeneous Liquids" 

 (Phil. Trans., 1888) ; "On a Method of Investigating the Dis- 

 solution of .Metals in Acids " (Chem. Soc. |ourn., 1889) ; " On 

 the Conditions of the Reaction between Copper and Nitric 

 Acid" (Roy. Soc. Proc, 1889). 



THE ARCTIC EXPEDITIONS OF 1S94. 



IT is not easy to speak definitely regarding the various 

 Arctic Expeditions which will be in the field this 

 year, for several of the most loudly advertised ventures 

 have collapsed or been postponed, and it is possible that 

 some quiet and determined explorers may set out without 

 calling public attention to their plans. There is un- 

 jdoubtedly to be keen rivalry in the North Polar basin 

 for several years to come, and even an incomplete fore- 

 least of the projected work may serve to direct notice to 

 ■the regions whence good results in the way of Arctic dis- 

 covery may be looked for. It is unnecessary to insist 

 in the pages of N.\tcjre, however needful the caution 

 may be to the general public, that no credit for /irctic 

 exploration can be given until the intending explorer 

 ireturns, bringing with him proofs of his achievements 

 which will be.ir the keenest criticism of experts. 



Two well equipped expeditions have been in the field 

 since last summer, working by different methods, from 1 

 different sides, but both led by men of experience and 

 manned by tested Arctic travellers. Nansen's expedition 

 in the Frain appeals most powerfully to the imagination 

 for the boldness of its plan and the faith with which its 

 leader bases his success and even his life on the truth of 

 his theory of ocean-currents in the far north. The 

 general trend of these currents, as drawn by Dr. Nansen, 

 is shown on the accompanying map. which is reducea 

 from one published in the Gcoi^raphicat Journal, vol, ii. 

 His strongest evidence for the existence of a drift across 

 the centre of the polar basin was, as is well known, the dis- 

 covery on the ice otTthe south of Greenland of relics from 

 the .American exploring s,h\pjeaniic//e, which sank off the 

 New Siberian Islands ; but this was fortified by inuch 

 additional information. The Frain sailed from Chris- 

 itiania on June 24, 1S93, passed through the Waigatz Strait 

 ion August 3, and the last news was that on .\ugu5t 6 

 some Samoyeds saw her passing along the Valmal coast 

 between the ice and the land. Nansen intended to call 

 lat the mouth of the Olenek River in September before 

 turning finally northward, but he did not do so. If he 

 (had called, or even been sighted off the coast, the fact 

 jwould have been reported to Baron Toll, who was in the 

 Neighbourhood of the Olenek until November. It seems 

 probable that, making an easy passage across the Kara 

 iSea, Ur. Nansen found sufficiently open water to induce 

 him to turn northward off Cape Chelyuskin, as he was 

 yrged to do by Captain Wiggins, and that the Frain has 

 passed the winter fast in the ice somewhere within the 

 Soth parallel, possibly drifting polewards. No news can 

 inow be looked for by way of Siberia, and it is very un- 

 likely, though just possible, that one of the expeditions 

 going north this year, by P>anz Josef Land or Spitz- 

 bergen, may meet the crew ot the I-rai/i, where all 

 Vneridians converge towards the pole. 

 I Mr. Peary, after raising the necessary funds in ,\merica 

 by writing and lecturing, returned to the scene of his 

 ormer triuinphs at Independence 15ay on the north-east 

 oast of Greenland. He and his party landed at Bow- 

 ioin liay on Inglefield Gulf in Smith Sound on August 3, 

 1893, ^"^1 established themselves there for the winter, 

 jeing comfort.ibly settled when the steamer left on 

 \ugust 20. Sledging parties were at once despatched to 

 ache provisions at convenient depots on the inland 

 ce on the way to Independence Bay. Mr. Peary intended 

 o commence his main journey about the middle of 



NO. I28(, VOL. 



50] 



March this year, and to reach Independence Bay in the 

 first week of May. Here the party will divide, three 

 men being despatched to sledge south-eastward and 

 survey the coast along the quite unknown stretch to 

 Cape Bismarck, returning thence across the ice-cap to 

 Inglefield Gulf. The other party will push northward 

 from Independence Bay, and endeavour to completely 

 survey the land which was seen across the strait last 

 year, at the same tiine trying to attain the farthest north. 

 The position of Navy Cliff, on the south side of Inde- 

 pendence Bay, was fixed as 81 ' 37', and since Lockwood's 

 farthest north was 83^ 24', it is practically certain that 

 Peary, with his great experience of foot-travel on the ice, 

 will be able to make his way more than the 125 miles 

 which would carry him nearer the pole than any previous 

 traveller. This year he is not to depend entirely on dog- 

 sledges, but to experiment with Mexican donkeys, which 

 are accustomed to carry heavy loads in the low tem- 

 perature and thick snow of the high Cordilleras. What- 

 ever the result may be in record-breaking of northern 

 latitudes, we may confidently expect a great deal of solid 

 geographical and scientific work from this expedition. 

 A steamer will call at Bowdoin Bay to bring back the 

 party, or at least obtain news of them, in August or 

 September. 



The third expedition left Tromsoe on May I, 1894, 

 for Spitzbergen, with the object of repeating the attempt 

 so gallantly made by Parry in 1827, when he reached 

 82' 45'. It is under the command of Mr. Walter Well- 

 man, a journalist of Washington, who has carefully 

 thought out his plan of action, and has commenced to 

 carry it into effect v/ithout delay. Although he has had 

 no previous .Vrctic experience, he is a man of great 

 energy and enthusiasm ; his companions are as enthu- 

 siastic and resolute as himself, and it is by no means 

 improbable that he may be able to give a good account 

 of his time. He terms his enterprise " a dash for the 

 pole, ' and is determined to be back in America before 

 the end of October. However, as a precautionary 

 measure he is to provision the old seal-hunters' house on 

 Danes Island in the north-west of Spitzbergen for a year, 

 in case of enforced wintering. The object of starting so 

 early in the season is to avoid the strong southerly drift 

 of the ice, which so greatly hainpered Parry's sledging 

 parties. Thus, if Mr. Wellman's theory is correct, he 

 will reach his farthest north before the drift becomes 

 serious, and have the southward drifting ice-tloes to help 

 him on his return. By the use of very light boats, con- 

 structed entirely of aluminium, and provided with 

 runners to convert them into sledges, the weight to be 

 pulled will be greatly reduced. It is to be feared that 

 Mr. Wellman's plan of taking Belgian draught dogs for 

 his sledges will lead to difficulties on account of the 

 difference in climate and in the nature of the work from 

 those to which they are accustomed. The behaviour of 

 the aluminium boats will be looked forward to with much 

 I interest. . 



Finally, the Jackson-Harmsworth expedition will take 

 the field early in July, having for its purpose the explora- 

 tion of the polar area lying north from Franz-Josef 

 Land. Mr. Harmsworth, who is bearing the whole cost 

 1 of the expedition, has purchased the IVintfwanf, of 

 Peterhead, a well-known steam whaler of 320 tons, to- 

 take the party out to Franz-Josef Land, but the explora- 

 tion will be conducted by land or across the ice. Mr. F.G. 

 Jackson, the originator and leader of the expedition, has 

 long thought over this matter.and devoted most of his time 

 for°wo years to the study of .Vrctic problems. He spent 

 a great part of last winter in the north of Russia, testing 

 sledges and other appliances for ice-travel and prac- 

 tising surveying on the little-known Waigaiz Island. Like 

 Peary, he intends to try the endurance of stronger 

 animals than dogs in Arctic work, proposing to take a 

 number of Russian ponies. The personnel of the expe- 



