JOHAN KI;ER. [SEC. ARCT. EXP. FRAM 



We know now that these hopes were not to be realised. Even as 

 early as the winter of 1904 05 he was attacked by the malady, which 

 after a long illness, at length on the first of November, 1905, caused 

 his death. SCHEI was then only 31 years of age. The utmost that he 

 had been aide to publish of his geological investigations during the 

 expedition was a preliminary account l giving the main features of the 

 geology of the region explored. This has been of incalculable value in 

 the subsequent preparation of special works dealing with the material. 



The death of SCHEI so soon after the return of the expedition was 

 naturally a great misfortune to the scientific work connected with the 

 large geological collections which were brought home. He was not 

 only the editor of the scientific publications of the expedition, but with 

 his splendid memory he possessed a store of observations which were 

 naturally of the utmost importance to those connected with the work. 

 Only a small amount of this material can be gleaned from his diaries, 

 and very much is therefore lost for ever. As will be understood, his 

 death resulted in many difficulties and delays, and it is not until to-day, 

 i. e. 12 years after the return of the expedition, that nearly the whole 

 of the work is completed. PER SCHEI'S preliminary account of his geo- 

 logical investigations, and the series of geological works that will appear 

 in the report of the expedition on the basis of his geological collections, 

 will assure him a prominent position amongst geological investigators 

 of the Arctic regions, and like his collections, will endure as a lasting 

 monument to a gifted and noble scientific investigator, whose untimely 

 death was a great loss to Norwegian science. 



SCHEI'S large and beautiful Silurian and Devonian collections from 

 Goose Fiord are the most complete and valuable that any one expedition 

 in these arctic regions has secured. SCHEI was especially interested in 

 the fossil plants and fishes which he succeeded in discovering in the 

 sandstone series at the extreme end of Goose Fiord. The work in con- 

 nection with the fossil plants was entrusted to Professor A. G. NATHORST, 

 whose book appeared as early as 1904, and was thus the first publi- 

 cation of the scientific report. The fossil fishes were sent to R. H. 

 TRAQUAIR at Edinburgh, but unfortunately that eminent ichthyologist, 

 on account of ill-health during his later years, was unable to undertake 

 the work, which was accordingly entrusted to the present writer. 



1 Preliminary Report on the Geol. Observations, 1903 (Appendix to O. SVERDRUP: 

 "New Land". Also published in Royal Geographical Society). 



