372 



NA TURE 



\^March II, 1 8 75 



As was to be expected, the estimates for the Arctic Expedi- 

 tion were passed by the House of Commons last Friday with 

 complete unanimity. The sura asked for was 98, 620/. There 

 V as appended to the estimate a further sum of 16,000/. for the 

 next financial year ; and for future years, while the e.xpedition is 

 out, there will be an additional sum of 13,000/. In addition to 

 all this, there is a contingent possibility of about 50,000/. being 

 required in case of its being thought necessary or desirable to 

 send out a relief ship in consequence of the expedition not having 

 returned as soon as was expected. We do not think it likely 

 that this last item will ever be required, tliough it is creditable 

 to the House that not a voice was raised against any of the items 

 in the estimate. It has been decided that a man-of-war will 

 accompany the expedition as far as Upernivik, where she will 

 fill the ships up with coals and provisions. It is stated that the 

 Pandora, which was one of the vessels named for the expe- 

 dition, but was condemned on survey, has been purchased 

 from the Admiralty hy Mr. Allen Young, a lieutenant in the 

 Royal Naval Reserve, and it is rumoured that he will assume 

 command of her, and accompany the AUrt and Discovery during 

 the summer. Mr. Young served with Admiral Sir Leopold 

 M'Clintock on board the Fox in the Franklin Search Expe- 

 dition. 



Some ofllcial papers concerning the Arctic Expedition have 

 just been published by the Admiralty ; tliese contain the argu- 

 ments which have been urged on behalf of the Smith Sound 

 route, as well as details conceming the fitting of the ships, 

 appointment of officers and men, &c., with which our readers 

 are already familiar. The chosen route offers the only promise 

 of a continuous coast-line stretching far northwards, and upon 

 this fact the prospect of reachiiig the Pole by travelling parties 

 mainly depends. It is, moreover, the only route, so far as our 

 knowledge extends, where the operations of an expedition can 

 be confined within such limits that succour would be reasonably 

 certain of reaching it. Along with the papers an Admiralty 

 Chart of the Pol.ir .Sea is published. Rear-Admiral .Sir F. 

 Leopold M'Clintock will supply each of the two ships with a 

 copy of his own manuscript notes on the fitting of sledges and 

 tents, tlie scale of clothing and provisions, and all tlie results of 

 his own experience in sledge travelling. Tlie article on the 

 work of the Arctic Expedition, in the last number of the Geo- 

 graphical Magazine, is mainly taken from these notes. 



We regret very much that it has been 'finally decided that 

 no professional geologist shall accompany the Arctic Expedi- 

 tion, the main reason, we believe, being the want of accommo- 

 dation. The fact is that a botanist is to be sent out who is not 

 wanted, as one of the surgeons is a good botanist; while 

 the place required for a geologist is tlius uselessly occupied. 

 The expedition is nothing if not scientific, and surely geology 

 is one of the sciences in which some of the most valuable 

 results would be obtained by an expedition to high polar lands. In 

 this connection we would draw our readers' attention to the first 

 instalment of a paper in this week's Nature, giving some valu- 

 able details of the scientific results of the Austro-Hungarian 

 Expedition. If the results of our expedition be as valuable in 

 proportion to its size and equipment, we may expect science to 

 reap a large harvest indeed. 



A LETTER from Captain David Gray appears in Heft iii. of 

 Petermann's Mittheilungm, giving reasons for his preference of 

 the East Greenland-Spitzbergen route for Polar exploration over 

 the Smith Sound route. It is accompanied by an illustrative 

 map. 



To note the appearance of a' new scientific society is one of 

 the chief pleasures in recording the progress of science ; and 

 when the incident occurs in the midst of a community given up 



to commerce, the pleasurable feeling is enhanced. A Society has 

 been started in Trieste, that busy port at the head of the 

 Adriatic, under the title " Societa Adriatica di Scienze natural!," 

 or, as the German-speaking portion of the inhabitants call it, 

 " Naturwissenschaftliche Adriatische Verein." We have received 

 a list of the members, a copy of the statutes, and the first 

 number of the Bollclliiio. This, an octavo of about sixty pages, 

 published in December last, contains an address by Dr. Syrski 

 on the objects of the Society, and on the advantages generally of 

 the stidy of natural history ; a paper, with illustrations, on the 

 " Organi della riproduzione e della fecondazione dei pesci ed in 

 ispecialita delle Anguille ; " and one of much interest, " Sulle 

 attuali cognizioni chimiche del mare Adriatico." These papers 

 exemplify the scheme which the Society has formed — investiga- 

 tion of the Adriatic and its coasts, and the promotion of a know- 

 ledge of natural history. In cairying out this scheme there are 

 many important questions which may be elucidated, especially 

 in a southern latitude, and we offer to the new Society our best 

 wishes for its success. We hope it will find many correspondents 

 in this country. 



The Ateneo Propagador de las Ciencias Naturales offers a 

 prize of 500 pesetas (about 20 guineas) for the best original 

 memoir on the mineralogy, botany, or zoology of Spain. Any 

 person, whether a member of the society or not, can compete for 

 this iirize. Memoirs must be sent in to the secretary of the 

 society before the 30th September, 1875. A printed paper with 

 further particulars may be procured from the secretary, whose 

 address is Calle Ancha de San Bernardo, 15, Madrid. 



The new part of the official Topographical Atlas of Switzer- 

 land contains the first part of a new hydrographic map, in four 

 sheets, of the Lake of Geneva, the result of a recent minute exa- 

 mination of the lake by the Government engineer, M. Ph. Gosset. 

 From these sheets a clear and precise idea of the configuration 

 of the lake may be obtained, and M. Gosset's examination con- 

 firms generally that of De la Beche made about fifty years ago, 

 the former, however, being infinitely more precise and detailed. 

 The bottom of the lake forms a large valley bordered by two 

 slopes (faliis). The length of this plain is about six kilometres ; 

 its bottom is very flat, and the inequalities never exceed ten 

 metres in a transverse section of the lake. Profiles taken per- 

 pendicularly to the axis of the lake are nearly all contained 

 between two curves of ten metres in height. There is nothing 

 in the axis of the lake like a longitudinal valley; on the contrary, ' 

 tliere is rather a slight median ele\'ation, and two lateral valleys, 

 not strongly marked, along the foot of the slope. One interest- 

 ing result of M. Gosset's examination is to confirm the absence, 

 in the depths of the lake, of accidents, inequalities, rocks, glacial 

 moraines, and erratic blocks. Further details of this valuable 

 map may be obtained in an article by Dr. l-'orel in the January 

 number of the Arc/lives des Sciences of the BUdiotltique UiiiTcr- 

 selle. The article has also been separately reprinted. 



We regret very much the news that the expedition which 

 started from Burmah into China some time ago (see Nature, 

 vol. xi. pp. 175 and 209), has met with a disaster. On February 22, ^ 

 at a place called Mauwine, it was attacked by several hundred -' 

 Chinese, together with a large number of the hill tribes. The 

 main body of the expedition escaped with three wounded, but 

 losing, it is feared, either the greater part or the whole of its 

 baggage. Moreover, a distinguished Engineer officer, Mr. Mar- 

 gary, who had made his way overland from Burmah to form the 

 expedition, was sepai ated from it, and with five Chinese servants 

 surroimded and killed. 



The recent polar weather has told heavily upon French men 

 of science. Every week a fresh death is reported, and this week 

 we are apprised of the death of M. Louis Mathieu, at the age ^^ 



