Sept. 14, 1882] 



NA TURE 



479 



Naples, to be established in Northern Europe, it would 

 be difficult to find a spot so admirably fitted as Lervik, on 

 account of the richness of its fauna, and especially in 

 view of the fact that the deep-sea fauna is brought almost 

 to the door by the peculiar condition of the fjords, 

 dredging up to 400 or 500 fathoms being attainable a few 

 miles up the Hardanger. E. Ray Lankester 



Lervik, Stordoe, near Bergen, Norway, August 27 



SCIENTIFIC RESULTS OF THE "JEANNETTE" 

 EXPEDITION 



THE last number (August 26) of Der Naturjorscher 

 contains a first attempt to lay down the scientific 

 results of this expedition, in a paper by Herr H. Wich- 

 mann, based on the reports of Messrs. Melville and 

 Danenhauer, and of the naturalist of the expedition, Mr. 

 Newcomb. It is known that after having passe 1, on 

 August 31, the wintering station of the Vega, the Jeannette 

 sailed north, towards Wrangel's Land. But on September 

 5, when twenty miles north-east of Herald Island, she 

 was frozen in, and during twenty-one months remained 

 so, " the play of winds and currents." However drifted 

 in different directions, she still advanced during all this 

 time towards the north-west. The first wintering was 

 north of Wrangel Land, which last proved to be a large 

 island, and not a part of an Arctic continent as had been 

 presumed. The precious observations on aurora? and 

 magnetism which were made during the winter (about 

 2000 measurements) are unhappily lost, as well as exten- 

 sive collections of birds and of deep-sea fauna. The 

 depth of the ocean in these regions was everywhere very 

 small— thirty fathoms on an average, with a maximum of 

 sixty and a minimum of seventeen fathoms. The bottom 

 was usually a blue ooze, with a few shells and sometimes 

 stones, which seemed to be of meteoric origin. 



The ship still drifted towards the north-west, and on 

 May 17 a small island, called Jeannette Island, was 

 sighted in 76° 47' 28" N lat. and 159 20' 45" E, long. It 

 was a rocky hill, covered with snow, situated on the 

 eastern flank of a high mountain. Two days later 

 another island was discovered towards the west, and an 

 expedition under Mr. Melville reached it, with many 

 difficulties, and landed on it on June 3, 1881. It was 

 called Henrietta Island, and is situated under 77° 8' N. 

 lat. and 157 43' E. long. ; it is rocky, and 2500 to 3000 

 feet high ; the rocks are covered with nests of birds, but 

 the vegetation is very poor, consisting of lichens and 

 mosses, and of one species of phanerogam ; all the island 

 was covered with a sheet of ice and snow 50 to 100 feet 

 thick, and a mighty glacier reached the sea on the north 

 coast. As is known, on June 13, under 77 30* N. lat., 

 and 1 55 E. long., the Jeannette was lost, the depth of 

 the sea being there 38 fathoms. The crew, divided in 

 three parties, went south, but ten days later they per- 

 ceived that, owing to the drift of the ice, they had still 

 advanced 27 miles north-west, being under 77 42' N. lat. 

 That was the highest latitude reached by the expedition. 

 On July 9 they perceived land, and after a hard journey, 

 reached it at a promontory they called Cape Emma (76 

 38' N. lat., 148° 20' E. lat.). This island, which received 

 the name of Bennett, is a high mass of basalt, covered 

 with glaciers ; the island was crossed by a party, 

 after two days' travel, and the north coast proved 

 to be more hospitable than the south ; it has several 

 valleys covered with grass, where reindeer bones and 

 drift-wood were found; lignite was discovered on the 

 south coast, aud it is said that it would be quite useful 

 for steamers. Dr. Ambler here collected fossils, as well 

 as many amethysts and opals, but they were lost. The 

 gulls were so numerous and so tame that hundreds of 

 them were killed with sticks ; the tides were regular, but 

 very small, the level changing only two and three feet. 

 The sea was free of ice in the west and south, and even 



in the north-west a "water-sky '' was seen, so that M. 

 Danenhauer supposes that Bennett Island would be a 

 good starting-place for future arctic expeditions. It was 

 only on August 30 that the expedition discovered the first 

 traces of men on the Faddeyeff Islands; and its further 

 advance towards the delta of the Lena is well known. 

 The scientific results of the Jeannette expedition cannot 

 be yet completely appreciated, observes Herr Wichmann, 

 but the note-books and surveys of its members having 

 been preserved, as well as a good part of the collections, 

 it is to be expected that they will contribute to a great 

 extent to increase our knowledge of this part of the Arctic 

 Ocean. The discovery of three new islands confirms the 

 statements of Sannirikoff, who stated he saw land from 

 the Faddeyeff Islands, and renders probable the exist- 

 ence of a whole archipelago in that part of the 

 ocean. The exploration of the fauna and flora of 

 the New Siberian Islands, which never was done 

 before during the summer, promises interesting re- 

 sults. The problematical polynias, which stopped 

 the advance of the sledge parties of Hedenstrom, 

 Wrangel, and Anjou are not due to some warm currents, 

 such having not been noticed during the temperature- 

 observations of the Jeannette ; they are simple openings 

 in the ice, such as are observed elsewhere. Finally, the 

 search expedition must give most important corrections 

 to the maps of the Siberian coast between the Olenek 

 and the Yana rivers, which has not been visited for sixty 

 years ; the observations of the American expedition will 

 correct many of the observations of Lieut. Anjou. We 

 may add to these expectations of Herr Wichmann that, 

 as the Arctic law that " each polar expedition safely 

 reaches the points which were sighted by the preceding 

 one," will probably be true also for the North Siberian 

 Seas, we must soon expect new and important discoveries 

 in that direction, now that the way was opened to explorers 

 of those parts of the Arctic seas. 



NOTES 



We regret to learn that M. Joseph Liouville, the editor 

 of the Journal de Mathematiques, died in Paris on Septem- 

 ber 7 at the age of seventy-six years. For :ome time back 

 he had retired from his editorship and appointed M. Re>al, 

 a member of the Institute, as his successor. M. Liouville was 

 born in St. Omer, admitted to the Polytechnic School in 1825, 

 and appointed in 1829 an engineer of the Ponts-et-Chaussees. 

 He soon resigned in order to devote himself entirely to the study 

 of pure mathematics. He was elected in 1839 a member of the 

 section of geometry in the Paris Academy. In 1S48 he was sent 

 by the electors of the Meurthe to the National Assembly, where 

 he supported Arago's policy. In 1862 he was appointed a 

 member of the Bureaux des Longitudes. 



A MONUMENT to Becquerel, the French electrician, will be 

 inaugurated this month at Chatillon. 



Dr. LemstroM, of Helsin^fors, begins to-morrow a series 

 of measurements of terrestrial currents, which measurements 

 will be continued the 1st and 15th of each month. They 

 will be made on two telegraphic lines, one of which, between 

 Torneo and Helsingfors, runs north and south, and the other, 

 between Mariehann, on the Aland islands, and Kexholm, runs 

 west and east. 



The Council of the Parkes Museum have just acquired new 

 premises in Margaret Street, Cavendish Square, to which the 

 museum is to be removed from University College as soon as the 

 alterations and additions, which are now being made under tbe 

 direction of Mr. Mark H. Judge, A.R.I.B.A., are completed. 

 The new museum will consist of a central hall, suitable for 

 meetings and lectures, a library and corridors, all lighted from 

 the top and well suited for exhibition purposes. The meetings 



