312 
NATURE 
[ Fan. 20, 1870 
THE GERMAN AND SWEDISH EXPEDITIONS 
TO THE ARCTIC REGIONS 
NGLAND scems ready to resign the position she 
once held as chief of all the competitors in Arctic 
exploration. Our flag has been carried within 7} degrees 
of the North Pole ; our seamen have forced from the 
ice-bound straits which lie to the north of 
the secret of the North-Western Passage ; and from the 
days of Scoresby until those of Franklin we have been 
foremost in scientific researches within the dreary Arctic 
wastes. But now the answer to all who would emulate 
the deeds of a Parry or a Ross, a Beecher or a Franklin, 
is the stereotyped cuz dono. A business account of the 
probable gains of an Arctic journey must be rendered 
before England will send men or ships to the Polar seas. 
In the meantime, Swedish and German explorers are 
pushing their way boldly into the regions where England 
won her Arctic 
laurels— perhaps 
America | 
hitherto been crossed in only two neighbourhoods. The 
figure shows (1) where Parry made his most northerly point 
in 1827. The Swedish and German expeditions of last year 
pushed their way towards the same region, and the crosses 
numbered (2) and (3) indicate the spots they respectively 
reached. In 1854 Dr. Kane crossed the circle of 10 
degrees near (4), having pushed his way along the inlet 
above the north-western point of Greenland. And in 1865 
Dr. Hayes reached the same point, after traversing a 
large part of Greenland in sledges drawn by Esquimaux 
dogs. 
Notwithstanding the hopes which M. Lambert has 
formed of attaining the North Pole by passing through 
the Straits between Asia and North America (shown near 
the top of the map), there seems every reason for believing 
that if the North Pole is ever reached by man it must be 
either along the course pursued by Kane and Hayes, or 
by the path which Parry followed. In fact, itis reasonable 
to confine our at- 
tention wholly to 
we oughtratherto 
say, 1ce-wreaths. 
Already the most 
the latter course, 
since Dr. Hayes’ 
journey sufficed 
northerly — spot 
to show that with- 
reached by our 
out the means of 
seamen has been 
all but attained, 
and there is yet 
room for suppos- 
ing that this very 
year the second 
German _ expedi- 
tion may push its 
way to the Pole 
itself. Scientific 
results of extreme 
value have also 
been — attained. 
The course of the 
Gulf Stream (if 
Mr. Findlay will 
permit the name) 
has been tracked 
into very high 
latitudes, its 
depth has been 
gauged, and the 
nature of the cur- 
rents which run 
beside it, or be 
neath it, has been 
carefully inquired 
into, The various 
forms of _ life 
crossing the sea, 
further passage 
northwards from 
(4) is impossible, 
and it is incon- 
ceivable that any 
suitable sea-boat 
could be carried 
to (4) either by 
Kane’s or Hayes’ 
route. 
The Swedish 
expedition to (2) 
is perhaps the 
most hopeful sea- 
journey that has 
yet been made 
towards the 
North Pole. 
They had been 
engaged until 
late in the Arctic 
season in scien- 
tific researches 
on the coast of 
Norway; yet they 
succeeded in 
pushing their way 
within afew miles 
which people 
those Arctic seas 
have been examined with loving care (extending even 
to a judicious use of powder and shot, or nets and fish- | 
hooks, as the case might be) by the naturalists who have 
accompanied the expedition. And lastly, a very important 
addition, about which I hope to make some remarks 
on a future occasion, has been made to our knowledge of 
the variations of the magnetic needle in Arctic regions. 
The primary object of all three expeditions has been to 
attain, if possible, the North Pole of the earth. Dr. Peter- 
mann, who had the principal part in planning the German 
expeditions, has a theory about Greenland, which was 
associated, perhaps not very fortunately, with the other 
objects of the German voyagers. 
attainment of the highest possible northerly latitude was 
their principal aim. 
A glance at the accompanying map will show the nature 
of the Arctic regions, so far as they have yet been ex- 
plored. The circle 10 degrees from the North Pole has 
MAP OF THE NORTH POLAR REGIONS 
But undoubtedly the | 
of the most nor- 
therly point yet 
reached, and were even then only impeded by the dangers 
due to the approach of winter. There seems every reason 
to believe, that had they started a few months earlier they 
might have pushed their way much further north. 
The German expeditions, undertaken in the two years, 
seem to have followed a course less likely to be success- 
ful. Dr. Petermann holds that Greenland extends much 
further towards the north-west than its shores have yet been 
traced—nay, even past the Pole, perhaps, to the neighbour- 
hood of Behring’s Straits, between Asia and America. 
Both expeditions sought to reach the north-eastern shores 
of Greenland with the object of ascertaining whether this 
theory, or General Sabine’s view that Greenland has some 
such figure as is indicated by the dotted line in the map, 
is the more correct. 
Twice in 1868 Captain K6ldewey was forced to abandon 
this attempt, and each time after his defeat he made for 
the shores of Spitzbergen, Thus, on July 18, he had 
