Jan. 17, 1884] 



NATURE 



265 



light-waves begin to leap in it, and long, solitary pillars 

 shoot towards the zenith. At this moment there comes 

 life into the sky. From every quarter of the firmament 

 streamers come rushing with the speed of lightning to- 

 wards the zenith. The little, fiery tongues whirl round, 

 or sway to and fro, appearing as though they were Cupids 

 in golden mantles with borders of purple. They dart 

 and leap in vain to reach the zenith ; they begin to move 

 wave-like, slower and slower ; they seem to get tired, still 

 they whirl on towards the north, when suddenly they lose 

 in intensit)', and, in a fraction of a second, vanish ! 



It is again dark and cold ; a thin veil of light again 

 begins to form over the star-covered sky. This is as the 

 aurora appears in its grandest form, and any description 

 of it would fail to give even an idea approaching its real 

 majesty and even grandeur. 



In addition to the meteorological and magnetic obser- 

 vation?, those of the aurora borealis were also made during 

 the Polar night by means of the well known theodolite, and 

 from October the electricity of the air was also e.xamined. 

 On the two agreed dates, the 1st and 15th of every month, 

 the magnets and the aurora were examined and registered 

 every fifth minute, and during one hour, every twentieth 

 second. Besides these observations, meteors and shoot- 

 ing stars were watched and carefully noted, attempts 

 made to measure the quantity of the snow, measurements 

 of the aurora borealis effected, along with astronomical 

 determinations of hour and place, absolute magnetic 

 measurements, simultaneous observations every twentieth 

 second of the magnet=, the aurora, and the electrometer, 

 and researches on the moisture of the air, and the nightly 

 radiation, while the temperature of the snow was ex- 

 amined at various depths. 



Already in October the remarkable depressing influence 

 which darkness exercises on the human mind, with which 

 every one who has wintered in the Arctic regions is familiar, 

 began to be manifest. In that month it was, however, 

 felt only slightly, but with November it rapidly increased, 

 and at the end of December it had reachecl " the first 

 stage of insanity." This influence caused a remarkable 

 dislike to conversation, accompanied by great lassitude. 

 When lying down, phantoms of the scurvy crept over 

 one's mind, and the thought uppermost was that here, 

 next to us, the bodies of fifteen brave men were found in 

 a horrible condition ten years ago. The best cure for 

 this was, we found, an exhausting walk, a good dinner, 

 and a few glasses of lime-juice accompanied with the 

 cheering thought that our expedition formed one of the 

 moments in the great work of the human race. 



The moonlight during midwinter was very remarkable, 

 and imparted in the day a transparency to the air which 

 we had never seen before. The greatest mountains did 

 not oppress the eye, but seemed to assume a lightness 

 which made them appear as if they were floating on the 

 dark background. 



On February 19 the sun was to reappear, but already 

 on January 23 it was so light that we could read fine print 

 out of doors, and on February 8 we could, at 11 a.m., 

 read the thermometers in the cage without a lantern. On 

 February 19 the sun came at last. During these days the 

 scenery was magnificent. On the light sky clouds of 

 every shape floated, coloured in the loveliest tints by the 

 sun's rays, while over the whole was cast a hue of purple 

 and gold. 



In the beginning after the sun's return, aurorte were 

 still seen in the night, but on March 25 we saw the last 

 of this phenomenon. Eventually on April 19 the sun 

 became circumpolar, and from that date we had perfect 

 daylight. 



We often noticed during the spring a thick, cold haze 

 lying over the landscape, in which mock suns and some 

 other optical phenomena were frequently seen, caused by 

 the reflection of the sun's rays in the ice-crystals. 



I he fjord was in the light period entirely covered with 



ice, and, as the sun reappeared, even the open leads which 

 could be seen between the ice-floes became covered wiih 

 thin ice. Only far out on the horizon above the fjord a 

 ■' water cloud," bespeaking open water, could be seen, 

 and the increase or decrease of this we watched with 

 great interest. 



The migratory birds now began to arrive, and the Pro- 

 cellaria glacialis was already seen on February 7. On 

 April 13 the first snow-sparrow came, soon after followed 

 by the auks, the rodges, and the seagulls. The ptarmi- 

 gans, which had lived in flocks during the winter, now 

 began to separate, and preferred the mountains to the 

 plains. 



The observations were steadily continued, and the 

 particular object of the researches of the meteorologist 

 at this period was the radiation from the snow's sur- 

 face. We thus believe we have discovered that the ther- 

 mometers in the cage did not give the true temperature 

 of the air, which was to be tested by means of a " swing " 

 thermometer, i.e. a thermometer fastened to a cord, and 

 then swung rapidly round, as such a thermometer will 

 give the air's exact temperature as near as possible. 

 Under these observations, which were made every hour, 

 it, however, often happened that the cord broke, and the 

 iubtruraent suffered injury. In order to avoid this a 

 mechanism was constructed, driven by hand, which kept 

 the thermometer in a constant rotary motion, and from 

 May 4 until the end of the month, when the thaw set in, 

 this thermometer was read every hour. Another subject 

 also investigated, from February 15, was the temperature 

 of the snow on the surface and at three different depths. 



Daring the light period three hydrographic magnetic 

 excursions of research were made on the ice in the 

 Ice Fjord, viz. on April 19, April 24, and May 24. The 

 longest of these, the one on May 24, extended six miles 

 from the shore, and it was very difficult work to drag the 

 sleigh over the rough ice. The results of the same were 

 several absolute magnetic measurements, observations of 

 the temperature of the sea at various depths, and testings 

 of the saltness of the water. The greatest depth found 

 was 250 metres. 



At the same time, while the snow still remained on the 

 ground, several topographical works were effected. A 

 base some 600 metres long was measured between the uni- 

 versal instrument and a pole south of the same, while 

 two signal posts were erected on two crests south-west 

 and north-east of the station, and three miles apart. 

 Afterwards the greater base was determined by means of 

 triangular measurements from the smaller, in order to 

 serve as a basis for further work. In addition to this 

 there was built, on the sun's return, an astronomical 

 observatory for the universal instrument, which was 

 finished on February 14, and finally a magnetic hut was 

 built for the Wrede's variation instrument, finished on 

 May 19. 



There was, during the dark period, one question which 

 was much discussed, and which we were anxious to test, 

 viz. whether the Polar night has the effect of turning the 

 complexion white. On January 23, therefore, when it 

 was light enough to see out of doors, we assembled in 

 the open to examine our faces, and the concensus of 

 opinion was that the darkness had not affected the skin 

 in the least. 



In the end of May the thaw set in in earnest, and soon 

 mosses and shrubs came forth. In the beginning of 

 June the fjord was still covered with ice, but by the nth 

 it commenced to open towards the sea, and by the 21st it 

 began to break up and drift. On July 4 the fjord was free 

 from ice. 



The fauna now began to appear : thus already on 

 June 2 the red blossoms of Saxifraga oppositifolia came 

 out from the snow; on June 11 Salix polaris was in 

 bloom, as well as Draba luahlenbergii, and soon the 

 plains were covered with flowers. 



