43° 



NA TURE 



[September 3, 1896 



have been made by M. H. Becquerel in the direction of polar- 

 isation ; but I have already kept you too long. He had more 

 particularly studied a very remarkable phenomenon, viz. that 

 certain phosphorescent bodies — such as sulphide of calcium, for 

 instance, and salts of uranium — on exposure to ordinary sunlight 

 give out rays of some kind which pass through bodies opaque 

 to light, and are able to affect a photographic plate beneath 

 them. So far these agree in their properties with the X rays 

 which are obtained from a Crookes tube, which they far more 

 closely resemble than they do rays of ordinary light ; but the 

 rays thus obtained were found by Becquerel to .idmit of polar- 

 isation by means of tourmalines in a manner altogether unmis- 

 takable. I think, therefore, that we may take it as established 

 that the Rontgen rays are due to some kind of transversal 

 disturbance propagated in the ether. 



The non-exhibition of the ordinary phenomena of diffraction 

 and interference is explicable on the supposition that the 

 vibrations in the X rays are of an excessively high order of 

 frequency. I am not sure that a different sort of explanation 

 might not, perhaps, be possible which I have in my mind, 

 though I have not matured it ; but, save the possibility of that, 

 one is led to regard them as consisting of transverse vibrations 

 of excessively high frequency. This opens out some points of 

 considerable interest in the theory of light : but I am afraid it 

 would keep you too long if I were to attempt to go further 

 into this matter. I will merely remark that, taking the way 

 in which these rays are most commonly produced, viz. as 

 coming from a point where the kathodic discharge in the 

 Crookes tube falls on the opposite wall, we may understand 

 how it is that vibrations of excessively unusual frequency may 

 be produced. These highly charged molecules, charged with 

 electricity, coming suddenly .against the wall, may produce 

 vibrations of a degree of frequency which we are not at all 

 prepared for ; but I see by the clock that I must not detain you 

 any longer on speculations. 



Postscript. — This "different sort of explanation" is one 

 between which and the supposition of periodic vibrations of 

 excessively high frequency my mind has for a long time oscil- 

 lated. In the above lecture I gave the preference to the latter ; 

 but subsequent reflection leads me strongly to incline to the 

 former. I hope before long to develop fully these views 

 elsewhere ; meanwhile, suffice it to say that I am disposed to 

 regard the disturbance as non-periodic, though having certain 

 features in common with a periodic disturbance of excessively 

 high frequency. 



THE ICE VOYAGE OF THE '■'FRAM." 

 T^R. NANSEN has communicated to the Daily Chronicle, 

 *-^ by telegraph from Tromso, some interesting details given 

 by Captain Sverdrup, with reference to his voyage in the Fraiit. 

 The marvellous way in which the Fraiii withstood the ice- 

 pressure, and the methods employed to free the ship from the 

 ice, is an object-lesson for future Arctic explorers. The telegram 

 is abridged below. 



On March 14, 1895, Nansen and Johansen left us. During 

 the first month after their departure, the ice was very quiet and 

 the drift inconsiderable. Towards the end of April the drift, 

 however, improved, and we were carried westwards. On July 

 26 the Frani was in 84° <^a' N., and 73^ E. long. There was 

 •during this time much ice-pressure, but it never reached the 

 ship. Then we had winds from south-west and west, which 

 during the summer drifted the Frain backwards towards the 

 east and north-east. It was not before October that the 

 favourable drift recommenced, and during the autumn and 

 winter, and especially during January and the first part of 

 February 1 896, our drift was better than ever. 



On (Jctober 16, 1S95, the Frani had reached the highest 

 latitude observed, viz. 85° 57' N., and 66" E. long. In the 

 middle of February we were on 84° 20' N., and 23" E., but here 

 the drift closed until May, when we were again carried south- 

 wards. On July 19 we had reached 83' 14' N., and 14° E. 

 iong. 



There we got the Fram out of the grasp of the ice by blasting 

 with gun-cotton and powder, and began to force our way south- 

 wards. During the whole drift in the ice \}n^ Fraiit was exposed 

 to constant and violent pressures. None of these were, how- 

 ever, so dangerous as that which we had at New Year before 

 Nansen left us. Immediately after his departure we were 



NO. 1 40 1, VOL. 54] 



occupied in removing the huge mass of ice which on that 

 t>ccasion was pressed against the Fraiii s sides. .At the end of 

 March, just as the last portion of this ice was being removed, 

 the ice suddenly cracked in all directions round ihe ship, and a 

 broad water-lane was formed, which came within a few feet of 

 the Frani's stern. Strong pressure very soon began along this 

 crack, and the ice was so much broken up that the Fram at the 

 end of July lay close to open water. A single mine was sufficient 

 to free the ship from the ice. 



As this mine was exploded, the Fram glided from the ice into 

 the water like a ship being launched from her ways, but with a 

 noise like thunder, the crew cheering loudly as she struck the 

 water. Having been brought into a safe harbour by warping 

 and .sawing the ice, she was again, in August, frozen in. The 

 ice-pressures were, during this year, of no great importance in 

 comparison with the pressures this last summer. 



During one week in June this summer (1S96), at the height of 

 the spring tides, the Fram svas regularly exposed to violent 

 pressures cau.sed by the changing tide-currents. She was then 

 once or twice a day lifted 6 to 9 feet, and her bottom could be 

 seen resting on the ice. On all these occasions the Fram proved 

 to be the very ship for ice. She was quietly lifted, and not a 

 noise or a crack was heard from her timbers. The men on 

 board were not disturbed in their slumber, even when the 

 pressure was at its highest, and we awoke in the morning in 

 ignorance of what had happened during the night. It was not 

 before we came on deck that we observed how high we were 

 lifted above the ice. 



The temperature of the air was pretty even during our whole 

 voyage, and did not fall lower than during the first winter. The 

 depth of the sea was during our drift about the same as we had 

 found before Nansen's departure, viz. 1800 to 1900 fathoms. In 

 the temperature of the .sea there was also little change, but the 

 warm layer of Gulf Stream water under the cold surface-water 

 increased a little in body as we came westwards. Depots of 

 provisions, boats, kayaks, and all necessary equipment were 

 during our whole drift kept in readiness on the ice in the 

 neighbourhood of the Fram, in case of fire or other accidents. 



The time passed comfortably and peacefully, much in the 

 same way as during the first winters. An easier expedition can 

 hardly be imagined. Our principal work was to take the regular 

 observations, sleep, eat, and drink. Our health was perfect the 

 whole time, and we had no sign of scurvy. When the ice began 

 to slack a little this summer, we worked hard to loosen the 

 Fram from the ice — a difficult task, owing to the huge ice, 

 piled up by pressures, in which our ship was frozen. We 

 succeeded, after some days' hard work, by blasting, using mines 

 of up to 100 lb. of powder. Guncotton proved the best. 



From July 19 to August 13 we forced our way southwards 

 through 150 miles of close ice. The ice was, as a rule, very 

 high, and the floes were so extensive that we could not see all of 

 them, even with telescopes. It often seemed to be hopeless, and if 

 the Fram had not been such a superior ship for ice-navigation it 

 would have been quite useless to try to force our way through 

 ice-masses of such a description. It was by steam and warping 

 that we broke our way through foot by foot, and where the ice 

 was too bad for this it was forced by blasting. 



We came out of the ice on August 13— the same day on which 

 Nansen and Johansen arrived at Vardo in Norway. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



The Lords of the Committee of Council on Education have 

 appointed Mr. A. J. R. Trendell, C.M.G., to be Assistant- 

 Secretary of the Department of Science and Art, in succession to 

 Mr. G. F. Duncombe, retired. Mr. Edward Belshaw succeeds 

 Mr. Trendell as the Chief Clerk. 



The retirement of Prof. Erismann from the chair of Hygiene 

 in the University of Moscow, is announced. 



Colonel Pe.n.nvcuick, late R.E.,has been appointed Presi- 

 dent of the Engineering College, Cooper's Hill, in the place of 

 General Sir Alexander Taylor, retired. 



The following announcements have been recently made : — 

 Dr. Burney Veo, to be Professor of Medicine, and Dr. Curnow, 

 to be Professor of Clinical Medicine at King's College, London. 



A SCHEME for a Central Technical College in Liverpool, for 

 which the plans have already been accepted, now awaits the 



