TRANSACTIONS OF THE SECTIONS. 171 
latter pointing to the existence of a great polar ocean whence the drift of ice (and 
of wood, as seen by the crew of the ‘ Polaris’) issues, there being no other adequate 
outlet. To avoid this enormous outpour of ice, Admiral Osborn would follow the 
Greenland coast on the western shore, trusting to find himself, during the brief 
Arctic summer, in a comparatively navigable sea near the pole, across which Asia 
might be reached. Other proposed routes were once more discussed and rejected, - 
the earlier ill-starred German Expeditions being especially condemned, though great 
praise was given to the crew of the ‘Hansa’ (whose commander, Koldewey, now 
agrees with the author as to Smith’s Sound being the only practicable route). 
The statement that Hall's crew sighted land in the 84th parallel was thought 
likely to be correct, because arctic lands asserted to have been sighted on former 
occasions have always been reached subsequently. 
In reply to the question “ Cui bono?” on arctic routes generally, Admiral Osborn 
relied on the peculiar scientific value attaching to observations made in the polar 
area, whether mathematical, meteorological, hydrographical, or botanical (in the 
latter case especially as regards paleontology); and he claimed the support of the 
Royal Society and its learned President, Dr. Hooker, in these opinions. 
On Mr. Leigh Smith’s Voyages to Spitzbergen. 
By Horsertr Currusive, Lieut. RL. 
This paper was divided into the following sections :—I. On the track and out- 
line of Mr. Leigh Smith’s three voyages to the Spitzbergen seas; If. On the 
hydrography of the Greenland Sea; II. A survey and physical sketch of Spitz- 
bergen and the sea to the east. In the first voyage, in 1871, the most favourable 
season was encountered. The north-eastern portion of Spitzbergen was found to 
be of nearly double its supposed extent ; but, unluckily, want of preparation for an 
Arctic winter and the lateness of the season put an end to further exploration. 
In the second voyage, in 1872, attempts (unsuccessful for want of steam-power) 
were made not so much along the land as to penetrate the polar pack. In the 
third, a steamer was used for exploring and a sailing-ship as the reserve ; but the 
unfavourable state of the ice prevented the former from penetrating beyond lat. 81°, 
her most interesting work being the exploring of the unvisited portion of the north- 
east land, and the relief of the Swedish Government Expedition, found frozen-in 
in one of the bays on the northern coast. The author described the conditions of 
air and water in the Greenland Sea, illustrating by temperature soundings the pro- 
bability of finding in some seasons navigable water leading to very high latitudes. 
He especially referred to three routes by which attempts at navigation might be 
made, viz. along the west coast of Spitzbergen, the east coast of Greenland, and 
the east coast of Spitzbergen; but was of opinion that the two latter are more 
adapted for wintering and spring sledge-expeditions, owing, in the former case, to 
the ice-encumbered state of the sea and the narrow and quickly closed channel 
along the land, and in the latter to the shoal depth of the sea and the almost 
certainty of land or an ice-harrier, the cessation in the summer of the southward 
flow hardly encouraging the idea of a navigable channel in this direction. He 
also made some observations on the glaciers of Spitzbergen, all of which he proved 
to be more than sixty years old, and on the lowness of the snow-line, and its pro- 
bable causes. Striking examples were adduced of the rapidity of upheaval now 
going on, illustrated by the depths found around grounded bergs, the heights of 
which were measured, and the immense distances inland and heights above the 
water at which whale-bones and drift-wood (but little decayed) were discovered. 
He was of opinion that the whole of the recent additions to the north-east land 
were, at no more distant pericd than the sixteenth century, under the sea; and 
this idea he. supported as well by these evidences of upheaval, as by the changes 
to be found between the land as it now exists and as represented in the old Dutch 
charts. 
The author objected, from his own observations, to the theory that circulation is 
due to difference of temperature alone, asserting that it is owing to difference of 
salinity as well as of temperature. According to him, the water on thes west coasts 
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