EDITORIAL. 541 



naturalists who were wrecked there two years since. From the 

 Carey Islands the party will proceed direct to Peary's head- 

 quarters on Bowdoin Bay, a dependency of Inglefield Gulf, lati- 

 tude about 77° 30'. 



If the conditions are favorable, six of the party will occupy 

 the interval between the arrival at Peary's headquarters and the 

 date of the return, about September 1st, in the exploration of 

 Ellesmere Land and Jones Sound. Instead of accompanying 

 this party, Professor Chamberlin will remain in the vicinity of 

 Inglefield Gulf. While incidental attention will be given to 

 other geological questions, the work of the ice will constitute his 

 principal study. This locality has been chosen for the special 

 study of glaciation, since it is the testimony of those who have 

 seen it, that glacier ice in all stages of activity is here accessible, 

 and that it occurs in a great variety of topographical situations 

 and relations. Attention will be especially directed to the basal 

 contact plane of the ice. A serious effort will be made to find 

 out as exactly as possible what is taking place at this horizon. 

 Ihe margin of the ice, and the territory recently abandoned by 

 it, will furnish the chief field for this study. By indirect means 

 it is hoped that the studies along the margin of the ice will 

 throw light upon the questions of ice activity back from the 

 margin. All possible phases of glacial deposition, as well as all 

 drainage phenomena of the ice will be studied in as much detail 

 as time and conditions permit. It is hoped that data may be 

 secured bearing upon the question of the rise of material from 

 the basal to the superficial portions of the ice, and so upon the 

 general question of superglacial drift, about which there is so 

 much difference of opinion. It is hoped also that the phenomena 

 to which stagnant ice gives rise may be found in process of 

 development. Fiord glaciers, which have received attention 

 from many glacialists heretofore, will have but a secondary place 

 in Professor Chamberlin's studies. The same may be said of 

 the upper surface of the mer de glace. It is planned, however, 

 to make one or more excursions back from the eds:e of the ice. 

 It is most fortunate for the science of geology that one so 



