Review of Bering s First Hxpedition, 1725-30. DES 
Euler, who had access to the archives of the Admiralty Col- 
lege, while engaged on a Geography of Russia, mentions (Philos. 
Trans., No. 482, p. 421) that he was informed that Bering observed 
an eclipse “at Kamchatka.” This letter of Euler’s is copied by 
Campbell in Harris’ Voyages (vol. II, Book III, p. 1024) and 
the expression ‘at Kamchatka” has led to the statement that 
these observations were made at the fort or village of Lower 
Kamchatka. This is an error since Bering gives no longitude for 
the fort in his table of geographical positions. It must be re- 
membered that the name Kamchatka at that period was applied 
not merely to the peninsula as at present, but also to the whole 
region of northeastern Siberia, the governor of Kamchatka being 
located at Okhotsk. So to come within the probable meaning of 
the phrases used by Middendorf and Euler it is only necessary to 
suppose that the observations were made somewhere in that 
region. Lauridsen (Danish edition, note 34, p. 186) refers to a 
paper of Struve (Bull. phys.-math. Acad. St. Petersb., I, 1842, p. 
290) containing a table of geographical positions in Russia, in 
connection with these alleged observations of Bering. An exam- 
ination of Struve’s paper does not bear out the implication of 
Lauridsen’s reference, as Struve not only makes no mention what- 
ever of Bering’s observations there but specifically states that the 
first observations of precision made in this part of Siberia were 
those of Krassilnikoff who accompanied Bering’s second expedi- 
tion in 1741. It would seem extraordinary that a determination 
so important for geography as that of Berg and his companion 
should be unknown to so distinguished an astronomer as Struve 
who must have had access to all the archives of the early explora- 
tions by Russia. But it may be perhaps accounted for by the 
facts that Bering’s observations were necessarily of a very rough 
and primitive character—as it is certain he had no instruments of 
precision ; and that, for that reason, they were not received with 
entire confidence ; so that Struve may have considered them insuf- 
ficiently exact to be included with those of Krassilnikoff and 
others made with more modern appliances. 
From the note in regard to the eclipses which is kindly contri- 
buted by Mr. Marcus Baker and from the other circumstances, it 
is evident that if Bering and his party made the observations 
alluded to, the eclipses noted were the partial eclipse of Feb. 25 
(local calendar), 1728, of which he might have observed the last 
contact, or the total eclipse of Feb. 14, 1729, of which he might 
