MarcH 15, 1912] 
of Natural History, and Donald B. MacMillan 
(A.B., 1898; A.M. (Hon.), 1910, Bowdoin). 
They have become well known to the public, 
scientific as well as general, through their 
work under Admiral Peary on his last polar 
expedition, through Mr. Borup’s book, “A 
Tenderfoot with Peary,” and his lectures and 
through Mr. MacMillan’s extensive lecturing 
throughout the country. They have received 
Peary’s unqualified indorsement for the work 
in hand. Mr. Borup has been devoting his 
whole attention during the past two and a 
half years to studies in the field and at Yale 
to fit himself thoroughly for scientific geolog- 
ical and geographical exploration. He is a 
fellow of the Royal Geographical Society (of 
London) and a member of the New York Acad- 
emy of Sciences. Mr. MacMillan, since his 
return from the Peary expedition, has been 
studying ethnology and practical astronomy at 
Harvard. In the summer of 1910, he was a 
member of the Cabot party which was the first 
to cross central Labrador from the sea to 
George River, and he spent the summer of 
1911 cruising along the coast of Labrador in 
an eighteen-foot open canoe, studying the 
Eskimo from Hopedale to Killinek (60° N. 
Lat.). Mr. MacMillan is a member of the 
American Geographical Society and the Ap- 
palachian Mountain Club. 
The object and work of the expedition may, 
perhaps, be best stated in Mr. Borup’s own 
words: 
Belief in the existence of a land mass north- 
west of Grant Land rests on deductions made by 
Harris and observations made by Peary. Admiral 
Peary in his book ‘‘ Nearest the Pole’’ reports 
having seen the ‘‘faint white summits of a distant 
land’’ on 24 June, 1906, from 2,000 feet above 
sea level on Cape Colgate and again six days later 
from 1,600 feet altitude on Cape Thomas Hub- 
bard. It was calculated that this land lay about 
130 miles out in the polar sea and in 100° W. Long. 
and 83° N. Lat. To it Peary gave the name 
Crocker Land. Dr. R. A. Harris in his monograph 
on ‘‘Arctie Tides’? (1911) gave his reasons for 
concluding from a plotting of the cotidal lines of 
the Arctic regions that a great tract of land, an 
archipelago or an area of shallow water, trape- 
zoidal in outline and half a million square 
SCIENCE 
405 
(statute) miles in area lies north of eastern 
Siberia and northern America. He places one 
corner of his trapezoid northwest of Grant Land 
and identifies Peary’s Crocker Land with it. 
The new expedition proposes to make soundings 
along the line from Cape Thomas Hubbard to 
Crocker Land, to determine the situation of the con- 
tinental shelf, to collect samples of the ocean floor 
and to take temperature observations of the water 
at various depths and by attaching a small net to the 
sounding wire, to obtain specimens of oceanic life. 
These soundings, taken in connection with those 
made by Admiral Peary between Cape Columbia 
and the Pole, and by Nansen on the drift of the 
Fram starting in latitude 78° 50’ north, longitude 
133° 37’ east, north of Siberia, to 85°57’ and 
thence down the west coast of Spitzbergen, will 
give a fair idea of the configuration of the floor 
of the Arctic seas. Tidal observations will be made 
at Cape Thomas Hubbard and at such points on 
Crocker Land as are found to be practicable. 
Such observations are highly desirable as supple- 
mentary to the records already secured on the 
north coast of Greenland and Grant Land by 
Marvin, MacMillan and Borup in connection with 
the last Peary expedition. On Crocker Land itself 
it is proposed to make a topographic map of the 
coast line and of parts of the interior, and if 
feasible to map geologically such parts as are 
visited; but in any case, to note the stage of 
physiographic development, the formations repre- 
sented, and to collect specimens of rocks, of fos- 
sils and of living plants and animals. 
In order to increase the scientific value of this 
expedition and in order that it may yield definite 
scientific results in the event of failure to reach 
Crocker Land, it is proposed to explore and to 
make detailed scientific observations in Ellesmere 
Land, Grant Land and Greenland. A part of the 
north coast of Grant Land will be studied and 
during one summer or late spring it is proposed to 
make a trip from Whale Sound (Inglefield Gulf) 
directly east into the interior of Greenland. By 
taking this course, the height of the ice cap may 
be ascertained and observations made of this great 
ice sheet supplementary to those of Peary, Nan- 
sen and Nordenskiold. Nansen’s studies were 
slightly south of the Arctic circle where the land 
is not very wide. The two journeys of Peary 
from Whale Sound to Independence Bay were 
made relatively near the shore. 
After consultation with various scientists as to 
what classes of work will yield the greatest return, 
it is proposed #0 make the following studies: 
