NoveMBER 29, 1918] 
the greatest possible help and kindness, and 
brought away the warmest feeling of admira- 
tion and friendship. The start was made on 
the west coast first made known to the world 
by Cook and Kotzebue, Beechey, Collinson 
and Bedford Pim, and here it was possible to 
find some habitation, usually an underground 
igloo, on every night but one of the journey. 
Storms were encountered, but there were com- 
monly fair winds and there were no special 
hardships, traveling being far more rapid than 
’ is usual in the interior. At Point Barrow a 
halt of two weeks gave opportunity for the 
study of the largest Eskimo village in Alaska. 
In spite of the advancing season the difficulties 
increased with the resumption of travel, March 
being the month in which the severest weather 
is to be expected here. Throughout the 250 
miles to Flaxman Island the party saw only 
one human being and were housed only twice. 
“Tt is,” says the writer, “the barrenest, most 
desolate, most forsaken coast I have ever seen 
in my life: flat as this paper on which I write, 
the frozen land merging indistinguishably 
into the frozen sea; nothing but a stick of 
driftwood here and there, half buried in the 
indented snow, gives evidence of the shore.” 
The fortnight’s travel along this stretch was a 
constant struggle against a bitter northeast 
wind with the thermometer 20° to 30° below 
zero Fahrenheit, and at night, warmed only by 
the “ primus” oil cooking stove, the air within 
their little snow house was as low as from 48° 
to 51° below zero. The almost ceaseless wind 
was a torment, and the faces of all were con- 
tinually frozen. . There are Eskimo on the 
rivers away from the coast, but it was impos- 
sible to visit them. East of Point Barrow all 
the dog-feed had to be hauled on the sledge, 
and—for the first time since the archdeacon 
had driven dogs—they occasionally went 
gry when there was no driftwood to cook 
with. The heaviest task however came on the 
journey inland to Fort Yukon. Beyond the 
mountains the winter’s snow lay unbroken, 
and for eight days a trail down the Collen 
River had to be beaten ahead of the dogs. At 
the confluence of the Collen with the Porcupine 
Stefansson and his party were met with, es- 
SCIENCE 
539 
corted on the way to Fort Yukon by Dr. Burke, 
of the hospital there. Stefansson had lain ill 
all the winter at Herschel Island, and would 
never have recovered had he not finally re- 
solved to be hauled 400 miles to the nearest 
doctor. 
A PROPOSED BRITISH INSTITUTE OF INDUS- 
TRIAL ART 
WE learn from the London Times that the 
British Board of Trade in conjunction with 
the Board of Education and with the advice of 
representative members of the Royal Society 
of Arts, the Arts and Crafts Exhibition So- 
ciety, the Art Workers’ Guild, the Design and 
Industries Association, and various persons 
and organizations connected with manufac- 
ture and commerce, have framed a scheme for 
the establishment of a British Institute of In- 
dustrial Art, with the object of raising and 
maintaining the standard of design and 
workmanship of works and industrial art pro- 
duced by British designers, craftsmen and 
manufacturers, and of stimulating the demand 
for such works as reach a high standard of 
excellence. 
The institute will be incorporated under the 
joint auspices of the Board of Trade as the 
department dealing with industry and the 
Board of Education as the authority con- 
trolling the Victoria and Albert Museum, and 
the methods by which it is proposed to achieve 
its objects include: 
(a) A permanent exhibition in London of modern 
British works selected as reaching a high 
standard of artistic craftsmanship and 
manufacture. 
(b) A selling*agency attached to this exhibition. 
(c) A purchase fund for securing for the state se- 
lected works of outstanding merit exhibited 
at the institute. 
(d) The establishment of machinery for bringing 
designers and art workers into closer touch 
with manufacturers, distributors and others. 
(e) The organization of provincial and traveling 
exhibition of a similar character, either di- 
rectly or in cooperation with other organiza- 
tions. 
It is not at present intended that the exhi- 
bition of the institute shall be actually opened 
