October 11, 1895.] 



SCIENCE. 



459 



the Hydrographic Office, would hardly be 

 taken to represent the same coast. In 

 some places the general trend of the coast 

 is altered many degrees. Many bays are 

 mapped which have not hitherto found 

 representation, and many indentations of 

 the coast which have heretofore appeared 

 upon the charts, have been changed in 

 position and size. Eleven islands which 

 do not appear on the published charts re- 

 ferred to have been accurately located, and 

 the position, shape and size of those here- 

 tofore represented have been corrected. A 

 large number of glaciers, probably as many 

 as 100, have been located with approximate 

 accuracy within the region where but ten 

 were represented on the published chart, 

 and even these were in some cases in false 

 positions, and greatly exaggerated in size. 

 Astrup's map of Melville Bay, already pub- 

 lished, should be mentioned in this connec- 

 tion, since it was prepared while its author 

 was a member of Mr. Peary's corps. 

 Geographers will not fail to appreciate the 

 magnitude and the importance of this car- 

 tographic work. 



In addition to the map, Mr. Peary has 

 kept a series of meteorological records, 

 probably the most accurate and elaborate 

 which have ever been secured in so high a 

 latitude. Besides the more foi'mal records, 

 he has been observant of the behavior of 

 winds about the ice sheet, and in this way 

 has come into possession of facts which are 

 not without significance in connection with 

 the problems of giaciology. He has made 

 careful measurements of the rate of motion 

 of one of the most active glaciers of the re- 

 gion, and has carried them through a suffi- 

 ciently long period of time to give them es- 

 pecial value. He has brought back two 

 large and choice meteorites from the coast 

 east of Cape York, the study of which will 

 possess much popular as well as scientific 

 interest. 



In quite another line, important studies 



have been prosecuted to a successful issue. 

 During his three years and a half of Arctic 

 residence — adding the time of the earlier 

 visit to that of the later — Mr. Peary has 

 made a study of the Eskimos of North 

 Greenland. During this time he has per- 

 sonally come into contact with almost every 

 man, woman and child on the west coast 

 north of the Danish possessions. He has 

 lived among them in such a way as to get 

 from them data whicli no temporary visitor 

 could secure, and which no one, not under- 

 standing their language, and not command- 

 ing their confidence, could hope to gain. 

 As a result, he is in possession of much 

 fuller knowledge of these people than any 

 one else has ever been. The results of his 

 study, when published, will be an impor- 

 tant contribution to ethnology. 



Indirectly, the expeditions which Mr. 

 Peary has caused to be made into northern 

 waters have not been without result. Five 

 successive voj'ages, without accident, have 

 shown that Arctic navigation, under proper 

 management, is not so dangerous as has 

 been supposed. Through those who have 

 accompanied these expeditions, much in- 

 formation has been secured touching the 

 natural history, the geography and the 

 geology of the regions visited. Some of 

 these data have been published, while 

 others have not yet appeared, but they 

 must nevertheless be taken into account in 

 enumerating the results of the several ex- 

 peditions for which Mr. Peai-y has been re- 

 sponsible. It will be readily seen that the 

 returns are, in the aggregate, very consid- 

 erable, and that, although the object which 

 was first in mind when the last expedition 

 was planned has not been fully attained, 

 the results which have been achieved can- 

 not be looked upon as incommensurate with 

 the outlay. 



So far as concerns the results accom- 

 plished by the members of the party of 

 1S95, it may be said that Professor Dyche 



