Dbcembkr 21, 1900.] 



SCIENCE 



973- 



Arctic record. It was built for whaling in the 

 Greenland seas by a Norwegian firm, and has 

 performed many voyages in polar waters. She 

 was eventually acquired by Professor G. Nath- 

 orst, the celebrated geologist and Arctic voya- 

 ger, who has shared in almost every Swedish 

 polar expedition. Last year, again, the Ant- 

 arctic was employed in the search for Andr6e on 

 the east coast of Greenland, when the owner 

 himself was in command of the expedition, but 

 which yielded no result. The vessel has thus 

 again passed into Swedish hands. She was also 

 engaged in an earlier voyage to the seas whence 

 she derives her name by Norwegian speculators 

 with the hope of reopening the famous whale 

 fisheries in these parts, but the enterprise was 

 an utter failure, not a single sperm whale being 

 even seen. The vessel, which is in splendid 

 condition for navigation in the pack-ice, and is, 

 in fact, especially built for that purpose, will 

 now proceed to Gothenburg for her final equip- 

 ment. As she has cost so little Dr. Norden- 

 skjold estimates the cost of the expedition at 

 only some £10,000 more. Of this sum one-half 

 has already been contributed by Swedish sub- 

 scribers, and King Oscar, with his well-known 

 interest in Swedish explorations, has also prom- 

 ised a considerable amount towards the expedi- 

 tion, the first of its kind ever despatched from 

 Sweden. Should circumstances permit, the 

 Swedish expedition will, of course, cooperate 

 with the British and German. It is hoped 

 that the Antarctic may be ready to sail next 

 August. 



The sculptured decoration for the pediment 

 above the four main entrances of the Ethnolog- 

 ical Building at the Pan-American Exposition 

 at Bufliilo, is being modeled by Mr. H. A. Mac- 

 Neil to represent the study of American eth- 

 nology. The original plan, suggested to him by 

 Mr. Harlan I. Smith of the American Museum 

 of Natural History, was to represent the in- 

 habitants of the four quarters of North America 

 and bring out the influence of the special en- 

 vironment of each. The idea was to represent 

 upon the northern pediment the Eskimo, with 

 his snow house, spliced bone arrow shafts, skin 

 clothing and kayak, in a country barren of 

 vegetation ; upon the eastern pediment the 

 Algonkin with snow-shedding steep-roofed bark 



hut, witn cauues oi wooa or Birch bark in a 

 stream bordered by wild rice and forest ; on the 

 west the Kwakintl, with split plank house of im- 

 mense size, with grotesquely carved totem pole, 

 in acountry of fog,rain and luxuriant vegetation; 

 on the south the Zuni in a desert country, where 

 steep roofs were unnecessary, but where pottery 

 for carrying water reaches a high development. 

 This plan had to be modified as the appropria- 

 tion was for one model only and Mr. McNeil, 

 in his desire to show something typically Ameri- 

 can, as contrasted with the usual classic decora 

 tion employed in museum architecture, and to 

 represent the study of American peoples, has 

 chosen two reclining emblematic figures, a 

 woman on the left holding a pottery vessel and 

 on the right a man in the act of measuring a 

 human skull. These represent the study of 

 man and his arts. Between these is a shield 

 and a bird whose raised wings border it. This 

 is emblematic of the food and clothing of the 

 North. At the base ai-e designs suggesting the 

 highest culture of the South. In the lower 

 right-hand corner is the prow of a birch bark 

 canoe typifying the eastern Indian. These rep- 

 resent the environmentand materials for the 

 study of American ethnology. 



The first ordinary meeting of the Royal Geo- 

 graphical Society in the session 1900-1901 was 

 held on November 12th, when Dr. A. Donald- 

 son Smith read an account of his expedition 

 through Somaliland and between Lake Rudolf 

 and the Nile. Sir Clements Markham, presi- 

 dent of the Society, occupied the chair, and in 

 his introductory address, said, according to the 

 London Times, that the most important geo- 

 graphical event since the close of the last session 

 had been the return of the expedition of the 

 Duke of the Abruzzi from Franz Josef Land. 

 He had the great merit of having personally 

 organized and fitted out the expedition in every 

 detail, and an expedition had seldom sailed 

 which had been so carefully and thoroughly 

 equipped. Its geographical results were of 

 great importance, for it had finally discovert-d 

 the northern limits of the Franz Josef group, 

 and confirmed Nansen's discovery of a deep 

 ocean to the north ; while the sledging party 

 under Captain Cagni reached the highest north- 

 ern latitude yet attained. If it could be ar- 



