July 22, 1904.] 



SCIENCE. 



123 



Mr. George W. Stose will complete the areal 

 and economic surveys on the Pawpaw and 

 Hancock quadrangles, in West Virginia and 

 Maryland. He will be assisted by Mr. E. F. 

 Burchard. 



Wisconsin. — Professor U. S. Grant will 

 make an areal and economic survey of the 

 Mineral Point quadrangle, Wisconsin. The 

 work will probably be done in cooperation 

 with the state survey of Wisconsin. 



BABON TOLL. 



Prince Ejiopotkin contributes to the last 

 number of the Geographical Journal an ac- 

 count of the return of the expedition sent to 

 search for Baron Toll, under the direction of 

 Lieutenant Kolchak. There appears to be 

 little hope that Baron Toll and Dr. Seeberg 

 have survived. The last news from them is a 

 letter found in Bennett Island and dated No- 

 vember 8, 1902. It is as follows : 



In company with the astronomer, F. G. 

 Seeberg, and two hunters, the Tungus 

 Nicholas Diakonoff and the Yakut Vassili 

 GorokhofF, on June 7, I left the winter har- 

 bor of the Zarya (Nerpichiya Bay of Kotelnyi 

 Island). We followed the northern coasts of 

 Kotelyni and Thadeeff Islands, keeping our 

 course towards Cape Visoki on New Siberia. 

 On June 13 I took the course towards Bennett 

 Island. The ice was pretty broken. On 

 June 25, three miles from Cape Visoki, the ice 

 was definitely broken. Preparing to take to 

 our haidaras [leather boats], we killed our 

 last dogs. From here we were carried on an 

 ice-floe, for four and a half days, 48 miles in 

 the desired direction. Then, having noticed 

 that our ice-floe had drifted 10 miles south- 

 wards, we left it on July 31, and after having 

 covered the remaining 23 miles in our hai- 

 daras, landed on August 3 on Bennett Island, 

 at Cape Emma. 



According to the survey of Seeberg, who 

 has also determined the magnetical elements 

 both here and on the journey — in ten places in 

 all — Bennett island is a plateau, not higher 

 than 1,500 feet. By its geological structure 

 it appears as a continuation of the plateau 

 of Middle Siberia, which is built up, here also, 

 of very ancient marine deposits (Cambrian), 



pierced by irruptions of basalt. In places one 

 finds, under the sheets of basalt, deposits of 

 brown coal with relics of vegetation, namely 

 conifers. In the valleys of the island, bones 

 of mammoths and other Quaternary-period 

 animals, washed out of the deposits, are found 

 occasionally. 



As to the present inhabitants of Bennett 

 Island, they are, besides the temporary visitor, 

 the walrus, the polar bear and the reindeer. 

 A herd of some thirty of the latter wandered 

 on the rocky feeding-ground of the island. 

 We fed upon them, and made out of their 

 skins the fur cloth and the boots required for 

 the winter journey. The following birds stay 

 here : two species of Somateria, one sandsnipe, 

 one bullfinch and five species of gulls, inclu- 

 ding the roseate one. 



As for migratory birds, we saw one eagle 

 which flew south to north, one falcon which 

 flew north to south, and geese whose flock 

 went also north to south. Owing to fogs, we 

 could not see the land wherefrom these birds 

 came; neither could we see Sannikoff's Land, 

 any more than during our last navigation. 



We are going to leave here the following 

 instruments: a reflecting circle with artificial 

 horizon, a Krause's inclinator, the anemom- 

 eter, the photographic apparatus ' ISTorah,' and 

 some others. 



To-day we are going southwards. We have 

 provisions for fourteen to twenty days. All 

 in good health. 76° 38' N. lat, 149° 42' E. 

 long. 



SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS. 



Lord Kelvin celebrated his eightieth birth- 

 day on June 26. 



Mr. W. H. M. Christie, the astronomer 

 royal, and Sir David Gill, of the Cape Ob- 

 servatory, have been elected corresponding 

 members of the Paris Bureau des Longitudes. 



The University of Manchester has conferred 

 the doctorate of science on Professor Bohuslav 

 Brauner, Ph.D., of the Czech University of 

 Prague, Mr. Ludwig Mond, F.E.S., and Mr. 

 W. H. Perkin. Professor Dixon, in making 

 the presentations, said Dr. Brauner was an 

 old student of this university, and one of 



