1LAJ>!'&J^& CITY 



Review of Science and Industry, 



A MONTHLY RECORD OF PROGRESS IN 



SCIENCE, MECHANIC ARTS AND LITERATURE. 



VOL. VIIL AUGUST, 1884. NO. 4 



GEOGRAPHY. 



ARCTIC CORPS OF EXPLORERS. 



JOHN D. PARKER, U. S. A. 



For centuries arctic exploration has elicited a wide-spread interest among 

 many civilized nations. Icelanders, under a Norwegian captain, in the year 

 1000, discovered the American Continent, and sailed as far south as the coast of 

 Massachusetts, which they named Vinland. Colonies were established by them 

 on the Greenland coast, numerous churches planted, and profitable fisheries 

 maintained for many years. Monuments were erected by this exploring party, 

 on an island in Baffin Bay, where they were discovered in « 824. Since the 

 early colonies of Icelander? and Northmen, in Greenland and Spitzbergen, per- 

 ished, nearly all European nations, as well as Americans, have been more or less 

 engaged in arctic exploration. 



Arctic discovery has been prosecuted with vigor for several reasons. A 

 mystery has hung over the polar regions which affects many departments of 

 science. Evidence accumulates which indicates the existence of a vast polar 

 sea. One branch of the Gulf Stream, composed of warm tropical waters, is 

 known to set as an under-current into the Arctic Ocean, while a surface current 

 flows in an opposite direction into the Atlantic Ocean. Immense icebergs have 

 been seen drifting rapidly to the north against a strong surface current flowmg 

 southward. These icebergs were evidently driven by a powerful under-current, 

 as they extend in some instances two hundred feet above the surface of the sea, 



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