5J2 



SCIENCE, 



[Vol. IX., No. 225 



tent to England (and England has forty thousand 

 blind), the vastness of this philanthropic work will 

 be apparent. Mr. Murray noted the actual sounds 

 used in speaking Chinese, and succeeded in re- 

 ducing these to four hundred, each being repre- 

 sented by a different arrangement of dots. He 

 tried his first experiment on a blind beggar taken 

 from the streets, and in six weeks taught the boy 

 to read, and even to write a little. The fame of 

 this experiment soon spread, and pupils crowded 

 to be taught. The system was extended to in- 

 clude music and to adapt itself to the various 

 dialects, — no mean task, since the Bible must be 

 printed in eight different sets of characters to be 

 understood all through China. 



EXPLORATION AND TRAVEL. 

 Danish explorations in East Greenland. 



It is stated in Copenhagen, says Nature of 

 May 5, that an expedition will be despatched 

 late this summer by Herr A. Gamil, the equipper 

 of the Dijmphna expedition of 1882, to the north- 

 east coast of Greenland. It is hoped that the ex- 

 plorers may reach a higher latitude than that at- 

 tained by Lieutenant Holm in 1884. The expe- 

 dition will be commanded by Lieutenant Hov- 

 gaard, who in 1882 commanded the Dijmphna. 



It will be remembered that Holm made a suc- 

 cessful exploration of the east coast as far as lati- 

 tude 66° 20' north in 1884 and 1885. He started 

 from the west coast in several Eskimo boats, and, 

 by the help of the natives, reached the fiord of 

 Angmagsalik. His observations on the ice phe- 

 nomena of this coast show that the sea is probably 

 navigable during a great part of the year. There 

 is little or no ice close to the coast in the autumn 

 and during the early part of winter. In January 

 and February heavy masses of ice He close to the 

 shore, and remain there until late in spring. In 

 June or July they begin to disappear. From these 

 observations, it appears that the coast can be 

 reached by vessels late in the season, and the new 

 expedition will probably make use of this experi- 

 ence. It is a remarkable fact that in arctic Ameri- 

 ca those places are most easily approached where 

 the coast makes a slight outward turn, while con- 

 cave bends of the coast are always difficult to ap- 

 proach. The east coast of Greenland was reached 

 by Scoresby near Scoresby Sound, and by Norden- 

 skjold at Cape Dan. At both points the coast 

 makes a turn. South of Cape Dan we find a 

 slight concave bend, which is always filled with 

 closely packed ice. The same fact may be ob- 

 served in Baffin Bay and Davis Strait. The bay 

 of Julianehaab is always full of ice, and the land 

 cannot be reached here, while farther north there 



is only loose ice under the coast. The west ice of 

 Baffin Bay can be crossed most easily near Cape 

 Walsingham and Cape Kater, — the middle water 

 of the whalers. This phenomenon is easily ac- 

 counted for : on the straight or concave coast the 

 ice is pressed against the land, while on the 

 points there is room for it to si)i'ead out. There 

 are many questions of great interest to be solved 

 on this coast, — the extent of the inland ice, an; 

 exploration of the enormous sounds of Scoresby 

 Land and King William Land, and the northern 

 limit of man. On his visit to East Greenland, 

 Scoresby met Eskimos in latitude 70° north. The 

 German expedition of 1869-70 found the ruins 

 of their houses at the farthest point reached. 

 Many facts make it probable that the Eskimos 

 travelled around the north point of Greenland ; 

 and therefore a study of the most northern tribes 

 of the east coast is of particular interest from an 

 ethnological point of view, and for the decision on 

 the feasibility of the exploration of the north 

 coast of Greenland. 



Polar regions. 



According to the Proceedings of the Royal geo- 

 graphical society for May, Sir Allen Young, the 

 well-known arctic explorer, has offered his services 

 to the Australian colonies to lead an expedition to 

 the antarctic regions. Acting on this offer, Sir 

 Graham Berry has brought the question of a gov- 

 ernment grant towards the cost of the enterprise 

 (stated to be $40,000) before the cabinet, and the 

 matter is being urged forward with a view to the 

 vessel or vessels starting from Hobson's Bay in 

 October or November next. The object of the ex- 

 pedition is to be entirely geographical, but inci- 

 dentally much advantage is expected to accrue to 

 the whaling and sealing interests, which would 

 profit by the information gained. While thus an 

 important further step has been taken to promgte 

 the Australian expedition, it seems that the re- 

 ports on Nordenskjold's plans were not well 

 founded. It may be that he plans an expedition 

 towards the south pole, but so far no funds are 

 available for this purpose. 



The season of arctic travels is also approaching. 

 Mr. K. D. Nosilof , a Russian explorer, announces 

 to the French geographical society {Compt. rend., 

 No. 7, 1887) his intention to ^isit Nova Zembla. 

 Nosilof has spent three years in exploring the 

 northern Ural to find a practicable route to 

 Siberia. This was done at the expense of Mr. 

 Sibiriakof, who has given up his intention of 

 establishing regula;r communication by sea be- 

 tween the Obi and Archangel. On his new ex- 

 pedition, Nosilof intends to make a detailed survey 

 of the coasts and of the interior, and to study the 



