SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XL No. 272 



ergetic efforts of the committee will undoubtedly succeed in arous- 

 ing a general interest in the matter and in raising the necessary 

 funds. The educational value of a garden like the one proposed 

 can hardly be overestimated, as it affords to the inhabitants of the 

 city those advantages which, as a rule, only those living in the 

 country enjoy. 



The American Philosophical Society has paid consider- 

 able attention to the subject of a universal language ; and on Oct. 

 21, 1887, a committee was appointed, of which Prof. D. G. Brinton 

 was chairman, to examine into the scientific value of Volapiik. The 

 committee recently presented its report, and the society adopted 

 the following resolution : " That the president of the American 

 Philosophical Society be requested to address a letter to all learned 

 bodies with which this society is in official relations, and to such 

 other societies and individuals as he may deem proper, asking their 

 co-operation in perfecting a language for learned and commercial 

 purposes, based on the Aryan vocabulary and grammar in their 

 simplest forms ; and to that end proposing an International Con- 

 gress, the first meeting of which shall be held in London or Paris." 

 The introductory remarks to the report of the committee, referring 

 to the desirability of an international scientific terminology, will be 

 approved by all scientists ; but many will rather join Max Mtiller's 

 appeal to the learned writers of the world to express themselves in 

 English, German, French, Spanish, Italian, or Latin, than support 

 the plan of establishing a new universal language. The proposals 

 of the committee are founded on the process of formation of jar- 

 gons. Grammatical forms are eliminated, and the order of words 

 determines the meaning of the sentence. The phonetics are to be 

 simple, and the vocabulary based on the vocabulary which is com- 

 mon to the leading Aryan tongues. As Volapiik and other univer- 

 sal languages are not formed according to these principles, the 

 committee considers them as not apt to meet the requirements 

 of international intercourse. All this may be true, but it would 

 seem to us that scientists, even if successful in the attempt at form- 

 ing an artificial language which would be as well adapted for think- 

 ing as for writing and speaking, would increase the amount of neces- 

 sary work instead of diminishing it. Before the era of nationali- 

 ties, as we may well designate our time, English, German, French, 

 and Spanish were almost exclusively used in scientific publications 

 of any importance. The same feeling that prompted writers to use 

 their own language, however few the men speaking it may be, will 

 prevent the general adoption of a universal language ; and when 

 this feeling has subsided, those few European languages will again 

 become the means of scientific intercourse. And how should we 

 make use of the treasures contained in the literature of the past, or 

 in popular writing, without learning these languages ? We believe 

 that these difficulties, even aside from that of making a satisfactory 

 language, will prevent the scheme of a universal language being 

 successful. 



YUKON EXPEDITION, 1887. 



We noticed several times the progress of the Yukon expedition 

 undertaken by the Canadian Government in 1887. The present 

 number of Science is accompanied by a map showing the results of 

 this important expedition. The map is a reduction of a large-scale 

 map published by the Department of the Interior of Canada, a 

 number of corrections being added by Dr. Dawson. The coast-line 

 is founded upon the charts of the Coast Survey. While the greater 

 part of the topography of the interior is the result of last year's 

 expedition, a few older explorations were available for constructing 

 the map. The lower part of the Stikine River was surveyed in 

 1877 by J. Hunter. The traverse from Telegraph Creek down the 

 Hotalinqua River, to latitude 60° north, was made by the Telegraph 

 Exploration in 1867. Schwatka's maps were used for constructing 

 the lower part of Pelly River, while Chilkat River is founded on 

 Dr. A. Krause's surveys in 1882. 



The recent expedition was undertaken in consequence of the 

 necessity of ascertaining the nature and extent of the developments 



of placer gold-mining, which of late years has attracted an increas- 

 ing number of miners into that part of the North-west Territories 

 lying between British Columbia and Alaska. We reported in No. 

 243 of Science on the progress of Dr. Dawson's expedition up to the 

 29th of July. Mr. William Ogilvie had reached the lower part of 

 Pelly River by a different route. He had started from Chilkoot In- 

 let, and reached the summit of Chilkoot Pass on June 8. On June 

 27, after considerable difficulty occasioned by stormy weather, the 

 first lake was reached. Mr. Ogih'ie experienced considerable diffi- 

 culty in carrying his instrumental survey across the mountains. He 

 says in his report to Captain Deville, " Beginning from the summit 

 of Chilkoot Pass, we descend almost one-third of a mile to Crater 

 Lake, the fall in that distance being by barometer 367 feet. At four 

 miles and a half from the summit. Mountain Lake, which is about 

 a mile and a half in length, is reached, the fall in this distance being 

 about 575 feet. At this point the first trees on the north-east side 

 of the summit are seen, but they are of no importance, being small 

 and of stunted growth." Lake Lindeman was found to be 1,237 

 feet below Chilkoot Pass. The party then crossed Lake Bennett 

 and Lake Marsh, and began their descent of the Lewes River. " .A.t 

 125 miles from salt water, the caiion is reached. At this point the 

 river flows through a fissure in a barrier of basaltic rocks which in- 

 tersects its course. The caiion proper is about five-eighths of a mile 

 long and about 100 feet wide, with perpendicular walls from 60 to 

 80 feet high. The current through it is swift and the water rough ; 

 but, with a fairly large boat, the only risk in running through it 

 would be from contact with the sides, in which case one would be 

 certain to come to grief. The passage through it is made in froni 

 three to four minutes. The canon and its rapids are altogether 

 two miles and three-quarters long. The last rapid, which is three- 

 eighths of a mile in length, is a bad one, and we had to portage 

 every thing round it, and let our boat down with ropes from the 

 shore. This rapid is called by the miners the ' White Horse,' from 

 the fact that nearly all the water is white with foam. Several 

 parties have run through the rapid on rafts, and one or two in boats, 

 but few want to repeat the trip." In proceeding farther down the 

 river, the travellers passed Big Salmon River. Looking up its 

 valley, a distant view was had of many mountain-peaks covered 

 with snow, the presence of which in summer is proof of a consider- 

 able altitude. Ogilvie found that the upper part of the river was 

 almost deserted by the miners, who have gone to Forty-Mile Creek, 

 where considerable quantities of gold have been found. 



Dr. Dawson, who had reached the Pelly River by way of the 

 Stikine and Frances Lakes, describes the latter part of his journey 

 as follows : " Our Indians, who had for a long time been very un- 

 easy because of their distance from the coast and the unknown 

 character of the country into which they had been taken, were now 

 paid off, and, to their great delight, allowed to turn back. As a 

 dangerous rapid was reported to exist on the upper part of the 

 Pelly, it was decided to construct a canvas canoe in preference to 

 building a boat, which it might prove impossible to portage past 

 the rapid. Having completed the canoe, we descended the Pelly, 

 making a portage of half a mile past Hoole's Rapid, and reached 

 the confluence of the Lewes branch of the Pelly on the nth of 

 August. We had now reached the line of route which is used by 

 the miners, and expected to find at the mouth of the Lewes a 

 memorandum from Mr. Ogilvie, from whom we had separated in 

 May. As we could not find any such memorandum, and as Mr. 

 Ogilvie had not been seen on the lower river by a party of miners 

 whom we met here on their way up the Lewes, we were forced to 

 conclude that he had not yet reached this point. The same party 

 informed us that few miners were during the summer on the Stew- 

 art River, where most of the work had been carried on in 1886, but 

 that in consequence of the discovery of ' coarse ' gold on Forty- 

 Mile Creek, about 120 miles farther down the river, all had gone 

 there, and that Harper's trading-post, where I had hoped to be able 

 to get an additional supply of provisions should we fail to connect 

 with Mr. Ogilvie, had also been moved from the mouth of the 

 Stewart to Forty-Mile Creek. From the place where we now were, 

 we still had a journey of over 400 miles to the coast, with the swift 

 waters of the Lewes to contend against for most of the distance. 

 If, therefore, it should have become necessary to go down stream 

 220 miles to Forty-Mile Creek for provisions, so much would have 



