VI 



regard to the systematic sequence, and they will be published as soon as 

 there is sufficient material to form a volume. Each Memoir will be paged 

 separately, and will be given a number, running continuously from 1 through 

 the whole series, by which it may easily be referred to. 



It might be thought suitable that these volumes should have been intro- 

 duced by a general narrative of the expedition, but as this has already been 

 given fully in the popular account, 'Fram over Polhavet', which has appeared 

 in several languages ('Farthest North', 'In Nacht und Eis', 'Vers le Pole', 'Fra 

 Ghiacci e Tenebre', etc.), it was considered unnecessary to give any such ac- 

 count here. I feel confident that a more valuable aid to future Polar expedi- 

 tions will be afforded in the circumstance that the shipbuilder, Mr. Colin 

 Archer, has been kind enough to open the work by a description of the 

 Fram, to which the expedition owes so much of its success. 



It would have been desirable that a detailed chart of the route of the 

 Fram and the sledge journey should have accompanied this first volume. 

 As, however, such a chart must be based upon all the astronomical observa- 

 tions, and as this large material, which is now being worked up by Prof. 

 Geelmuyden, is not yet quite ready for publication, the charts will appear 

 in the second volume, which I hope will follow not very long after the first. 



The second volume will probably contain the following Memoirs: 



6) The Astronomical Observations and their Results, by Prof. H. Geel- 

 muyden (with charts). 



7) Terrestrial Magnetism, by Mr. Axel Steen, (with diagrams, etc.). 



8) On the Pendulum Observations and their Results, by Prof. 0. E. 



Scffl0TZ. 



In the third volume will probably appear: 



9) The Oceanography of the North Polar Basin, (with charts and diagrams 

 of the distribution of temperature, specific gravity, etc.), by myself. 



10) On Hydrometers and their Errors, especially those caused by Variations 

 of the Surface Tension of Liquids (with illustrations), by myself, 



