Geographic Notes 



297 



yet been received, but it would appear 

 that, owing to the ice, they failed to 

 get farther south than 66° 2', and that 

 the expedition was thus practically a 

 failure. No expense had been spared 

 to make the expedition a success. (It 

 cost $400,000.) The plans had been 

 formed after years of deliberation with 

 the most competent men in Europe. 

 The leader, Captain Drygalski, had 

 proven his ability by previous work in 

 Greenland. Bad luck alone can ex- 

 plain the failure of the expedition and 

 the bitter disappointment of the Ger- 

 man nation. 



Mr W. J. Peters, the representative of 

 the National Geographic Society on the 

 Ziegler North Polar Expedition, was 

 presented on his departure with the 

 Society's flag. The flag of the National 

 Geographic Society is of three colors — 

 blue, brown, and green — representing 

 respectively the air, the land, and the 

 water. 



The Swedish Government has made a 

 grant of $20,000 to Dr Sven Hedin to 

 enable him to publish the results of his 

 recent explorations in Central Asia. 

 The work will consist of a series of vol- 

 umes to be completed within three years. 

 There will be an English edition. 



Prof. William H. Brewer, of Yale Uni- 

 versity, has resigned the presidency of 

 the Arctic Club. He has been presi- 

 dent of the Arctic Club since it was 

 founded, eight years ago, and to his 

 leadership is due much of the success 

 of the organization. 



Mr Robert T. Hill, of the U. S. Geologi- 

 cal Survey, who visited Martinique as 

 one of the representatives of the Na- 

 tional Geographic Society, and whose 

 preliminary reports upon the St Pierre 

 disaster have been published in the 

 National Geographic Magazine, 

 the Century, and Collier's Weekly, is 

 engaged upon a careful study of the 



scientific aspects of the eruptions, which 

 will be presented in the National 

 Geographic Magazine during 1903. 

 He is also completing a monograph on 

 the Windward islands for Prof. Alexan- 

 der Agassiz, to be published by the 

 Museum of Comparative Zoology of 

 Harvard University. This work will 

 be the result of several years of careful 

 study of the islands and will thoroughly 

 discuss the details of their geological 

 structure and their bearing upon the 

 alleged Windward bridge and the myths 

 of Atlantis. Mr Hill is also engaged 

 on a comprehensive geographical work 

 upon the Republic of Mexico. From 

 this country, where he has been gather- 

 ing notes for the past fifteen years, he 

 has just returned, after a most interest- 

 ing mule-back trip across the southern 

 end of the Sierra Madre between Mexico 

 City and Acapulco. 



Francis H. Herrick is the author of a 

 recent report issued by the U. S. Fish 

 Commission entitled ' ' The Reproduc- 

 tive Period in the Lobster. " Dr Herrick 

 concludes from his experiments that the 

 spawning periods of the female are two 

 years apart. 



The Royal Geographical Society is 



planning to send south the coming fall 

 an auxiliary vessel to bring back the 

 British South Polar Expedition. Ac- 

 cording to report, the Discovery has 

 been frozen in, and is separated from 

 open water by six miles of ice, which 

 is too great a distance to open with a 

 channel. 



The British members of the Alaskan 

 Boundary Commission are Lord Alver- 

 stone, Chief Justice of England ; Sir 

 Louis Jette, Lieutenant Governor of 

 Quebec, and Justice Armour, of the 

 Supreme Court of Canada. 



An attempt to ascend Mount McKinley 



is being made this summer by Dr Fred- 

 erick A. Cook and Mr Robert Dunn. 



