Mr. A. Newton's Notes on Spitsbergen. 377 



a northern aspect, were entirely free from glaciers ; the observa- 

 tion being directly opposed to the account given of the Spitzbergen 

 glaciers by Sir John Richardson in his ' Polar Regions.' A great 

 many reindeer frequent this part of the country, and countless numbers 

 of sea-fowl breed on such of the high cliffs around the Sound as are 

 inaccessible to the Arctic foxes. In Ice Sound Mr. Birkbeck's party 

 had the pleasure of meeting the Swedish Scientific Expedition under 

 Professor Nordenskjold, who are engaged in measuring an arc of the 

 meridian. On the 4th of August the party separated, some going 

 to the eastward in the Norwegian sloop, while the yacht made an- 

 other ineffectual attempt to ascend the Stor Fjord. The sloop sailed 

 as far as Ryklis Islands, but was stopped by the ice. She then pro- 

 ceeded further east in the hope of getting round the pack, and came 

 in sight of " Commander Gile's land," the existence of which had 

 been so long doubted, it having been ignored by Sir John Richard- 

 son in his work, and in the Admiralty Chart of Spitzbergen. It 

 appears to lie about sixty miles east of the entrance to Walter Thy- 

 men's Strait, and its flat or round-topped hills (so different from those 

 of Spitzbergen) were very plainly seen. The author stated that in 

 1859 the master of a Norwegian vessel landed upon it, and he pro- 

 duced a pebble which had then been brought thence, in proof of the 

 reality of its existence as land, and not either ice or fog-bank. He 

 then proceeded to remark on the driftwood with which the shores of 

 the ''Thousand Islands" are strewn, which he believed to be cer- 

 tainly of Siberian origin, and not brought, as sometimes imagined, 

 by the Gulf-stream, — stating that though often worm-eaten, he had 

 never observed any signs of barnacles upon it. He then commented 

 on the discovery of the passage from the top of Stor Fjord to Hin- 

 lopen Strait, of which there had long been a traditionary knowledge, 

 though it was not effected till 1859 ; and showed, from the Swedish 

 surveys in 1861, that this passage must lie some thirty miles further 

 south than the position assigned to it on the Admiralty charts, thus 

 affording another instance of our imperfect knowledge of the geo- 

 graphy of Spitzbergen. In conclusion, the author stated that he left 

 Spitzbergen on the 21st of August, the sun having set a night or two 

 previously for the first time, and the salt water begun to freeze ; 

 and he warmly urged his audience to support the further circumpolar 

 exploration which has been lately proposed by Captain Sherard 

 Osborne ; and that, as a zoologist, he could declare there were many 

 questions of the very highest interest which could only be solved by 

 a new Arctic expedition. 



Professor Babington and Mr. Harry Seeley made communications 

 on the plants brought by Mr. Newton from Spitzbergen. 



March 13. — A communication was made by Professor Liveing 

 " On Gun-cotton." 



March 27. — A communication was made by Professor Miller "On 

 the Crystallographic Methods of Grassman, Hessel, Frankenheim, 

 and Uhale, and on their employment in the investigation of the 

 general geometrical properties of Crystals." 



