752 General Notes. [December, 
During the sledge journeys the ice was so ragged that it was only 
possible to advance a mile a day. 
During the winter rich collections in natural history were made and 
many valuable scientific observations were taken. Excellent coal was 
found near the place where the Discovery wintered. 
A member of the expedition telegraphs to the Daily News that the 
northernmost land reached was in latitude 83° 07’. After that there 
was ice. The point farthest west reached was in longitude 85°. Lady 
Franklin’s Straits are really a bay. Petermann Fiord was closed by a - 
glacier. The northernmost point of Greenland seen was in latitude 
82° 57’. 
Tur New Route to Cursa. — The following details are given in 
the daily papers of the remarkable discovery of Professor N ordenskiold, 
the Swedish explorer, already reported by telegraph : — 
« He reports having encountered no obstacles, and considers the way 
‘now quite open from Europe to China via the northern passage and the 
valley of the Yenisei River, by which steam communication is obtained 
across Siberia and almost to the frontiers of China. An immense un- 
measured area of extremely fertile and valuable soil was found in this 
region, all of which is accessible for immediate cultivation. 
“The commercial value and the important results to flow from this 
demonstration of the feasibility of a northeastern passage to Siberia and 
China can hardly be foreseen or overestimated. Nordenskiold, whose 
letter is unfortunately brief, writes that he has also obtained results of 
great interest to science. Dredging and scientific observations were 
constantly carried on during the entire voyage- Large accessions have 
been made to the previously obtained collections from this heretofore 
unknown region. One of the unexpectedly favorable phenomena of the 
passage, the professor reports, was that the water was unifo 
to be surprisingly warm.” 
MICROSCOPY.' 
VAN DER WEYDE’S OBLIQUE ILLUMINATOR. — At the Indianapolis 
meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, 
trivance, believed to be new, for oblique illumination of transparent 
objects. It was designed chiefly to facilitate the resolution of lined or 
dotted objects, and consisted of a plane mirror lying beneath the object- 
slide and parallel to it, from which mirror light, condensed upon it from 
above by means of a bull’s-eye condenser would be reflected back at the - 
same angle through the object and into the objective. These illumina- 
tors were shown in successful operation at the meeting, working best 
with moderately high powers, and were freely distributed among the 
members present. ‘They were briefly described in the Naturatist for 
1 Conducted by Dr. R. H. Warp, Troy, N. Y. 
rmly found : 
