1881. ] Microscopy. 839 
The Point Barrow party sailed on July 18th, from San Francisco 
on the schooner Golden Fleece. It consists of ten men, including 
the commander, Lieutenant P. H. Ray, a surgeon, astronomer, 
three observers, interpreter, etc. They take 16,0co feet of lum- 
ber, for the erection of a building thirty by forty feet and astro- 
nomical and magnetic observatories. The party is excellently 
equipped with instruments and is provisioned for two years. 4 
vessel is expected to reach them annually. They are to remain 
for three years. ' 
Many of the outlets from the Arctic sea are this year reported 
unusually obstructed by icé. Jeavy ice floes are reported along 
the Labrador coast, and the pack ice is unusually heavy and far 
south in the European Arctic sea—Spitzbergen being at last ad- 
vices entirely inaccessible. The past winter was unusually severe 
in Iceland. Owing to the large flow of ice it is thought that later 
in the season the seas in the higher latitude will be left unusually 
free and navigable. : 
The weather on the south-west coast of Greenland during the 
winter of 1880-1, is stated, however, to have been the mildest 
€ver experienced in that vicinity. No ice formed in the bays or 
fiords and but little snow fell. The prevalence of south-west gales 
. 1S assigned as one cause of this unusual climate. 
Mr. Leigh Smith sailed from Peterhead in the third week of 
June. On reaching Eira Harbor in Franz-Josef Land, he pur- 
poses to construct a house from materials taken with him and 
then explore as far north as possible. He has a company of 
twenty-five sailors and assistants and provisions for fifteen months. 
Besides Lady Franklin Bay and Point Barrow, the stations rec- 
ommended to be established by the Hamburg Conference are 
Upernavik by Denmark, in Northern Finnmarken by Norway, on 
an Mayen and western coast of Greenland by Austria, on Spitz- 
bergen by Sweden, on Novaya Zemlya [already opened] and at 
the mouth of the Lena by Russia. 
The Nazure states that the Swedish Government has decided to 
send a scientific expedition to Mossel Bay in the course of next 
year, for the purpose of collecting meteorological information. 
The expedition will be directed by Capt. Malmberg and will have 
to remain during the summer of 1882 and the winter of 1883, in 
order to obtain the observations of an entire year. Mossel Bay is 
Situated to the north of Spitzbergen, lat. 79° 54’, long. 16° 15’. 
he locality is well known to the Swedes. Professor Nordens- 
kidld stayed there in the winter of 1872-3 with three ships. 
MICROSOCOPY.' 
Merroric Dust.—From time to time fine dust, having nearly 
the same composition as certain meteorites, has fallen upon vari- 
©us parts of the earth’s surface. * * * Professor Silvestri, 
"This department is edited by Dr. R. H. Warp, Troy, N. Y. 
