"264 The American Naturalist. [March, 
abundantly strewn on some parts of the shores of Norway, Spitzbergen 
and Greenland, is stated by Bäckström to be andesitic, and must 
therefore have been derived from some andesitic volcano near Bering 
Sea—this proves a post glacial communication. A great deal of this 
pumice is now, probably on account of the rising of the land, at from 
thirty to seventy feet above sea-level. 
In order to guard, as far as possible, against the danger of being 
crushed in the solid ice, a ship of small size and great strength, yclept 
the Fram, bas already been built. She displaces about 600 tons, is 
large enough to accommodate twelve men with food and fuel for five or 
six years, and has engines of 160 horse power, enabling her to steam 
some six knots hourly. The sides slope from bulwarks to keel, so that 
the pressure of the ice may tend to lift her out of the water (as occurred 
in the case of the Tegethoff); she is broad in proportion to width, 
pointed at both ends, flat-bottomed near the keel, which is almost cov- 
ered by the boarding, and has a considerably curved stem. A special 
point is the arrangement for raising the screw clear out of the water 
—two reserve screws are to be carried. The sides are planked with 
pitch-pine, oak, and greenheart to a total thickness of over twenty'eight 
inches. The length at water-line is 113 feet, and the sailing speed is 
reckoned at from 8 to 9 knots. The Fram, or Forward, was launched 
at Laurvik, October 28, 1892, and will start on her hazardous cruise 
in the Spring. She has ten boats of various kinds, including two 
specially large and strong, intended for the homeward voyage in case 
the ship should be crushed; a dynamo will also be taken. 
The reading of this paper was followed by a long discussion, in 
which various objections were brought forward by distinguished Arctic 
navigators. Some of these were successfully answered by Dr. Nansen, 
who, however, seemed inclined to follow the advice of Captain Wiggins, 
and to start by way of the Kara Sea, rather than from the New Sibe- 
rian Islands. Sir George Nares pointed out the danger of disregarding 
the usual maxim to keep close to shore, and said that several years 
would be required for the drifting, during the whole of which time the 
vessel would be in danger. A vessel frozen-in became a solid block 
with the ice. He accepted the homing current as proven, but doubted 
` the existence of the out-going one, or at least its power to overcome the 
force of the winds. The largest fresh-water rivers lost all influence at 
a distance of 200 miles from their mouth. The Fram, he said, could 
not at best expect to reach more than sixty miles north of 76° 30’ 
before meeting with the ice-pack, and would thus be frozen-in 730 
miles from the Pole and 600 from the home current. He believed that 
